Latest news with #CuriosityRover
NDTV
a day ago
- Science
- NDTV
"Mushroom" On Mars: Is This A Sign Of Life On Red Planet?
An old image captured by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has resurfaced, intriguing people because of a peculiar object seen in it. The image was taken on September 19, 2013, but the fresh detail was recently spotted by Scott Waring, self-proclaimed UFO hunter. Highlighting a portion in the photo, Waring said he "found a mushroom". The details were soon picked up by social media users who also pointed out that a formation in the picture resembles a toadstool or a mushroom. From aliens to UFOs, people have a number of conspiracy theories, but the image has reignited the same old question: Is there life on Mars? According to NASA, Curiosity took that image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), which is located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm. Waring, in his blog post, claimed that he was looking through the NASA site and found a mushroom at the bottom centre of the photo. "I'm not sure how or why NASA could overlook such a NASA's mission it to find life on other planets and moons," he added. He argued that the object has a curved bottom part of a stem, the same as those on Earth. The top is round, uneven and wrinkled. "NASA should have poked it, bumped it, knocked it over, cut it open with their tools on Curiosity rover or at least use that million dollar laser they burn rocks and dirt with in many photos," Waring wrote. Unlike Waring, another scientist has taken a different approach. Dr Gareth Dorrian, a planetary physicist from the University of Birmingham, said that the object is not a living organism, but looks like a flat, disc-shaped rock. "My best guess would be they were not originally in that position, but like two rocks lying in the desert, one just below the surface and the other on the surface above it. Over time the wind could gradually blow the sand and dust away, and the top one would gradually settle onto the bottom one," Daily Mail quoted Dr Dorrian as saying. Is there life on Mars? The question of life on Mars is a complex one. While there's currently no definitive evidence of life on the Red Planet, scientists continue to explore the possibility. The Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars since 2012, discovering evidence of past water on Mars and studying the planet's geology. NASA's Curiosity Rover has found organic molecules, which are building blocks of life, in Martian rocks. Methane has also been detected in the Martian atmosphere, which could be a sign of microbial life. So far, there is no definitive evidence of life on Mars, however, ongoing and future missions will continue to explore the Red Planet's habitability and potential for life.
Top Gear
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
This moon rover uses a battery management system from a super fast e-bike
This moon rover uses a battery management system from a super fast e-bike The ultra-quick Voxan Wattman lends its coding to a buggy aiming for the moon's south pole... Skip 7 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Turn on Javascript to see all the available pictures. 1 / 7 Venturi Space has unveiled its latest moon rover, the Mona Luna. Sporting 'hyper-deformable' wheels, smart batteries and a battery management system also used in the Voxan Wattman, (aka the world's fastest electric motorbike), it's part of a European effort to go to the moon's south pole... by 2030. That aforementioned fancy coding to manage the super fast bike's battery – and specifically heat management – has been adapted to give the moon rover special powers to cope with its unusual environment. Advertisement - Page continues below These energy powerhouses – developed and tested in Monaco – have to withstand extreme temperatures, intense solar radiation and be protected against shocks, short circuits and shunts from a potentially rough landing. Nothing akin to a tussle at your local charging station point, but still. The lunar rover's wheels might not be as blue as these Michelin ones, but the 'hyper-deformable' circles need to not only be able to negotiate potholes (literally) the size of moon craters, but also work without atmosphere. Like the devices used in the Apollo missions and 2011 Curiosity rover, the wheels are puncture-proof and radiation-resistant. Unlike those earlier models though, these new wheels support a monster two tonnes, won't freeze in -240*C temps and last over 3,100 miles. Neat. Mona Luna is the third rover in Venturi Space's range. There's the FLIP and the Flex, both due to head out for some celestial fun with SpaceX in 2026 and 2027. Venturi Space also have designs on a rover for Mars, too. Advertisement - Page continues below You might recognise the Venturi name from its humble 1980s beginnings, persistent attempts at world record EV speeds, the sub-zero Venturi Antarctica or its Formula E team. Reckon it'll get to the lunar south pole, too? Top Gear Newsletter Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Success Your Email*
