http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Scientists using images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, have estimated that the planet is bombarded by more than 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year forming craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) across. http://phys.org/news287853269.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 May 2013 16:15:41 EST news287853269 In the last century humanity has taken gigantic leaps forward in the robotic exploration of the cosmos—not least in the search for habitable worlds and environments that could house life outside of the Earth. The next logical step is for humanity itself to leave the confines of our planet, and take on long-term human exploration of the Solar System. Mars in particular is a key target for future human planetary adventures even though on the face of it, it seems so hostile to human life. In fact Mars actually has the most clement environment of any planet in the Solar System outside of Earth and is known to have all of the resources necessary in some accessible form, to sustain life on the surface. So how might we survive on Mars? The crucial things for humans on Mars are the availability of oxygen, shelter, food and water, and not just endless consumables delivered to the planet from Earth. For humans to live long-term on Mars, they will need a self-sustaining habitat to be able to thrive in for generations. http://phys.org/news287827926.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 May 2013 09:30:03 EST news287827926 (Phys.org) —Reports given by experts in the space-health field suggest it might take longer for humans to build a colony on Mars than has been expected. Such experts speaking to attendees at the recent "Humans 2 Mars Summit" in Washington D.C. expressed concern about the dangers of Martian dust. They believe the health hazards posed by the Martian regolith could prevent humans from colonizing the planet anytime soon. http://phys.org/news287394874.html Space & Earth Fri, 10 May 2013 09:10:02 EST news287394874 A roughly 3.5-mile high Martian mound that scientists suspect preserves evidence of a massive lake might actually have formed as a result of the Red Planet's famously dusty atmosphere, an analysis of the mound's features suggests. If correct, the research could dilute expectations that the mound holds evidence of a large body of water, which would have important implications for understanding Mars' past habitability. http://phys.org/news287071561.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 May 2013 15:06:08 EST news287071561 (Phys.org)—Spring is a dynamic season on the dunes surrounding Mars' north pole. When frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, deposited as a winter ice cap on Mars sublimates – changes directly from a solid to a gas – in the spring it causes a variety of geologic changes to the Martian surface, research led by Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Candice Hansen has shown. http://phys.org/news278269432.html Space & Earth Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:04:17 EST news278269432 (Phys.org)—University of Florida researchers have discovered for the first time that some Earth bacteria can live under the same low pressure conditions found on Mars. http://phys.org/news276848173.html Space & Earth Tue, 08 Jan 2013 06:16:43 EST news276848173 Scientists are abuzz about a coal-colored rock from Mars that landed in the Sahara desert: A yearlong analysis revealed it's quite different from other Martian meteorites. Not only is it older than most, it also contains more water. The baseball-size meteorite, estimated to be 2 billion years old, is strikingly similar to the volcanic rocks examined by the NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity on the Martian surface. http://phys.org/news276448005.html Space & Earth Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:07:09 EST news276448005 All of planet Earth seemed to follow the rover Curiosity's harrowing descent to the surface of Mars. Curiosity's early discoveries showed that liquid water once flowed on the Martian surface, but the big discoveries still lie ahead, including Mount Sharp, three miles high. Ralph Milliken, a participating scientist on the Curiosity mission, has returned to Brown and talked with Kevin Stacey about what lies ahead for Curiosity. The Curiosity rover has been a near constant presence in the news since it arrived on the surface of the Red Planet in August. But even with everything Curiosity has done already, its most exciting days lie ahead, says Brown University geologist Ralph Milliken. http://phys.org/news274094595.html Space & Earth Fri, 07 Dec 2012 09:40:01 EST news274094595 (Phys.org)—During the 10 minutes before the NASA Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft entered the Martian atmosphere to deliver the rover Curiosity to the surface, the spacecraft shed its cruise stage, which had performed vital functions during the flight from Earth, and then jettisoned two 165-pound (75-kilogram) blocks of tungsten to gain aerodynamic lift. http://phys.org/news274014950.html Space & Earth Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:15:59 EST news274014950 Metallic robots constructed by ingenious humans can survive on Mars. But what about future human astronauts? http://phys.org/news272534198.html Space & Earth Mon, 19 Nov 2012 08:20:01 EST news272534198 NASA's revolutionary Curiosity rover is celebrating 90 Sols on Mars by snapping amazing self-portraits (see our mosaics above and below) and biting into the Red Planet's surface to accomplish unprecedented scientific analysis of an alien world. http://phys.org/news271582268.html Space & Earth Thu, 08 Nov 2012 07:31:55 EST news271582268 Apparently, there just aren't enough genomes for Craig Venter to sequence here on Earth, so he's making plans to send a DNA sequencer to Mars. http://phys.org/news269867470.html Space & Earth Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:11:21 EST news269867470 Who doesn't love 3-D images, especially of objects in space? But creating them can be a bit time-consuming for scientists, especially for images from orbiting spacecraft like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that takes images from just one angle at a time. Usually, it is "amateur" enthusiasts who take the time to find and combine images from different orbital passes to create rich, 3-D views. http://phys.org/news267779176.html Space & Earth Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:20:01 