Houston we have a problem... in Mars

This is a theoretical problem on a Mars habitat and the astronauts have to move it from the planet.
Check the full reading:

the sounds on Mars

Check the link to hear some sounds collected by the rover Perseverance.

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1363937570363740164?s=19

Rover Perseverance and Jezero's Crater

Perseverance first photography of landed site. Credit: NASA/JPL

The Mars' rover, Perseverance, landed and it started to photograph the landscape of Jezero's crater site.

You can check an interactive map of the site here: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/An_interactive_map_to_explore_Jezero_crater

Or check this video made by ESA/DLR/FU Berlin:

Rover Perseverance

Mission Patch. Credits: NASA

The Rover Perseverance will be landing on Mars in February 18.

In the mean while, you can check information in this flyer or download the PDF

Credits: NASA

Mars arrival orbits

This animation shows the relative orbital paths of ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), the Schiaparelli Entry, descent and landing 

Latest news from Curiosity

Low concentration of methane in the atmosphere

The data collected by Curiosity rover revealed a poor concentration of methane in Mars. This results are interesting because they are in contradiction with the data collected by other missions in Mars' orbit.

The methane is important to scientist because it came from geological phenomena and biological process.

“This results minimized the probability of microbiological process in Mars, but there are many types of terrestrial microbes that do not generate methane.”

The Curiosity measured six times the concentration of methane in samples from the Martian atmosphere, in the period between October 2012 and June this year. In any cases, the robot has detected its presence. Due to the high sensitivity of the instrument used, the tunable laser spectrometer which follows the edge of the robot, scientists estimate that the concentration of atmospheric methane Mars should not exceed 1.3 parts per million. This value corresponds to roughly one-sixth of some previous estimates.

More info ScienceMag.

Water in the martian soil

After careful analysis, the fifth soil collection done by Curiosity rover in 'Rocknest' showed the presence of water, carbon dioxide, oxygen and sulfur. As a result of this analysis, it appears that the Martian soil is composed by 2% water, which leads scientists to project future missions to colonize the red planet.

"We know that there must be water on Mars so abundant and accessible," said Laurie Leshin, lead author of the study, concluding that "when we send people to Mars, they may collect soil from the Martian surface, heat it a little and draw water ". According to the study, we can extract about 0.47 liters of water from 0.03 cubic meter of soil.

More info in Space.com

Source: NASA

Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

One Year in Mars

Credit: NASA

The Curiosity Mars Rover celebrates one year (Earth's years) in Mars.
One year ago (August, 5), NASA's Curiosity rover survived to the Red Planet landing.

"Curiosity stuck close to its landing site for most of its first 12 months on the Red Planet. Observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggested that rocks in the area may have been exposed to liquid water long ago, and mission scientists wanted the rover to check out these landforms."

In September, Curiosity had rolled through an ancient streambed, where water had flowed perhaps hip-deep in places. In March, the mission team announced that Yellowknife Bay was indeed habitable billions of years ago.

The mission still running, and more to overcome in a near future.

More info in space.com

Fly through Hebes Chasma

Screenshot from the video showing where Hebes Chasma is located on Mars. Via ESA.

Read more: universetoday

"Glide through part of the largest canyon on Mars, Valles Marineris, in this stunning colour movie from ESA’s Mars Express. Valles Marineris is not just the largest canyon on Mars, but at 4000 km long, 200 km wide and 10 km deep it is the largest in the entire Solar System. The movie focuses on an enclosed 8 km-deep trough in the northern most part of Valles Marineris, called Hebes Chasma." source: ESA

Watch the video:

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Curiosity Rover Report (April 12, 2013): Mars' Bygone Atmosphere

Credit: NASA

Here is the latest news about the Curiosity Rover:

Remaining Martian Atmosphere Still Dynamic

Mars has lost much of its original atmosphere, but what's left remains quite active, recent findings from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity indicate. Rover ...

› Read More

Curiosity Resumes Science Investigations

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has resumed science investigations after recovery from a computer glitch that prompted the engineers to switch the rover ...

› Read More

Curiosity Mars Rover Sees Trend in Water Presence

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has seen evidence of water-bearing minerals in rocks near where it had already found clay minerals inside a drilled rock.

› Read More

Suit to walk on Mars

Scientist are working in a suit to walk on Mars.
There is a lot of information about a manned mission to mars on Wikipedia.
Here is the video from NBCNews about the suit:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Old streambed on martian surface

(Phys.org)—NASA's Curiosity rover mission has found evidence a stream once ran vigorously across the area on Mars where the rover is driving. There is earlier evidence for the presence of water on Mars, but this evidence—images of rocks containing ancient streambed gravels—is the first of its kind.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-curiosity-rover-streambed-martian-surface.html#jCp

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has discovered what appears to be an ancient streambed, suggesting that water once flowed in large volumes — perhaps hip-deep in places — across the Martian surface. (space.com)

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Curiosity rover mission has found evidence a stream once ran vigorously across the area on Mars where the rover is driving. There is earlier evidence for the presence of water on Mars, but this evidence -- images of rocks containing ancient streambed gravels -- is the first of its kind.

