Latest news with #JPL-Caltech
Yomiuri Shimbun
06-06-2025
- Science
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Gravity Study Shows Why the Moon's Two Sides Look So Different
NASA / JPL-Caltech / Handout via Reuters The moon's near side, at left, and far side are seen in a combination of undated images from observations made by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. WASHINGTON (Reuters) — An exhaustive examination of lunar gravity using data obtained by two NASA robotic spacecraft is offering new clues about why the two sides of the moon — the one perpetually facing Earth and the other always facing away — look so different. The data from the U.S. space agency's GRAIL, or Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, mission indicates that the moon's deep interior has an asymmetrical structure, apparently caused by intense volcanism on its nearside billions of years ago that helped shape its surface features. The researchers discovered that the lunar nearside flexes slightly more than the farside during its elliptical orbit around Earth thanks to our planet's gravitational influence — a process called tidal deformation. This indicates differences in the two sides of the lunar interior, they said, specifically in the geological layer called the mantle. 'Our study shows that the moon's interior is not uniform: the side facing Earth — the nearside — is warmer and more geologically active deep down than the farside,' said Ryan Park, supervisor of the Solar System Dynamics Group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and lead author of the study published on May 14 in the journal Nature. The moon's nearside is covered by vast plains, called mare, formed from molten rock that cooled and solidified billions of years ago. Its farside has much more rugged terrain, with few plains. Some scientists have hypothesized that intense volcanism within the nearside that caused radioactive, heat-generating elements to accumulate on that side of the mantle drove the surface differences observed today. The new findings offer the strongest evidence yet to support this notion. The researchers estimated that the nearside mantle on average is about 100 C-200 C hotter than the farside, with the thermal difference perhaps sustained by radioactive decay of the elements thorium and titanium on the nearside. 'The moon's nearside and farside look very different, as shown by differences in topography, crustal thickness and the amount of heat-producing elements inside,' Park said. The moon's diameter of about 3,475 kilometers is a bit more than a quarter of Earth's diameter. The lunar mantle is the layer located beneath the crust and above the core, spanning a depth about 35 kilometers-1,400 kilometers under the surface. The mantle makes up roughly 80% of the moon's mass and volume and is composed mostly of the minerals olivine and pyroxene, similar to Earth's mantle. 'The fact that the detected asymmetry in the mantle matches the pattern of the surface geology — for instance, differences in the abundance of the approximately 3-4 billion-year-old mare basalts [volcanic rock] between the nearside and the farside — suggests that processes which drove ancient lunar volcanism are active today,' said Caltech computational planetary scientist and study coauthor Alex Berne, affiliated with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory working on the design of gravity sensors for missions to the outer solar system. The researchers spent years analyzing data from GRAIL's Ebb and Flow spacecraft, which orbited the moon from December 2011 to December 2012. 'Our study delivers the most detailed and accurate gravitational map of the moon to date,' Park said. 'This enhanced gravity map is a critical foundation for developing lunar Positioning, Navigation and Timing systems, which are essential for the success of future lunar exploration missions. By improving our understanding of the moon's gravity field, it contributes to establishing a precise lunar reference frame and time system, enabling safer and more reliable navigation for spacecraft and surface operations,' Park added. The same approach employed here using gravity data to assess the lunar interior, the researchers said, could be applied to other bodies in the solar system such as Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Ganymede, two worlds of interest in the search for potential life beyond Earth. In the meantime, the new findings add to the understanding of Earth's eternal companion. 'The moon plays a vital role in stabilizing Earth's rotation and generating ocean tides, which influence natural systems and daily rhythms,' Park said. 'Our knowledge of the moon has expanded through human and robotic missions that have revealed details about its surface and interior, yet many questions about its deep structure and history remain. As our closest neighbor, the moon continues to be an important focus of scientific discovery.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A NASA rover just exposed something on Mars that eluded orbiters
