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Showing results for tags 'mars'.
Found 19 results
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Scientists More Hopeful Than Ever That Perseverance Has Already Found Life on Mars
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Scientists More Hopeful Than Ever That Perseverance Has Already Found Life on Mars by Carly Cassella, Space, Science Alert, January 29, 2024 THe open access paper is: Paige, D.A., Hamran, S.E., Amundsen, H.E., Berger, T., Russell, P., Kakaria, R., Mellon, M.T., Eide, S., Carter, L.M., Casademont, T.M. and Nunes, D.C., 2024. Ground penetrating radar observations of the contact between the western delta and the crater floor of Jezero crater, Mars. Science Advances, 10(4), p.eadi8339. Yours, Paul H.-
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Could things that look like fossils trick us thinking there was once life on Mars? If you want to believe, fake Martian fossils might convince you (but they're just rock formations). By Elizabeth Rayne, SYFY, November 30, 20221 McMahon, S. and Cosmidis, J., 2021. False biosignatures on Mars: anticipating ambiguity. Journal of the Geological Society. An Entomologist Claims That Mars Is Covered in Bug-Shaped Things, And He Has 'Proof' Yours, Paul H.
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Perseverance Rover Lands Safely - Will Search for Ancient Life on Mars
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
NASA Lands the Perseverance Rover on Mars The science mission will launch the first drone to fly on another planet, attempt making oxygen in space, and search for signs of ancient life. Sarah Scoles, Wired, February 18, 2021 NASA's Perseverance rover landing on Mars, PBS Yours Paul H. -
The rock in the image was actually found on Mars. I know it's probably not a fossil as NASA has addressed this saying it was likely formed by water and wind erosion. Please don't take this post the wrong way. I am not interested in perpetuating anything unscientific. I am just curious about the topic; how we can analyze rocks like these found on another planet. If one were on the team, and we spot something like this, to the untrained eye it would look like an astonishing find. But we have to be objective, and we have no idea what fossils on Mars might look like, in the unlikely case they actually exist. So I am just wondering how an expert would look at them? Aside from the low probability that such a fossil would exist, are there tell tale features that it is not a fossil. Thanks!
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"Martian" mineral builds mounds and might preserve fossils
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Strange 'martian' mineral mounds rise up from Utah's Great Salt Lake By Tom Metcalfe https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/rare-salt-formations-appear-along-the-great-salt-lake/2020/01/10/5b581e9c-33e5-11ea-971b-43bec3ff9860_story.html https://www.space.com/martian-mineral-mounds-rise-utah-salt-lake.html https://www.lite1065.com/2020/01/16/rare-martian-mineral-mounds-appear-in-utahs-great-salt-lake/ What rare environmental mounds at Great Salt Lake could teach us about Mars. Utah geologists document spring mounds for first time By Amy Joi O'Donoghue, Deseret News, January 7, 2020 https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/1/7/21055472/great-salt-lake-rare-environmental-mounds-could-teach-us-about-mars Other publications: Schubert, B.A., Lowenstein, T.K. and Timofeeff, M.N., 2009. Microscopic identification of prokaryotes in modern and ancient halite, Saline Valley and Death Valley, California. Astrobiology, 9(5), pp.467-482. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.714.5959&rep=rep1&type=pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/14ac/33a1fb626040f3019947bfe95903ebe46d99.pdf Yours, Paul H. -
The search for extra-terrestrial fossils is looking more promising. But, I suppose one mustn’t get one’s hopes too high. NASA's Mars 2020 Will Hunt for Microscopic Fossils “Scientists with NASA's Mars 2020 rover have discovered what may be one of the best places to look for signs of ancient life in Jezero Crater, where the rover will land on Feb. 18, 2021. A paper published today in the journal Icarus identifies distinct deposits of minerals called carbonates along the inner rim of Jezero, the site of a lake more than 3.5 billion years ago. On Earth, carbonates help form structures that are hardy enough to survive in fossil form for billions of years, including seashells, coral and some stromatolites — rocks formed on this planet by ancient microbial life along ancient shorelines, where sunlight and water were plentiful. The possibility of stromatolite-like structures existing