http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... glass.htmlMysteriously dark Mars regions are made of glass
15 April 2012
Magazine issue 2860.
THEY look dark, but mysterious expanses on Mars are mainly made of glass forged in past volcanoes.
The dark regions make up more than 10 million square kilometres of the Martian northern lowlands, but their composition wasn't clear. Past spectral measurements indicated that they are unlike dark regions found elsewhere on the Red Planet, which consist mainly of basalt.
Briony Horgan and Jim Bell of Arizona State University in Tempe analysed near-infrared spectra of the regions, gathered by the Mars Express orbiter. They found absorption bands characteristic of the iron in volcanic glass, a shiny substance similar to obsidian that forms when magma cools too fast for its minerals to crystallise (Geology, DOI: 10.1130/G32755.1).
The glass likely takes the form of sand-sized grains, as it does in glass-rich fields in Iceland. The spectra suggest the grains are coated with silica-rich "rinds".
On Earth, such rinds coat volcanic glass weathered by water. How the glassy grains formed on Mars is unknown, but Horgan says magma from Martian volcanoes interacting with water ice and snow is a possibility. That would make these regions (pictured right) potential hotspots for alien life because they would have held chemical-rich water - a key ingredient for life.
16 February 2015 Last updated at 16:00 GMT
''Mystery Mars haze baffles scientists''
By Rebecca Morelle Science Correspondent, BBC News
''The plume appeared twice in 2012, and stretched for 1,000km''
Full article here, http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31491805
Beat me to itA cylinder just landed on the heath. I'll pop out and have a look.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31953800A Nasa spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet has detected a mysterious aurora that reaches deep into the Martian atmosphere
Did they take into account volcanic activity?
I bet they didn't.
The Bean Bag theory of planetary formation - punch it in here, and it bulges out there!The weird thing about the Tharsis dome is that it is directly opposite Hellas crater, the largest crater on Mars. It is almost as if the material of the planet has been pushed up from underneath by the impact, like one of those pin sculpture toys or something.
It's also worth bearing in mind that some forms of life don't need the full 15 psi of pressure that we need. Microscopic life, insects, some plants, etc."Mars' atmosphere is said to be 100 times thinner than that of the Earth."
Compare say the summit of Everest (300 mbar) with the surface of Hellas Planitia on Mars though (12 mbar) and the difference is a mere 25 times.
These days, Mars is arid and cold with a very thin atmosphere, but scientists believe it was once enveloped by a protective "magnetosphere".
This magnetic shield protected the planet against cosmic and solar particle radiation, and created a greenhouse effect that allowed liquid water to exist on the surface.
However, when Mars lost its protective magnetosphere three or more billion years ago, the atmosphere was ravished by solar winds, resulting in most of the water evaporating, and the rest freezing.
It is believed that nearly a seventh of the ancient ocean of Mars is now trapped in the planet's northern polar ice cap.
NASA's Planetary Science Division Director James Green revealed that the space agency is using simulation tools to assess the feasibility of creating an artificial magnetosphere around Mars.
This would allow at least part of the ice cap to melt, and water to pool on the surface once more.
It could even extend the ability for oxygen extraction, and allowing scientists to set up "open air" greenhouses for plant production on the Red Planet.
The shield itself would consist of a large "dipole", which is a close electric circuit powerful enough to generate an artificial magnetic field, according to Popular Mechanics.
This would leave Mars in the relatively protected "magnetotail" of the magnetic field, allowing the planet to slowly rebuild its atmosphere over a number of years.
The proposal was outlined by Green at the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop at NASA's headquarters in Washington.
I'm not qualified at all, but...NASA scientists are exploring the idea of putting a magnetic shield around Mars, in an attempt to restore the Red Planet's atmosphere and make it habitable.
I'll leave it to others more qualified to tell me how feasible or ludicrous this is.
That's true, but you run into problems with radiation, little fresh water, and very little workable atmosphere.It's also worth bearing in mind that some forms of life don't need the full 15 psi of pressure that we need. Microscopic life, insects, some plants, etc.
The symposium paper that's the source for this artificial magnetosphere news is accessible at:
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/V2050/pdf/8250.pdf
Most of Mars' air was 'lost to space'
It is clear now that a big fraction of the atmosphere of Mars was stripped away to space early in its history.
A new analysis, combining measurements by the Maven satellite in orbit around the Red Planet and the Curiosity rover on its surface, indicate there was probably once a shroud of gases to rival even what we see on Earth today.
The composition would have been very different, however.
The early Martian air, most likely, had a significant volume of carbon dioxide.
That would have been important for the climate, as the greenhouse gas might have been able to warm conditions sufficiently to support nascent lifeforms.
That's definitely 3d CG imagery, since the hills move at slightly different speeds depending on the relief- you couldn't do that with a flat image, even if it were very detailed.We've gotplenty of Mars threads, so this seemed as good a place as any to place these... motion videos using data from Mars to give the sense of flying over it - not sure if they are using stills or CG...