Researchers discover microbial life on ice spires known as penitentes on the arid, sunlight-blasted upper reaches of Llullaillaco, one of the best earthly analogues for Mars.
Mars
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Curiosity Monitors Rare Global Dust Storm From Mars’s Surface
Since the 1970s, no surface platform had made meteorological measurements of a global dust storm on Mars, but last summer NASA’s Curiosity rover witnessed one of these rare events.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Lomonosov: The Crater That Started a Martian Mega Tsunami
Three billion years ago, on Mars, the shores of an ocean may have been flooded by a mega-tsunami. Now the crater left by the bolide impact that probably triggered the tsunami has been identified.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Peeling Back the Layers of the Climate of Mars
A new study ties layers in the polar deposits of Mars to changes in climate driven by orbital variations, constraining accumulation rates and further deciphering the climate history of the Red Planet.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Solar Properties Rival for Control of Mars’s Bow Shock
While most planetary bow shocks are controlled by the solar wind, at Mars the solar EUV flux is equally important.
Posted inNews
Microbes Spotted in “Polyextreme” Hot Springs
Hot springs that are as acidic as battery acid are home to single-celled microorganisms that may indicate that life could have been sustained on ancient Mars.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Detecting Carbonates on the Surface of Mars
A new study shows how a warm, wet climate weathered rocks on early Mars.
Posted inNews
First Possible Marsquake Detected
First earthquakes, then moonquakes, now marsquakes: a robotic lander comes through with the first detection of seismic activity on Mars.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Mars Lost Steam
Solar winds are not the main culprit in stripping the planet’s atmosphere, a new study suggests.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A New Way to Analyze Evidence of Martian Oceans
Mars’s aqueous past holds the answers to many questions about the Red Planet. A new study provides a tool for scouring planetary surfaces for ancient shorelines.