on Mars is why the concentration of carbonates tracing Jezero's shoreline like a bathtub ring makes the area a prime scientific hunting ground.” “Mars Scientists Investigate Ancient Life in Australia Could Mars ever have supported life? In the Australian Outback, scientists from NASA's upcoming Mars 2020 mission and their counterparts from the joint European-Russian ExoMars mission visited the oldest convincing evidence for life on Earth to prepare for their own searches for signs of ancient life on Mars. The field lesson in astrobiology in the Pilbara region is being applied in the near term by NASA, ESA and Roscosmos for mission planning, and will also pay dividends when both rovers begin to send back science data and imagery from the Red Planet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Also see: A field guide to finding fossils on Mars. (open access paper)
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A field guide to finding fossils on Mars. (open access paper)
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
McMahon, S., Bosak, T., Grotzinger, J.P., Milliken, R.E., Summons, R.E., Daye, M., Newman, S.A., Fraeman, A., Williford, K.H. and Briggs, D.E.G., 2018. A field guide to finding fossils on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.vol. 123, no. 5, pp. 1020-1040 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2017JE005478 McMahon, S., The chemistry of fossilization on Earth and Mars. http://www.portlandpresspublishing.com/sites/default/files/biochemist/Biochemist Space issue Dec 2018/BioDEC18_chemistry of fossilization pg 28.pdf Yours, Paul H.-
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NASA's Mars Rover INSIGHT to Land on Mars Today
DeepTimeIsotopes posted a topic in Members' News & Diversions
Today at around 3pm EST, NASA's Mars Rover, INSIGHT, will be landing on Mars. This probe is designed to study the interior of Mars using seismological data it will gather. It will land in a very flat plain called Elysium Planitia. There it will drill a hole ~16 feet (~5 meters) down to insert a seismometer which will record seismic movements in Mars's interior. For more info on the mission: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/science/mars-insight-launch.html More info on landing a probe: https://www.space.com/42528-insight-mars-6-minutes-terror.html The schedule of events today: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-brings-mars-landing-first-in-six-years-to-viewers-everywhere-nov-26 Live feed of the landing: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#media -
Below is a fascinating dissertation about the Archean. Archean Paleosols on Earth and Mars Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Naturwissenschaften des Fachbereichs für Geowissenschaften der Freien Universität Berlin vorgelegt von Sami Nabhan PDF file at https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/13122 Yours, Paul H.
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NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Chemical Building Blocks For Life On Mars, Morning Edition, June 7, 2018 https://www.npr.org/2018/06/07/617235884/nasas-curiosity-rover-finds-chemical-building-blocks-for-life-on-mars NASA finds ancient organic material, mysterious methane on Mars, June 7, 2018 by Sean Potter, NASA https://phys.org/news/2018-06-nasa-ancient-material-mysterious-methane.html https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7154 The abstract is at: Eigenbrode, J.E., Summons, R.E., Steele, A., Freissinet, C., Millan, M., and many others, 2018, Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater, Mars. Science. Vol. 360, Issue 6393, pp. 1096-1101 DOI: 10.1126/science.aas9185 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6393/1096 Yours, Paul H.
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- curiosity rover
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Looking For Fossils On The Surface Of Mars Brian Koberlein, Forbes, May 28, 2018 https://www.forbes.com/sites/briankoberlein/2018/05/29/looking-for-fossils-on-the-surface-of-mars/ McMahon, S., Bosak, T., Grotzinger, J.P., Milliken, R.E., Summons, R.E., Daye, M., Newman, S.A., Fraeman, A., Williford, K.H. and Briggs, D.E.G., 2018. A Field Guide to Finding Fossils on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. First published: 02 May 2018 https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JE005478 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2017JE005478 PDF file at: https://authors.library.caltech.edu/86220/1/McMahon_et_al-2017-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research%3A_Planets.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324904704_A_Field_Guide_to_Finding_Fossils_on_Mars Yours, Paul H.
