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11 March 2008
Layers and Swiss Cheese
No, this isn’t a post about sandwiches. There just happen to be layers and swiss cheese (terrain) in the ice caps on Mars. The morning session that I attended today was all about the north and south polar ice caps, and what people are seeing there, especially with new high-resolution data. The poles of Mars are really interesting because every winter the atmosphere condenses out to form layers of carbon …
4 March 2008
It's a good camera…
It’s a busy week. All three of us are preparing to go to the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference next week and show off our research, which means that we have to make our research look good enough to show off. It’s a good thing the HiRISE team keeps releasing fantastic images so that I have something to post until we get to the conference. (we will be blogging about …
3 March 2008
Avalanches on Mars!
Check. This. Out. The HiRISE camera caught avalanches in action near the north pole of Mars. It’s spring right now, and the ice is thawing. That means that the polar layers are becoming unstable as the ice sublimates away, which leads to avalanches. What is awesome is that in this image, they caught more than one avalanche happening at the same time, implying that these things are super-common!
28 February 2008
Mars in 3D
So, Melissa just told me about this awesome site: Mars Unearthed It is full of amazing 3D images of Mars like this one. Grab your red-blue glasses (come on, admit that you own a pair) and take a look!
27 February 2008
Mapping Meridiani: Part 2
Last time, I gave some of the background information about my research. Now, armed with that knowledge, we can press forward and talk about what I do. I look for hydrated minerals. A hydrated mineral is a mineral with water trapped in its crystal structure. The crystal acts as a protective cage, keeping the water bound within it even when the atmospheric pressure is too low for liquid water to …
26 February 2008
Dunes in West Arabia Terra
I don’t have time to do a full post tonight, so I will placate you with a pretty picture: This picture was taken by the HiRISE instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). I always describe it to people as a spy satellite around mars because it takes SUPER high resolution pictures. The ones available online as jpegs don’t even come close to the true resolution of about 30 cm …
24 February 2008
Mapping Meridiani: Part 1
The mantra of Mars exploration is “follow the water,” and my research is no exception. Lately, I have been looking closely at the the Meridiani region on Mars, searching for evidence of water-formed minerals near some of the potential landing sites for the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. MSL‘s primary goal is to figure out whether Mars is, or ever has been, a habitable planet, so you can bet …