Scientists are studying the images of stones cemented into a layer of conglomerate rock. The sizes and shapes of stones offer clues to the speed and distance of a long-ago stream's flow. (NASA)

Landing on Mars

Fantastic simulation and real images taken by MARDI

Curiosity photos

Here is a set of photos from Curiosity Mars Rover:

Gale Crater Vista

This is the first 360-degree panorama in color of the Gale Crater landing site taken by NASA's Curiosity rover. The panorama was made from thumbnail versions of images taken by the Mast Camera.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Self Portrait on deck

This full-resolution self-portrait shows the deck of NASA's Curiosity rover from the rover's 

Navigation cameras. The back of the rover can be seen at the top left of the image, and two of the rover's right side wheels can be seen on the left. Part of the pointy rim of Gale Crater forms the lighter color strip in the background. Bits of gravel, about 1 centimeter in size, are visible on the deck of the rover.

Seams between the images have been minimized, but a few are still visible. The wide field of view introduces some distortion at the edges of the mosaic.

The "augmented reality" or AR tag seen in the middle of the image can be used in the future with smart phones to obtain more information about the mission. 

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

Clear Views on Mars

This image comparison shows a view through a Hazard-Avoidance camera on NASA's Curiosity rover before and after the clear dust cover was removed. 

Both images were taken by a camera at the front of the rover. Mount Sharp, the mission's ultimate destination, looms ahead.

The view on the left, with the dust cover on, is one quarter of full resolution, while the view on the right is full resolution. Full- resolution images taken with the dust cover still on are not available at this time. The only other instrument on Curiosity with a dust cover is the Mars Hand Lens Imager (or MAHLI), located on the rover's arm. In this case, the dust cover is not removed but will be opened when needed.

This way, the instrument is protected from dust that  may be generated from other tools on the rover's arm, in addition to wind-blown dust.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

Curiosity's Landscape Portrait in Context

This picture of the Martian landing site of NASA's Curiosity rover puts a color view obtained by the rover in the context of a computer simulation derived from images acquired from orbiting spacecraft. The view looks north, showing a distant ridge that is the north wall and rim of Gale Crater. 

The MAHLI image was taken while the camera's transparent dust cover was still on. 

Curiosity's descent coated the cover with a thin film of dust.

The computer simulation is a digital elevation model that incorporates data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA's Mars Express. 

The peak seen on the left-side of the MAHLI image is about 24 kilometers distant with a height of about 1,150 meters high. The box with arrows at the upper left indicates direction. The arrow pointing up is 'up' with respect to the gravity of Mars. The arrow pointing to the right is east. North would be an arrow pointing into the image (that is, the MAHLI view is toward the north).

The main purpose of Curiosity's MAHLI camera is to acquire close-up, high-resolution views of rocks and soil at the rover's Gale Crater field site. The camera is capable of focusing on any target at distances of about 2.1 centimeters to infinity. This means it can, as shown here, also obtain pictures of the Martian landscape. 

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS 

Image and text credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech (click to obtain more images and in high resolution)

First images from Mars Curiosity Rover

Curiosity Mars Rover has landed. Here is the first image from Mars Science Lab:

Credit: JPL/NASA

Curiosity's Surroundings

"This is one of the first images taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT). It was taken through a "fisheye" wide-angle lens on the left "eye" [...]. The clear dust cover that protected the camera during landing has been sprung open. Part of the spring that released the dust cover can be seen at the bottom right, near the rover's wheel. On the top left, part of the rover's power supply is visible. Some dust appears on the lens even with the dust cover off. The cameras are looking directly into the sun, so the top of the image is saturated. Looking straight into the sun does not harm the cameras. The lines across the top are an artifact called "blooming" that occurs in the camera's detector because of the saturation.  As planned, the rover's early engineering images are lower resolution. Larger color images from other cameras are expected later in the week [...]." Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Text credit: NASA/JPL

Curiosity Mars Rover Landing (Live)

Watch Curiosity's Landing!

Aug 5, 2012     10:31 p.m.   Pacific
Aug 6, 2012     1:31 a.m.   Eastern
Aug 6, 2012     5:31 a.m.   Universal

Live broadcasting by Ustream

Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror

"Team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory share the challenges of the Curiosity Mars rover's final minutes to landing on the surface of Mars." (JPL youtube page)

Here is an image of the landing operation (credit: JPL/NASA):



Follow the Curiosity Mars Rover landing here (LIVE). 
Aug 5, 2012     10:31 p.m.   Pacific
Aug 6, 2012     1:31 a.m.   Eastern
Aug 6, 2012     5:31 a.m.   Universal

Credit: JPL/NASA

The science instruments in this rover are tools for acquiring information about the geology, atmosphere, environmental conditions, and potential biosignatures on Mars. 

The instruments that carry Mars Science Laboratory are:

• Cameras
• Spectrometers
• Radiation Detectors
• Environmental Sensors
• Atmospheric Sensors

font JPL/NASA website

Where is curiosity right now?

NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, is slated to land on the Red Planet on Aug. 6, 2012 (EDT). Watch a real-time visualization of its journey through space and get up-to-date data sets using NASA's Eyes on the Solar System 3-D interactive. (Free browser plug-in required.)

One of the challenges to NASA's rover is the land site.

According to NASA "the car-sized rover will arrive closer to its ultimate destination for science operations, but also closer to the foot of a mountain slope that poses a landing hazard."

This image shows changes in the target landing area for Curiosity,
the rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory project. I
mage credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS

"The landing target ellipse had been approximately 20 kilometers wide and 25 kilometers long. Continuing analysis of the new landing system's capabilities has allowed mission planners to shrink the area to approximately 7 kilometers wide and 20 kilometers long, assuming winds and other atmospheric conditions are as predicted.

Even with the smaller ellipse, Curiosity will be able to touch down at a safe distance from steep slopes at the edge of Mount Sharp."

font NASA

That day will be a stressful day at NASA (at least, 7 minutes of terror):

Mars Express updates

Ancient northern ocean on Mars. Credit: ESA

ESA's Mars Express radar gives strong evidence for former Mars ocean

ESA's Mars Express has returned strong evidence for an ocean once covering part of Mars. Using radar, it has detected sediments reminiscent of an ocean floor within the boundaries of previously identified, ancient shorelines on Mars.

in ESA.

Mars Express reveals wind-blown deposits on Mars

New images from ESA’s Mars Express show the Syrtis Major region on Mars. Once thought to be a sea of water, the region is now known to be a volcanic province dating back billions of years.


in ESA

Problem in Mars

I put this problem to my Physics students (K12) a few years ago:

Problem

Assuming that a team of astronauts on Mars is within a dome, and has a problem in the air supply, how long will it take to exhaust the oxygen?

Answer

To solve this problem, we first have to know the volume of air that exists within the dome. Here is where many of my student give up because they don't know the dimensions of the dome. Now, it's time to your imagination, try to give those dimensions (don't exaggerate too much). For example, I assume a dome with 5 m radius. I think with that dimension, our astronauts will have enough space for them and their equipment (if not, just redo the calculations for a dome with larger radius). Oh, another detail: How many astronauts? Well, a trip to the red planet should not be more astronauts than those who go to the ISS. However, suppose a journey with five astronauts.

Now, let's calculate the volume of air inside the dome. The volume of the sphere is given by the following mathematical expression:

V_sphere = 4/3 π R³ [1] 

For our dome (half of the sphere) using [1], will be:

V_dome  =   V_sphere /2 <=> V_dome = 1/2(4/3 π R³)   <=> 

<=>  V_dome  = 2/3 π R³ [2] 

Substituting in the equation [2] and performing the calculations, we have the volume of the dome with the approximate value of 262  m³ .

Each cubic meter has 1000 liters of air capacity, then we have 262 thousand liters of fresh air.

The air has about 21% of oxygen and by 17.5% should be enough to leave the dome to the evacuation craft (obviously exist an emergency spacecraft). To get from breathing fresh air to an absolutely suffocating air, we make the difference between 21 percent of 262 thousand liters and 17.5 percent of 262 thousand liters. This gives us 9170 liters of passing through oxygen.

The next step is to determine how much oxygen does a human consume. It was difficult to find a reliable source. This article, about the installation in 2006 of a new system of oxygen in the International Space Station, provides a clue:

"During normal operations, it will provide 5 kg per day, enough to support six crew members."

Let us assume that astronauts, and with the stress situation, need about 900 g of oxygen per day, or 0.9 kg/day. How many liters represents that value? Oxygen has a molecular weight of 16 g/mol. So the oxygen gas, which is formed by molecules of O₂ , has a mass of 32 grams per mole. One mole of gas, at normal temperature and pressure conditions, occupies 22.4 liters (we assume that the conditions in dome are the same conditions as we have in Earth). That is:

0.9 kg x (1000 g / 1 kg) x (1 mol O₂ / 32 g O₂) x (22.4 L / 1 mole of O₂) 

This gives an oxygen consumption of 630 liters per person per day. Let's use a more reasonable rate:

(630 L / day) x (1 day / 24 hours) x (1 hour / 60 mins)

Now we have the rate of oxygen consumption usable 0.4375 liters per minute. We're almost there.

Then fill the dome with the astronauts. The five occupants consume 2.1875 liters per minute. Thus, for the final calculation:

9179 L x (1 minute / 2.1875 L)

It will take about 4196 minutes, or 69 hours and 56 minutes, to the suffocating air. In other words, the astronauts will have less than three days to restore the oxygen provided by the air supply or escape to the emergency ship.

NASA Mars-Bound Rover Begins Study in Space

An artist's concept of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft during its cruise in space. The spacecraft's rover (Curiosity) and descent stage are tucked inside the aeroshell. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

In its way to Mars, Curiosity starting to monitoring the radiation in space. The collected data will represent an important step to conduct a future human mission to the red planet.

NASA’s car-sized Curiosity rover has begun monitoring space radiation during its 8-month trip from Earth to Mars. The research will aid in planning for future human missions to the Red Planet.

Full article in Clarksville Online.