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.
Mars
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.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Rover and Lasers Unlock Clues to Early Martian Atmosphere
Sediments from the Curiosity rover and experiments using tanks of gas and laser beams helped reveal how water continued to flow on Mars after the planet lost its atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The Accidental Particle Accelerator Orbiting Mars
The radar aboard the Mars Express spacecraft can generate ion beams arcing through space above the planet, which could lead to a new way of studying the plasma surrounding it.