Plasma density irregularity is nothing new on Mars, but the accompanying magnetic field irregularity observed on NASA’s MAVEN satellite is.
Mars
A Rare Look at How Life First Colonizes Cooling Lava Tubes
Life finds a way, and when volcanoes form new land, it gets going as soon as temperatures drop to manageable levels—even underground.
What Australian Lakes Showed Us About Martian Hydrology
Studying the hydrology of the Yilgarn Craton reveals how the Red Planet may have evolved.
Perseverance Spots Organic Matter on Mars
The Mars Perseverance rover has detected intact organic molecules near previously-described potential signatures of ancient life, according to a new study published today in Science Advances.
Carbon-Rich Rocks May Have Cooled the Ancient Martian Atmosphere
Data from the Perseverance rover indicate abundant carbonates in Jezero Crater, a finding with implications for Mars’s climatic history.
What Winds Whip Up Otherworldly Waves?
New research goes back to the basics to explain how atmospheric conditions affect the creation of wind-driven waves on other worlds.
Martian Aerosols Reveal Dynamics of Dust and Cloud Transport
A new study presents a nine-Martian-year survey of dust and water ice clouds vertical distribution, key drivers of the planet’s climate.
What Makes Mars’s Magnetotail Flap?
Spacecraft reveal a key driver of up-and-down motions of thin, current-carrying plasma sheets on the nightside of Mars.
Curiosity Stumbles Upon Evidence of Ancient Martian Winds
Researchers have found evidence of a sandstorm on Mars that occurred about 3.6 billion years ago.