A NASA rover taking rock samples on Mars has uncovered a plentiful mineral that was invisible to orbiters studying the Red Planet from space. Scientists say the discovery of siderite, a type of iron carbonate, could be crucial evidence to support the theory that Mars once had a thick carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere, allowing a warm enough environment to support oceans, lakes, and streams. Curiosity, a car-sized lab on six wheels, performed a chemical analysis of four rock samples drilled at different elevations of Mount Sharp, a mountain it has been exploring within Gale Crater. Three of the samples showed considerable amounts of siderite. Another sample, which had no significant traces of siderite, contained other iron-rich minerals that can form as siderite breaks down. This iron carbonate mineral is known to form on Earth under specific chemical conditions involving water, iron, and carbon dioxide. The study, published in the journal Science, suggests more carbon is stored in the Martian crust than previously thought. And if similar carbonates exist in other sulfate-rich regions, they could represent a hidden trove of Mars' ancient atmosphere. "The discovery of abundant siderite in Gale Crater represents both a surprising and important breakthrough in our understanding of the geologic and atmospheric evolution of Mars," said Benjamin Tutolo, lead author of the paper, in a statement. SEE ALSO: These scientists think alien life best explains what Webb just found NASA's Curiosity rover snaps a selfie image on lower Mount Sharp in Gale crater in August 2015. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS The results contribute to mounting evidence that ancient Mars had the right chemical and environmental conditions not only to have liquid water but also to trap and cycle carbon in the air — factors that may speak to the planet's past habitability. Scientists have had a long-standing theory that Mars used to have surface water. But for that to happen, the planet also would have needed to be warmer, with higher air pressure. That has led them to believe that though Mars' atmosphere is extremely thin today, it must have been thick and carbon dioxide-rich in the past. Volcanoes could have released large amounts of carbon dioxide into the air. Over time, some of that gas escaped into space, but enough probably stayed to support lakes and rivers. Over the past three decades, researchers have found lots of evidence that water flowed on ancient Mars. But up until now there's been a missing puzzle piece for the atmosphere within the rock record: Carbon dioxide in the air and water almost certainly would have reacted with rocks to create various carbonate minerals, so where are they? At a Martian site nicknamed Ubajara, NASA's Curiosity rover discovers siderite, an iron carbonate mineral that might solve a mystery about how the planet lost its thicker atmosphere. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS After drilling less than 2 inches below the surface, Curiosity used its CheMin instrument to conduct X-ray diffraction analyses of rock and soil samples, according to the new paper. The presence of siderite in them means the rocks likely formed in calm water like lakebeds, not volcanoes or lava. On Earth, siderate tends to form in shallow lakes and swamps. Curiosity also detected sulfates, minerals that form when water evaporates. Geologists glean clues about a planet's past from the order in which minerals formed. That siderite came first in the sequence suggests a gradual drying of ancient Martian lakes, leaving behind these other minerals. The sample that didn't have siderite but had evidence of its breakdown materials supports the notion that Mars' carbon cycle used to be active but became unbalanced over time. "Drilling through the layered Martian surface is like going through a history book," said Thomas Bristow, a NASA research scientist and co-author of the paper. "Just a few centimeters down gives us a good idea of the minerals that formed at or close to the surface around 3.5 billion years ago." If similar carbonates are found in other sulfate-rich layers across Mars, they could hold large amounts of carbon — perhaps equal to or even more than the carbon dioxide in Mars' air today. Future observations could confirm these findings and illuminate how the planet changed as it lost its atmosphere.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A NASA rover sent home an immersive Mars panorama. Watch the video.