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
Life on Mars? Mysterious 'mushroom' is spotted on the Red Planet in photo snapped by NASA's Curiosity rover
Scientists have spent decades scouring the Martian surface for any signs of life. Now, a photo snapped by NASA 's Curiosity rover has sparked speculation that the hunt might finally be over. A picture taken from the Martian surface appears to show a 'mushroom' growing on the Red Planet. The strange discovery has led some alien hunters to declare: ' been found!' The photo was taken by the Curiosity rover on September 19, 2013, but was spotted in the archives by UFO hunter Scott Waring. Mr Waring says: 'This object has a curved bottom part of a stem, same as those on Earth. 'I'm not sure how or why NASA could overlook such a NASA's mission is to find life on other planets and moons.' However, scientists say there is a much simpler explanation. NASA's Curiosity rover was launched to Mars in 2011 with the goal of discovering whether the planet had the right conditions to support microscopic life. To help this search, the rover is equipped with multiple cameras, a drill to gather rock samples, and sets of tools to analyse the chemical compositions of samples. However, despite a decade of searching, Curiosity has never found any evidence that Mars is or ever was home to any form of alien life. But that hasn't stopped wild speculation following many of the rover's discoveries. Following his discovery of this archived image, Mr Waring claims that the rocky structure is a mushroom that has 'clearly pushed up out of the Mars dirt.' He adds: 'NASA should have poked it, bumped it, knocked it over, cut it open with their tools on Curiosity rover or at least use that million dollar laser they burn rocks and dirt with.' And Mr Waring isn't the only one who agrees. Commenters on social media flocked to share their support for his claims. One wrote: Looks like a mushroom to me! NASA know far more about MARS than they let on.' While another boldly claimed: 'What people fail to realize is if life is found on just one other planet in the solar system, then that basically means there is life everywhere in the Universe mathematically.' However, scientists are not convinced by this supposed evidence. Dr Gareth Dorrian, a planetary physicist from the University of Birmingham, told MailOnline that this is simply a 'flat roughly disc-shaped rock sitting atop a smaller stone at the bottom.' 'My best guess would be they were not originally in that position, but like two rocks lying in the desert, one just below the surface and the other on the surface above it,' he explained. 'Over time the wind could gradually blow the sand and dust away and the top one would gradually settle onto the bottom one.' Dr Dorrian points out that wind-driven processes like this on Earth often produce remarkable and strange formations. Alternatively, these 'mushrooms' could be geological structures called concretions, which formed billions of years ago when there was liquid water on Mars. As water flows through sediment, it dissolves the minerals and rearranges them in a more compact form to leave behind a solid block. Since these are harder than the surrounding rock, they are often left standing above the surface. Just like the hoodoo rock spires of the American southwest, these structures often take on a mushroom-like shape as the wind carves away the softer bedrock to leave a thin 'stem'. Part of the reason that Curiosity didn't stop to take any more measurements, as Mr Waring suggests, is that these are common on the Martian surface. Additionally, Dr Dorrian points out that, even if there were life on Mars, the chances of a living organism being found on the Martian surface are extremely low. The atmospheric pressure at the Martian surface is roughly equivalent to that found 20 miles above the surface of Earth, meaning the atmosphere is very thin. This allows a constant stream of ultraviolet and particle radiation in the form of cosmic rays to bombard the surface. Dr Dorrian says: 'This unhealthy combination of radiation is well known to damage complex molecules like DNA and would quickly sterilise the surface where this image was taken.' As if that wasn't bad enough, Dr Dorrian notes that temperature above ground would make it impossible for any organism to survive. Temperatures swing from a comfortable 20°C (68°F) during the day to -100°C (-148°F) at night, well below the freezing point of water and far colder than anywhere on Earth. 'No known forms of life can simultaneously tolerate these extremes of temperatures, radiation levels, and low atmospheric pressure, including mushrooms,' says Dr Dorrian. 'If life does exist on Mars, it is more likely to be found below ground, such as in underground reserves of water, where it would be shielded from the harsh environment at the surface.' That means this photograph almost certainly shows a common and naturally occurring rock formation, rather than life growing in an impossibly harsh environment.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Part of Mars is now named after this UNM researcher. Here's why.