EST news267779176 (Phys.org)—Curiosity, the NASA rover that landed on Mars last month, is sending us remarkable weather observations from the Martian surface that are attracting interest from scientists. "From a weather point of view, Mars is the most 'Earth-like' of the other planets in our solar system, and many features of the weather there are similar to Earth," says Kevin Hamilton, a pioneer in the area of computer modeling of the Martian atmosphere. http://phys.org/news267773762.html Space & Earth Tue, 25 Sep 2012 06:36:10 EST news267773762 The car-sized Mars rover Curiosity, which landed on the Red Planet last month, is the biggest, most expensive and most ambitious planetary mission in many years. But it is just one of a sweeping portfolio of past and future missions of pioneering planetary exploration managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., as JPL director Charles Elachi described in a talk at MIT on Monday. http://phys.org/news267254875.html Space & Earth Wed, 19 Sep 2012 06:28:02 EST news267254875 Members of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover ChemCam team, including Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists, squeezed in a little extra target practice after zapping the first fist-sized rock that was placed in the laser's crosshairs last weekend. http://phys.org/news265021734.html Space & Earth Fri, 24 Aug 2012 11:00:02 EST news265021734 (Phys.org) -- NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity would have a hard time completing its mission if it were not for a successful partnership between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a professor-student team at University of Tennessee. http://phys.org/news263616521.html Technology Wed, 08 Aug 2012 04:10:01 EST news263616521 (Phys.org) -- An image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the Curiosity rover still connected to its 51-foot-wide (almost 16 meter) parachute as it descended towards its landing site at Gale Crater. http://phys.org/news263483488.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:51:44 EST news263483488 NASA opened a new chapter in the history of interplanetary exploration on Monday when its $2.5 billion nuclear-powered robot Curiosity beamed back pictures from the surface of Mars. http://phys.org/news263468577.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:00:01 EST news263468577 The biggest, baddest space rover ever built for exploring an alien planet is nearing its August 6 landing on Mars, and the US space agency is anxious for success despite huge risks. http://phys.org/news263102346.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Aug 2012 04:59:29 EST news263102346 Saturn has its famous rings and Jupiter is the granddaddy of the solar system, but no planet has entranced earthlings quite like Mars. http://phys.org/news262971887.html Space & Earth Tue, 31 Jul 2012 18:50:01 EST news262971887 The chemistry that makes up the surface of Mars could soon become a little less alien thanks to research from an academic at The Australian National University. http://phys.org/news262856108.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:35:38 EST news262856108 Debate over the origin of large-scale polygons (hundreds of meters to kilometers in diameter) on Mars remains active even after several decades of detailed observations. Similarity in geometric patterns on Mars and Earth has long captured the imagination. In this new article from GSA Today, geologists at The University of Texas at Austin examine these large-scale polygons and compare them to similar features on Earth's seafloor, which they believe may have formed via similar processes. http://phys.org/news262628973.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:29:40 EST news262628973 (Phys.org) -- NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter experienced about 21 hours in a reduced-activity precautionary status ending at about 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) on Thursday, July 12. http://phys.org/news261652710.html Space & Earth Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:18:36 EST news261652710 Until now, Earth was the only planet known to have vast reservoirs of water in its interior. Scientists analyzed the water content of two Martian meteorites originating from inside the Red Planet. They found that the amount of water in places of the Martian mantle is vastly larger than previous estimates and is similar to that of Earth's. The results not only affect what we know about the geologic history of Mars, but also have implications for how water got to the Martian surface. The data raise the possibility that Mars could have sustained life. http://phys.org/news259507102.html Space & Earth Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:19:28 EST news259507102 In August, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will reach the Red Planet and begin its search for habitats that could have supported life. http://phys.org/news256400065.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 May 2012 15:30:01 EST news256400065 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Martian dust devil roughly 12 miles high (20 kilometers) was captured whirling its way along the Amazonis Planitia region of Northern Mars on March 14. It was imaged by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Despite its height, the plume is little more than three-quarters of a football field wide (70 yards, or 70 meters). http://phys.org/news252831368.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Apr 2012 07:56:22 EST news252831368 (PhysOrg.com) -- An afternoon whirlwind on Mars lofts a twisting column of dust more than half a mile (800 meters) high in an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. http://phys.org/news250416244.html Space & Earth Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:04:26 EST news250416244 (PhysOrg.com) -- Some images of stark Martian landscapes provide visual appeal beyond their science value, including a recent scene of wind-sculpted features from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. http://phys.org/news246786967.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:56:19 EST news246786967 (PhysOrg.com) -- Dust avalanches around impact craters on Mars appear to be the result of the shock wave preceding the actual impact, according to a study led by an undergraduate student at the UA. http://phys.org/news243238561.html Space & Earth Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:16:36 EST news243238561