Latest news with #MarsExploration
The Sun
05-07-2025
- Science
- The Sun
I'm a top astrobiologist – here's why I am convinced aliens DID live on Mars…and they could have been smarter than us
David Rivers Published: Invalid Date, ASTRONAUTS visiting Mars could unearth a museum of alien fossils that may have belonged to an intelligent civilisation. Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe backed NASA 's plan to send humans to Mars in the 2030s and Elon Musk's bid to colonise the planet. 5 5 The Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology astrobiologist thinks alien life 'unquestionably' existed on the Red Planet. And he's even suggested explorers could unearth fossils pointing to alien life, possibly more intelligent than us. Prof Wickramasinghe told The Sun: 'I think it is entirely plausible that Mars, sometime in the past, was a green planet full of life. 'Then something happened that made it a virtually dead planet or nearly a dead planet. 'This could have happened after impact. An episode of comet asteroid impacts could have destroyed all life that existed on it if it did exist on Mars. It could have destroyed it just as on the Earth. 'If there was a huge protracted episode of asteroid comet impacts, then this planet would be a dead planet. 'The fact that Mars and Earth are very similar, geologically very similar, have seasons and they have very similar patterns of oscillation of temperature and so on makes it entirely possible that, in the past, Mars was the home of life. 'I don't rule out intelligent life. He added: 'I think astronauts will explore all those fossils discussed by Barry DiGregorio, examine them more carefully and decide whether they're artifacts or real fossils. 'They would encounter bacteria and I think they would find a planet that is very easy to terraform, to make it a living planet like the earth. Hidden ocean on Mars found that 'could cover entire planet with a mile of water' and 'should be able to sustain life' 'If you go with enough resources, you could build houses and build a civilisation on Mars, and I don't think that's impossible. 'I can't rule out an intelligent civilisation.' Asked what that life may have looked like, he said: "It's speculation. It could have been as intelligent as you or I or maybe even more intelligent. "Who knows? I think evidence has been virtually stamped out of existence possibly through an impact episode, if it did exist." DiGregorio had claimed alien fossils had been discovered by NASA's Curiosity rover in 2018. He accused NASA of failing to investigate properly so it could boost publicity for a manned mission to Mars. 5 5 NASA said it believed the images likely showed signs of crystal growth, not alien fossils. Billionaire Musk has long signalled his intent to colonise Mars through his SpaceX company. Last year, the X owner even suggested humans could land there in four years and be living in a self-sustaining city in 20. NASA says on its website it intends to send humans to Mars in the 1930s. In 1976, NASA landed two Viking landers on Mars. NASA scientist Gilbert Levin ran an experiment to test the soil and concluded there were positive signs of life through the presence of radioactive gas. NASA and its other scientists disagreed, and separate experiments from Viking concluded the soil did not show signs of life. But Levin spent the rest of his life claiming he'd found signs of alien life until his death in 2021. Prof Wickramasinghe said: 'We have unquestionably found microbial life on Mars, the most secure discovery was the Gilbert Levin discovery in the 1970s when they did the Viking land experiments.' NASA's mission to Mars NASA hopes to send astronauts to Mars as early as the 2030s. The space company has been working to advance its technologies in a bid to send a human crew to the Red Planet. It would take astronauts up to nine months to reach Mars - which even at its closest is 33.9 million miles away. Astronauts could then spend up to 500 days on the planet's surface before returning to Earth - which would take another nine months. The crew would spend their time on the planet collecting data and assessing the planetary alignment that would allow the spacecraft to land and depart from Mars on the same orbit. Last year, the agency completed a year-long simulated mission that saw four crew members out in a replica habitat in Houston, Texas. They logged 378 days in the 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed habitat called Mars Dune Alpha. He added: 'That result was overwhelmingly positive. They got the result that they wanted. 'So almost immediately Levin, who I'd known for a long time, made the announcement on behalf of NASA that we have discovered life on Mars. 'This was a step too far for the NASA establishment, and they then revoked that statement.' On its website, NASA says: "Mars remains our horizon goal for human exploration because it is one of the only other places we know where life may have existed in the solar system. "What we learn about the Red Planet will tell us more about our Earth's past and future, and may help answer whether life exists beyond our home planet. "Like the Moon, Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and a driver of technologies that will enable humans to travel and explore far from Earth." Mars facts Here's what you need to know about the red planet... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun It is named after the Roman god of war The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth, but due to the difference in gravity, you could jump three times higher there than you can here. Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest Mars is considered the second most habitable planet after Earth. It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun The planet has a diameter of 4,212 miles, and has an average distance from Earth of 140 million miles Martian temperatures can vary wildly, reaching as high as 70F/20C or as low as -225F/-153C
