Mars once had a thicker atmosphere and liquid water on its surface.  Nearly every month data from satellites and multiple ground-based systems provide new evidence confirming what was once speculation about the watery past of Mars.  But how much water and how long ago did this water exist? A large amount of water still exists on Mars... Continue Reading →
The evidence continues to accumulate: Mars used to be wet. It used to have a much more active hydrological cycle. The Mars Couriosity Rover has been revealing the complex geology of Mars including the deposition of sedimentary rocks (Curious Geology: Stunning Images Reveal a Complex Mars) but we have been able to study the watery... Continue Reading →
Here is a puzzle: Â Where can you stand on dry ground and look up to see a river channel above you? Yes, New Orleans is a good answer. Â However, I'm talking about looking up 100 feet from a non man-made location. Â There are many places on Earth and possibly on Mars where such... Continue Reading →
The NASA rover Curiosity has been making its way across the floor of Gale crater on Mars since 2012. It has closely examined a wide range of rock types which reveal that this location on Mars has experienced a long history of variable climates. From water-infused bedrock, water-deposited conglomerates, wind-formed fossilized dunes to active sand... Continue Reading →
Our perceptions of the age of a subject are frequently based on our common experience with similar subjects. Most people have some ability to guess the age of children with seemingly very little prior information.  We might call this ability to guess age our intuition but this "intuition" is the scientific method working automatically in our minds.  Our... Continue Reading →
There are spacecraft and rovers at work right this moment collecting data on planets, moons and other solar system bodies.  These sophisticated instruments are beaming back data to Earth on a nearly daily basis. Much of that data would not be easy for most of us to interpret but the images they send back give... Continue Reading →
There is much interest in determining the likelihood of future asteroid and meteorite impacts on Earth. It is very difficult to estimate the probabilities of such events but we can learn something by looking to one of our solar system neighbors - Mars. Because the surface of Mars changes so slowly new impacts there can... Continue Reading →
How different is the surface of Mars today compared to one thousand, a hundred thousand or a million years ago? The photo below was snapped by the Curiosity Rover which has spent several years trekking across an ancient lake-bed inside a large crater on Mars. It is a barren, forbidding but strangely familiar and beautiful... Continue Reading →
The Mars Curiosity Rover continues to make its way through the basin of Gale Crater on Mars.  I’ve provided periodical updates on its progress as it makes its way toward a large mountain in the center of the crater. For the past six months the rover has not moved much, spending its days using the... Continue Reading →
News of evidence that Mars was once host to a volume of water equivalent of the Arctic ocean on Earth has been hitting the newswires. This might sound like new news but this is really just a more comprehensive analysis of work that has been ongoing for several years. Preliminary analysis had already suggested that... Continue Reading →
Eleven years into a three-month primary mission the Opportunity rover is still making discoveries on Mars. Talk about exceeding your specs! That is eleven years of observations of rocks, craters, sand dunes, weather conditions and the occasional glance into the skies to do some astronomy. To celebrate its 11th anniversary the rover has just climbed to... Continue Reading →
The Mars Curiosity Rover continues to make its way through the basin of Gale Crater on Mars. Â I've provided periodical updates on its progress as it makes its way toward a large mountain in the center of the crater. Â Recently it has driven down almost 1000 feet to arrive at nearly the lowest elevation point... Continue Reading →
Our perceptions of the age of an object are frequently based on our common experience but I have found that for many people those common experiences are of little help when it comes to examining objects for which a person has no experience at all.  A couple of years ago this really hit me as... Continue Reading →
When I last updated you on the excursion that the Curiosity rover has been making across the floor of Gale Crater on Mars I noted that the images it has been beaming back had been getting rather routine. Â But the rover has slowly been moving downhill toward what seems more and more likely to have... Continue Reading →
Just how fast are some rocks on Mars eroding? A few months ago I asked a Martian rock that question (see: My Interview with a Martian: A Story of Origins) and I was not given a very satisfying answer. Well, that rock can be excused for being a bit confused about time given how boring... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 