Mars – Page 44 – Our Awesome Universe

Space Stories: Near Earth Hazards, Mars Helicopter, and Super-Earths

Posted on May 31, 2022October 19, 2022 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): he NEO Surveyor infrared space telescope is optimized for finding, tracking and characterizing potentially hazardous asteroids and comets. (NASA/JPL)}

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Spacenews.com: “House committee questions proposed delay in NASA asteroid mission“

Members of the House Science Committee used a hearing about the planetary science decadal survey to criticize a proposal in NASA’s budget request to delay work on a space telescope to track near Earth objects (NEOs).

—NASA: “NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Captures Video of Record Flight“

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s black-and-white navigation camera has provided dramatic video of its record-breaking 25th flight, which took place on April 8. Covering a distance of 2,310 feet (704 meters) at a speed of 12 mph (5.5 meters per second), it was the Red Planet rotorcraft’s longest and fastest flight to date. (Ingenuity is currently preparing for its 29th flight.)

—Space.com: “James Webb Space Telescope will study two strange ‘super-Earths‘

The James Webb Space Telescope plans to explore strange, new rocky worlds in unprecedented detail...Rocky planets are more difficult to sight than gas giants in current telescope technology, due to the smaller planets’ relative brightness next to a star, and their relatively tiny size. But Webb’s powerful mirror and deep-space location should allow it to examine two planets slightly larger than Earth, known as “super-Earths.”

^{Image (Credit): Illustration showing what exoplanet 55 Cancri e could look like, based on current understanding of the planet. (webbtelescope.org)}

A Day in Astronomy: Mariner 9 Launched Towards Mars

Posted on May 30, 2022 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): NASA’s Mariner 9 spacecraft. (NASA)}

On this day in 1971, the Mariner 9 spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. It would become the first spacecraft from Earth to orbit Mars (or any other planet). It arrived at Mars on November 14, 1971. The Soviets were also working on their own program, launching their two Mars-bound spacecraft even earlier in May, but both arrived at Mars after Mariner 9.

The Mariner 9 spacecraft successfully mapped 85 percent of the Martian surface and also sent back thousands of images detailing the Martian surface as well as the two Martian moon, Deimos and Phobos. NASA’s last contact with the spacecraft was on October 27, 1972. The spacecraft was expected to remain in orbit until 2020, when it would crash onto the Martian surface.

You can read more about the Mariner 9 mission here.

^{Image (Credit): Mariner 9 image of the north polar cap of Mars. The image was taken on 12 October 1972, about one-half Martian month after summer solstice, at which time the cap had reached its minimal extent. The cap is about 1000 kilometers across. (NASA)}

Pic of the Week: Eerie Crater Marks the Spot

Posted on May 26, 2022 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): Martian crater Airy-0. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)}

This week’s pic is an eerie crater within the Airy Crater on Mars that marks an important spot – 0° longitude on Mars. You can see this position of this smaller crater, Airy-0, within the larger crater below. NASA posted this image on Instagram with a few more details:

The larger crater that sits within this crater, called the Airy Crater, originally defined zero longitude for Mars, but as higher resolution photos became available, a smaller feature was needed. This crater, called Airy-0 (zero) was selected because it did not need to adjust existing maps.

This image was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel.

The Airy Crater is names after Sir George Biddell Airy, the 7th Astronomer Royal, in 1850.

^{Image (Credit): Martian crater Airy. (Wikimedia Commons)}

Pic of the Week: Mars InSight Lander

Posted on May 19, 2022 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): Mars InSight lander on the Martian surface. (NASA)}

NASA recently shared an image showing the accumulation of Martian dust on the solar panels of the Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport (InSight) Mars lander. The photo above was taken on April 24, 2022.

The Mars Insight lander was launched May 5, 2018 to study the interior of Mars. The lander already accomplished its primary mission and has been on extended mission. It has detected more than 1,300 marsquakes. However, as a result of the dust buildup, the mission is expected to end this summer.

In the NASA news release, Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, stated:

InSight has transformed our understanding of the interiors of rocky planets and set the stage for future missions…We can apply what we’ve learned about Mars’ inner structure to Earth, the Moon, Venus, and even rocky planets in other solar systems.

You may recall an earlier posting about Martian dust and its impact on another mission.

The Little Martian Helicopter that Could

Posted on May 17, 2022 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): The Martian Ingenuity helicopter. (NASA)}

The Washington Post recently posted a story about the great success and potential demise of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter that accompanied the Perseverance Rover to the surface of Mars last year. It has already lasted for more than a year flying multiple missions, yet it may not make it through the Martian winter given the accumulation of dust on its solar panels.

The article, “NASA’s Mars helicopter was supposed to fly five times. It’s flown 28,” quotes Lori Glaze, the director of NASA’s planetary science division, who states, “We built it as an experiment…So it didn’t necessarily have the flight-qualified parts that we use on the big missions like Perseverance.” What an experiment it has been, setting the stage for bigger and bolder missions in the future to help us better understand the Martian surface.

You will also read about one symbolic piece of material that is part of the little helicopter – a postage-size piece of fabric from the Wright Brothers’ aircraft the Flyer (see below). I wonder what the Wright Brothers would think of this first flight on a distant planet?

You can read much more about Ingenuity’s adventures here.