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Why does Mars look purple, yellow and orange in ESA's stunning new satellite image?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Despite being known as the Red Planet, Mars shows off its swirling yellows, oranges and browns in a new satellite photo from the European Space Agency (ESA). The Earth-toned surface also reveals an impact crater and four sneaky dust devils making their way across the region. The Rothko-like image was taken by a high-resolution camera on ESA's Mars Express orbiter and captures Arcadia Planitia, an area of Mars critical to research about the planet's past and its potential to house humans in the future. Northwest of the tallest volcanoes in the solar system, Arcadia Planitia is a region of intrigue. It's laden with solidified lava flows that are, at most, 3 billion years old. The area is also thought to host water ice close to the planet's surface, making it an area of interest when planning future missions to Mars, according to a statement from ESA. Arcadia Planitia is home to visiting "dust devils," short-lived columns of wind akin to small tornadoes. Dust devils form when the Martian surface warms the air just above it, leading the air to rise and pulling dust with it. The new image shows four dust devils as they snake their way across the plains of the region. Easy to overlook, you can spot them as whitish puffs of dust near the center of the image, straddling the boundary between the darker brown and lighter red parts of the plain. A large impact crater sits in the bottom right corner of the photo and measures 9 miles (15 kilometers) across, according to ESA. The formation of layered material around the crater is evidence that the ground encompassed notable amounts of water ice during impact, and lack of clear erosion of the crater dates it to relatively recently on the geological timeline. Related: Perseverance rover spots peculiar 'spider egg' rock on Mars — and scientists have no idea how it got there If you noticed that the image is blurry, you're discerning an effect of the wind on Mars. Gusts of air pick up and carry tiny particles of debris from the planet's surface, which creates a minor visual haze. RELATED STORIES —Mars rover captures first close-up photos of giant 'spiderwebs' on the Red Planet —Long, dark 'streaks' spotted on Mars aren't what scientists thought —NASA Mars satellite uncovers markings 'like paint dripping down a wall' on Martian surface The wind that causes the haze is also responsible for the reddish area at the top of the photo. The red region is covered in ridges called "yardangs," which are formed when wind erodes vulnerable rock and leaves the most resistant rock still standing. Below the red section is purplish-brown terrain, which has a high concentration of silicates and a low concentration of iron, the statement notes. The difference in colors also stems from properties of the sand, like density and size, which affect how the grains accumulate and travel across Mars.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Volcano Found Hiding 'In Plain Sight' Right Next to NASA Mars Rover
Sometimes, it's really hard to see the volcanoes for the rocks, especially if you're just a one-ton rover all alone in a remote crater on Mars. Nevertheless, a bump on the rim of Jezero Crater is indeed a volcano, scientists have ruled – and the finding, thanks to NASA's Perseverance rover, has really exciting implications. "Volcanism on Mars is intriguing for a number of reasons – from the implications it has on habitability, to better constraining the geologic history," says planetary scientist James Wray from the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Jezero Crater is one of the best studied sites on Mars. If we are just now identifying a volcano here, imagine how many more could be on Mars. Volcanoes may be even more widespread across Mars than we thought." Wray noticed the mountain, called Jezero Mons, back in 2007, but there wasn't enough evidence to support the interpretation that it was a volcano. Then Perseverance started finding volcanic rocks on the crater floor. Suspicions grew that Jezero Mons may have burst upward from Mars' molten interior. To confirm speculations, a team led by planetary scientist Sara Cuevas-Quiñones of Georgia Tech decided to conduct a thorough investigation, looking for known characteristics of volcanoes here on Earth. "We used data from the Mars Odyssey Orbiter, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, and Perseverance Rover, all in combination to puzzle this out," Wray explains. Their verdict? Jezero Mons is volcanic. It even has a volcanic crater. It's not active now, and likely hasn't been for a very long time, but this identification will make Perseverance's findings easier to interpret. There's another interesting takeaway: Jezero Crater was once a lake. If it was sitting right next to a steaming pile of active volcano, the conditions may have been warm enough in the lake for life. "The coalescence of these two types of systems makes Jezero more interesting than ever," Wray says. "We have samples of incredible sedimentary rocks that could be from a habitable region alongside igneous rocks with important scientific value." The findings are published in Communications Earth & Environment. NASA Satellite Glimpses Giant Volcano Peeking Above The Clouds of Mars The Universe's Missing Black Holes May Have Been Located Mysteriously Magnetic Moon Rocks Might Have an Explosive Origin Story
Bloomberg
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Trump Wants $1 Billion for Private-Sector-Led Mars Exploration
US President Donald Trump wants to tap the private sector to pave the way for human missions to Mars in a proposal that closely aligns with the goals of Elon Musk. The White House's 2026 budget proposal, released late on Friday, calls for allocating more than $1 billion for Mars exploration, including a new NASA initiative called the Commercial Mars Payload Services Program (CMPS). Under the proposal, NASA would award contracts to companies developing spacesuits, communications systems and a human-rated landing vehicle to foster exploration of the Red Planet.
The Independent
21-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
NASA's Mars Perseverance snaps a selfie as a Martian dust devil blows by
The latest selfie by NASA's Perseverance rover at Mars has captured an unexpected guest: a Martian dust devil. Resembling a small pale puff, the twirling dust devil popped up 3 miles (5 kilometers) behind the rover during this month's photo shoot. Released Wednesday, the selfie is a composite of 59 images taken by the camera on the end of the rover's robotic arm, according to NASA. It took an hour to perform all the arm movements necessary to gather the images, 'but it's worth it,' said Megan Wu, an imaging scientist from Malin Space Science Systems, which built the camera. 'Having the dust devil in the background makes it a classic," Wu said in a statement. The picture — which also shows the rover's latest sample borehole on the surface — marks 1,500 sols or Martian days for Perseverance. That's equivalent to 1,541 days on Earth. Perseverance is covered with red dust, the result of drilling into dozens of rocks. Launched in 2020, it's collecting samples for eventual return to Earth from Jezero Crater, an ancient lakebed and river delta that could hold clues of any past microbial life. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
