Large impact basins on the near side of the Moon lack the annulus of thickened crust that far-side basins have. The difference can be linked to the thermal structure of the lunar crust.
planetary surfaces
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The Bumpy Search for Liquid Water at the South Pole of Mars
Studies since 2018 have provided competing explanations of bright radar reflections from the base of the south polar ice cap.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
What Happened When the Lithosphere of Venus Broke?
Although Venus does not have plate tectonics today, previous episodes of intense tectonic activity could have resulted in a distribution of crustal thickness and age resembling the plate we see today.
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Insights from Calibration of the HP³ Radiometer on InSight
A detailed analysis of Heatflow and Physical Properties Package Radiometer on the Mars InSight lander, including changing instrument sensitivity and calibration coefficients.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Local Heat Source Needed to Form Liquid Water Lake on Mars
Thermal modeling suggests that active magmatism in the past few hundred thousand years could account for the presence of a large lake previously hypothesized beneath the Red Planet’s southern ice cap.
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Insights into the Habitability of Mars
NASA’s Curiosity rover explored the Kimberley region of Mars to search for signs that the planet was once habitable.
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Tsunamis Splashed Ancient Mars
Massive meteorites likely slammed into a Martian ocean billions of years ago, unleashing tsunami waves up to 120 meters tall, a close study of a region of the Red Planet's terrain has found.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Objects That Slam into Ceres Remain on Its Surface
Hypervelocity impact experiments shed new light on the composition and evolution of the largest dwarf planet's little-known surface.
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Manganese Deposits on Mars Suggest a Highly Oxidized Past
Data from the Curiosity rover suggest that the surface of Mars has experienced more strongly oxidizing conditions than previously thought.