In this photo taken by the Instrument Context Camera (ICC) at 18:50:13 local mean solar time from InSight, thick cloud formation is again observed as early as about 17 minutes after sunset!It appears that cloud formation after sunset is a recurring phenomenon in this area of Mars, at least at this time of the Martian year.To show colors more similar to what the human eye… Read More »InSight Sol 146, April 26, 2019
In this photo taken by the Instrument Context Camera (ICC) at 19:01:14 local mean solar time from InSight, you can see thick clouds crowding the evening sky after the Sun sets!To show colors more similar to what the human eye would see, I subjected the image to white balance. Balanced image: https://i.ibb.co/Bstf7hT/In-Sight-Sol0145.jpg Original image: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight-raw-images/surface/sol/0145/icc/C000M0145_609423773EDR_F0000_0516M_.PNG This post has been automatically translated. See the original post… Read More »InSight Sol 145, April 25, 2019
On April 6 (Sol 128) the seismometer of InSight has detected a seismic tremor definitely coming from the inside of the planet!This fact confirms that the interior of the planet is somehow active and represents an important step in the study of the interior of the red planet… This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
Short but concise!A clear message from NASA about the risks of cross contamination…. 😉 This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.
Your browser does not support HTML video. In this animation we can observe the rock called “Aberlady”, before and after drilling.In this case, it was not necessary to use any percussive movement because of the particular ease with which the Curiosity drill was able to penetrate the rock that is expected to be particularly rich in clay.As you can see from this animation, the drill… Read More »Curiosity Sol 2370, April 6, 2019
Interesting results on the interaction between dust storms and the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.Remains instead a big mystery the total absence of methane, despite the recent publication of the cross discovery made by both Curiosity and Mars ExpressSince it has been estimated that the methane in the Martian atmosphere would take about 300 years to destroy itself, if it disappears so suddenly… Read More »First results from ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter
After almost two months of aerobraking, MAVEN reached the desired orbit lowering its apogee from 6050 km to 4570 km, thus bringing its period of revolution from 4.4 hours to 3.7 hours.In this way the probe will make 6.6 orbits per day instead of the previous 5.3 and being closer to the ground will also be used for telecommunications with ground rovers, since it has… Read More »NASA’s MAVEN probe uses red planet’s atmosphere to change orbit
The drilling of the Martian soil by the heat probe HP3 has stopped at a depth of only 30 cm and for more than a month there is no way to go further.Despite the use of the seismometer to try to determine the nature of the obstacle encountered, at the moment it has not yet been possible to determine what is preventing the drilling to… Read More »InSight scientists unsure if they will be able to resume operation of HP3 heat probe
In relation to the video published yesterday by INAF (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/posts/2136248119791703?__tn__=-R) and related ESA article (see http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Mars_Express_matches_methane_spike_measured_by_Curiosity), in which it is not only mentioned the episodic emission of methane but also its abnormal sudden disappearance, I would like to propose you the reading of this interview to a famous Italian astrobiologist that I made about three years ago on behalf of my former collaborator page.I… Read More »Life on Mars? Interview with Prof. Giorgio Bianciardi (Written by: Marco De Marco, on: August 26, 2016) http://www.ilpianetamarte.tk/Files/Vita_su_Marte_intervista_a_Giorgio_Bianciardi/Vita_su_Marte_intervista_a_Giorgio_Bianciardi.php
The emission of methane on Mars detected in 2013 by NASA’s Curiosity rover has been confirmed, independently, by an international team of researchers led by Marco Giuranna of the National Institute of Astrophysics and involving colleagues from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and the Italian Space Agency, thanks to the measurements of the Italian PFS instrument (the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer on board the… Read More »A journey of 500 kilometers for that methane on Mars