At first glance, this view may look like a vista from a bluff in the southwestern United States. But those aren't ordinary mountains in the distance. What appears to be a sierra is in fact the rim of an enormous crater on Mars, formed when an asteroid slammed into the Red Planet billions of years ago. The vantage point is from the slopes of the three-mile-tall Mount Sharp, sculpted over time within the crater after the ancient collision. NASA's Curiosity rover captured this extremely wide snapshot as it traversed its extraterrestrial stomping grounds in Gale Crater this February. The agency has since converted that data into a 30-second immersive video, which you can watch further down in this story. It's perhaps the next best thing to actually hiking the chilly desert roughly 140 million miles away in space. "You can imagine the quiet, thin wind," said NASA in a post on X, "or maybe even the waves of a long-gone lake lapping an ancient shore." SEE ALSO: A NASA Mars rover looked up at a moody sky. What it saw wasn't a star. NASA's Curiosity rover snaps a selfie image on lower Mount Sharp in Gale crater in August 2015. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS Since its mission launched in 2011, Curiosity, a Mini Cooper-sized lab on six wheels, has traveled about 352,000,020 miles: some 352 million whizzing through space and another 20 rumbling over Martian terrain. At the time when Curiosity drank up this scenery, it was climbing a region of Mount Sharp known as the sulfate-bearing unit. This area is chock full of salty minerals. Scientists think streams and ponds left them behind as the water dried up billions of years ago. Studying this geology offers clues about how and why Mars may have transformed from a more Earth-like world to the frozen desert it is today. Almost exactly a year ago, the rover accidentally discovered elemental sulfur, its wheels crushing the material to expose a bed of yellow crystals. When pure sulfur is made naturally on Earth, it's usually associated with superheated volcanic gases and hot springs. Another way it can form is through interactions with bacteria — a.k.a. life. "We don't think we're anywhere near a volcano where the rover is," Abigail Fraeman, deputy project scientist on the Curiosity mission, told Mashable in September, "so that is a puzzling feature to find in this particular location." A 30-second video in the above X post showcases the vast Martian panorama. Now Curiosity is on its way to a new destination where it will study an unusual landscape, called a "boxwork." This region likely necessitated warm groundwater to form. And where there's water, there's potential for life — at least the kind scientists know about. Researchers wonder if the boxwork could have hosted ancient single-celled microorganisms. From Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images, the land feature looks like a spiderweb of ridges, spanning several miles. Dark sand fills the hollow spaces among the lattice. Scientists believe this particular boxwork may have formed when minerals in the last trickles of water seeped into surface rock and hardened. As the rocks weathered over the ages, minerals that had cemented into those cracks remained, leaving behind the weird pattern. The rover's science team doesn't expect Curiosity to reach its destination until at least late fall, said Catherine O'Connell-Cooper, a planetary geologist at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, in the mission log. "Our drives are long right now," O'Connell-Cooper wrote, "but we are still taking the time to document all of the wonderful geology as we go, and not just speeding past all of the cool things!"
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA's Perseverance rover just had a close call on Mars
NASA's Perseverance rover almost had to let go of a precious drill bit on Mars after an attempt to collect a rock sample went awry. For the past week, the car-sized lab on wheels seemed to remain in its location on the rim of Jezero crater. Meanwhile, a team of scientists and engineers on Earth focused on how to free the tool from the rock. Anyone who has used a power drill around the house knows the frustration of getting one stuck in a board or wall, without being able to yank it back out. Well, sometimes the U.S. space agency has to retrieve a stuck drill, too — but from roughly 132 million miles away. Fortunately, Perseverance didn't have to sacrifice the coring bit. A NASA spokesperson provided an update on the status of the rover on Wednesday. "The team was working to extract a drill bit from the most recent sample collection attempt, which was successfully accomplished as of late Tuesday night," NASA told Mashable. "This type of situation was planned for in the rover's design, and there are other drill bits onboard if needed." SEE ALSO: Scientists found huge beaches on Mars likely from a long gone ocean NASA's Perseverance rover was engaged in a coring operation at Witch Hazel Hill on the outer rim of Jezero Crater on April 29, 2025. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech Jezero Crater is a site on the Red Planet where scientists believe a river once emptied into a delta. The reason scientists now want to explore the rim is to look for ancient Martian bedrock rubble. Jezero formed when something substantial smacked into the planet close to 4 billion years ago. The impact could have churned up and tossed deep materials to the surface. Recently, Perseverance has been studying the makeup of layered rocks in an area NASA dubbed Witch Hazel Hill. Scientists want to understand the relationship between the alternating light and dark bands, as each likely formed under different conditions. Based on how layers are stacked, experts may be able to piece together a timeline for the Martian region. Earlier this month, the rover sampled one of the light-toned layers, which consisted of tiny rock pieces. In the latest coring attempt, the team was grabbing a sample of the darker grains. Raw images beamed back from the rover's cameras to Earth indicated the drill may have been stuck since April 22. Before Perseverance was launched, NASA equipped it with nine bits: one for Martian soil, two for removing the dust-covered outer layer of a rock, and six for drilling rock cores. It's unclear how many the rover still has in its arsenal and how many have succumbed to the rugged conditions of the Red Planet. Perseverance arrived on Mars with a backup supply of drill bits in case any broke or became dull during rock collections. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech Since landing on Mars in 2021, Perseverance has filled sample tubes with rocks and dirt. NASA's goal has been to retrieve at least some of them and get them to Earth in the 2030s. Exceptional rock discoveries have only mounted pressure on NASA to solve the problems facing its Mars Sample Return mission, its plan to fly bits of rock, dust, and air collected by the rover back to Earth. Last summer, Perseverance discovered a spotted rock with the most compelling signs of ancient Martian life yet, though a sample would need to be shipped back home for confirmation. But that mission has been in limbo since a review found it would cost upward of $11 billion and take nearly two decades to achieve. NASA engaged the greater aerospace industry for input on how to wrangle in spending. The agency is now investigating two new approaches that could bring costs under $8 billion, involving either a commercial lander or the tried-and-true sky crane, the landing system that brought the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers to the Martian surface in the first place. The options could potentially shorten the timeframe to get the samples home. NASA will spend the next year working on engineering plans for the revised mission.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A NASA Mars rover looked up at a moody sky. What it saw wasn't a star.
In the hours just before dawn, NASA's Perseverance rover adjusted its gaze toward the heavens and saw a brilliant point of light. That bright sparkle wasn't a morning star beaming from distant space, but something more mysterious — Mars' shiest moon, Deimos. The rover used one of its navigation cameras at a long-exposure setting to capture the new image. "It's definitely a mood," NASA said of the rare photo in a post on X. SEE ALSO: NASA rover captures an aurora from Mars surface for the first time Because the rover took the image in the dark with an almost one-minute exposure time, the scene appears hazy. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, but scientists know relatively little about them — especially Deimos, the smallest of the two. Both moons are "blacker than coal and look like battered potatoes," according to the European Space Agency, which has studied the pair with its Mars Express spacecraft. Right now researchers aren't sure where the moons came from, and it remains a source of scientific debate. Some believe they could have been asteroids captured in orbit around the Red Planet. Others think they could be chunks of Mars itself, blown out by a giant collision billions of years ago. Nearly all of the images of Deimos, a city-sized moon at roughly 7.5 miles wide, have been taken just like this new one, from the Martian surface by rovers. Because the moon is tidally locked — meaning one full spin matches the amount of time it takes to complete its orbit of Mars — only one of its sides has been seen on the Red Planet. NASA's Perseverance rover was on its way to a new exploration site on the rim of Jezero crater, dubbed Witch Hazel Hill, when it conducted the Deimos photoshoot. Though Perseverance took the image on March 1, NASA just released it to the public. Because the rover took the image in the dark with an almost one-minute exposure time, the scene appears hazy. Many of the white dots in the sky likely aren't distant stars but digital noise. Some others could be cosmic rays, space particles traveling close to the speed of light, according to NASA. Two of the brighter specks are Regulus and Algieba, stars about 78 and 130 light-years away from the solar system respectively, in the constellation Leo. Though little is known about Deimos, another European spacecraft recently captured unprecedented views of the moon's far side. The Hera mission, which will study the asteroid NASA intentionally crashed into three years ago, flew by the Red Planet on March 12, just 11 days after the rover looked up. Hera's flyby wasn't a detour but a necessary maneuver to put the spacecraft on the right trajectory toward its ultimate asteroid destination. Swinging within 625 miles of Deimos, Hera used Martian gravity to adjust its course. Queen cofounder Brian May, who is an astrophysicist when he isn't playing guitar, is among the team that processed the Deimos images. "You feel like you're there, and you see the whole scene in front of you," he said during a news conference in March. "The science that we get from this is colossal, and I think we're all like children."