Jun. 14—In his high school yearbook, Horton Newsom wrote down his plan for the future: "College and then Mars." Now, a 100-meter-wide landmark on the Red Planet bears his name. For decades, Newsom devoted his life to research in outer space, primarily at the University of New Mexico, where he worked as a planetary scientist for nearly 40 years and even helped operate a rover that explored Mars. On his way to visit his adult children in California in April 2024, Newsom suffered a medical episode as he was driving, causing him to lose control, speed into an intersection and cause a crash that killed him. More than a year later, a geographic feature on Mars was named the "Horton Newsom Point" for his decades of work devoted to researching the solar system. "He would be so happy, he would feel so honored," said his wife, Joan Newsom. "It's a pretty important feature, and the Mars Curiosity rover, which he was a project scientist on, it'll eventually go by that feature." The feature that bears his name is known as a yardang, a ridge created by wind erosion. This one sits near the summit of a mountain in the center of Gale Crater on Mars. For Joan Newsom, the honor comes after many months of coping with the tragic crash. "I nearly died myself in the car accident. So it's been a year of literally getting back on my feet," she said. "He was my best friend and soulmate, so not having him around, like, I'm so thankful that I'm alive, but I just miss having him around." Zach Gallegos, a planetary scientist at UNM, also misses him, saying that they had worked together in some capacity since meeting in 2006 when Gallegos was an undergraduate student. "We'd sort of gone past the realm of normal student- adviser relationship. He and I were basically research collaborators," Gallegos said. "I would be in his office sometimes four or five hours a day, where we were just looking at cool stuff that the rover was doing and making actual scientific discoveries." While he thinks it's a "really nice thing" that a portion of the planet they studied together is named after his mentor and colleague, Gallegos is looking to other parts of outer space to pay homage to Horton Newsom. "I'm actually right now looking at this crater on the moon... and I am working on getting the crater named after Horton," Gallegos said. "He wasn't just a Mars scientist. ... Horton, early on in his career, was looking at the interior of planets and the moon, so high-pressure experiments involving the core and mantle boundaries for other planets, and so I think that it's just fitting that he should also have a crater named after him on the moon." Horton Newsom's time in academia began near his hometown of Oakland, California, at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1974, where he studied geology, earning a bachelor's degree. He went on to earn a master's and Ph.D. in geosciences from the University of Arizona, then continued his journey east of his home state, landing a job at UNM in 1986. In addition to his research on campus, Horton Newsom helped operate NASA's rover named Curiosity, which is traveling across Mars. According to his longtime colleague at UNM's planetary science department, Laura Crossey, "he knew every single thing that that rover drove over." "That's one of the things about Horton. He was enamored and fascinated by the Red Planet, probably since his youth," Crossey said. "It was super exciting and really a great honor that one of the most amazing features that's viewed — it's been a target for a long, long time — and to name that after Horton was really a marvelous thing that the international planetary community could do."
Digital Trends
13-06-2025
- Science
- Digital Trends
NASA's red planet rover shares a cool close-up of Mars mud
NASA's Curiosity rover has been tootling across the martian surface since 2012, its lofty quest to determine if Mars ever had environmental conditions suitable for microbial life. While it's already shared strong evidence that the red planet once had the right conditions for such a scenario, Curiosity continues to learn more about Mars through science expeditions that include drilling for rock samples that it then analyzes in its onboard laboratory. Recommended Videos On Thursday, the hardy rover shared a striking image (top and below) showing its latest drilling site, with the disturbed Mars mudstone appearing so close to the lens that you feel like you can almost reach out and touch it. Take a closer look and marvel at the astonishing detail present in the image, and then consider that it exists not on Earth but in a place currently some 180 million miles from where you're sat now. Meet 'Altadena,' my 43rd drill hole. It's named after a city near where I was built back on Earth. I've got more sampling to do as a I scale Mount Sharp, unraveling its history one rocky layer at a time. — Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) June 12, 2025 'Meet 'Altadena,' my 43rd drill hole,' Curiosity said in its post. 'It's named after a city near where I was built back on Earth. I've got more sampling to do as a I scale Mount Sharp, unraveling its history one rocky layer at a time.' The mudstone on Mars is a type of sedimentary rock formed from very fine particles of silt and clay that settled in ancient water bodies. It's essentially the remnants of ancient lakebeds, suggesting that Mars held liquid water for an extensive period a long time ago. Curiosity is conducting its work on Mount Sharp, which it's been exploring for much of its time on Mars. The feature is an 18,000-foot-high mountain in the middle of Gale Crater, and whose sedimentary layers, formed over billions of years, hold clues to Mars' watery past and potential habitability. Curiosity's mission was originally supposed to last no more than two years but was extended indefinitely after it successfully met its initial goals. In 2021, NASA landed the even more powerful Perseverance rover on Mars in a mission that complements the Curiosity rover by advancing the search for signs of ancient microbial life on the planet.