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Martian meteorite clarifies origin of Martian geomorphology
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Geology
Ancient meteorite tells tales of Mars topography by Anne M Stark, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, May 24, 2018 https://phys.org/news/2018-05-ancient-meteorite-tales-mars-topography.html 'Black Beauty' Meteorite Study Reveals the Secrets of Mars' Strange Topography by Andrew LaSane, Outer Places, May 24, 2018 https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/18499-black-beauty-meteorite-mars The open access paper is: William S. Cassata, Benjamin E. Cohen, Darren F. Mark, Reto Trappitsch, Carolyn A. Crow, and others, 2018, Science Advances 23 May 2018: Vol. 4, no. 5, eaap8306 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aap8306 http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/5/eaap8306 Yours, Paul H.-
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- crustal dichotomy
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I can imagine a Hollywood block-buster telling a story of a few brave TFF members looking for fossils on Mars https://www.slashgear.com/curiosity-finds-strange-tiny-mars-feature-trace-fossils-possible-05513891/
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This is a 3mm fragment of Martian meteorite 4468. I used a Carson Microbrite pocket microscope to image it with my cheap cell phone. It's a basltic meteorite, so no fossils. Hehe....
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Impact Crater Linked to Martian Tsunamis By Paul Rincon, BBC News website, March 26, 2017 http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39394583 Water On Mars: Researchers Link Lomonosov Crater To Ancient Martian Tsunamis by Avaneesh IBT, March 26, 2017 http://www.ibtimes.com/water-mars-researchers-link-lomonosov-crater-ancient-martian-tsunamis-2515241 The paper is: Costard, F., A. Séjourné, K. Kelfoun, S. Clifford, F. Lavigne, I. Di Pietro, and S. Bouley (2017), Modeling tsunami propagation and the emplacement of thumbprint terrain in an early Mars ocean, Journal Geophysical Research Planets, 122, doi:10.1002/2016JE005230 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016JE005230/full An article about studying Mars is: Studying Martian Rocks Without Leaving Planet Earth Matching Martian rock formations to those found on Earth can help researchers learn more about the Red Planet. By Alexandra Branscombe, AGU, March 1, 2017 https://eos.org/research-spotlights/studying-martian-rocks-without-leaving-planet-earth Other articles about geological research at https://eos.org/research-spotlights Yours, Paul H.
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This could suggest opalised microbial fossils on Mars...
The Amateur Paleontologist posted a topic in Members' News & Diversions
In 1911, near the Egyptian village of El Nakhla El Baharia was recovered a meteorite of martian origin. It belongs to a class of martian meteorites (called "nakhlites") that are derived from a ~1.3 billion year old sill or lava flow. They are mainly composed of magnesium, silica and iron. The Nakhla meteorite showed traces of a very particular form of silica, hydrated and amorphous: opal. This opal was the first in a few traces of martian opal. However, the hydrated silica in the Nakhla meteorite showed showed something rather special: it was very similar to the sort of opal that, on Earth, forms around hydrothermal vents. Around these vents, microbial life thrives and prospers. Could this suggest opalised microbial fossils on Mars? Are we this close to finding fossil life elsewhere in the universe? Further research will tell...- 6 replies
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NASA's Amazing 2020 Mars Mission to Search for Ancient Fossils --"Unlike Earth, Mars is a Beautifully Preserved Fossil" The Daily Galaxy, October 19, 2016 http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2016/10/nasas-amazing-2020-mars-mission-to-search-for-ancient-fossils-unlike-earth-mars-is-a-beautifully-pre.html NASA’s Bold Plan to Hunt for Fossils on Mars National Geographic, October 17, 2016 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/alien-fossils-nasa-exploring-mars-2020-space-science/ NASA Plans To Search For Martians: Where Will They Begin The Hunt? Science World Report, Oct. 18, 2016 http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/50281/20161018/nasa-plans-search-martians-where-will-begin-hunt.htm Yours, Paul H.
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Digitate Opaline Silica Structures (Biosignatures ?) Found on Mars
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Scientists Think They Finally Found Evidence of Ancient Life on Mars. by Sage Lazzaro, Observer http://observer.com/2016/11/scientists-think-they-finally-found-evidence-of-ancient-life-on-mars/ Ruff, S. W., and J. D. Farmer, 2016, Silica deposits on Mars with features resembling hot spring biosignatures at El Tatio in Chile. Nature Communications 7, Article number: 13554 (2016) doi:10.1038/ncomms13554 Received: 14 April 2016, Accepted: 13 October 2016 Published online: 17 November 2016 http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13554 Yours, Paul H.- 1 reply
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Hello, there is an intriguing spiral structure seen Mars Curiosity rover - it looks like an ammonite. original image:http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/00551/mcam/0551MR2233051000E1_DXXX.jpg could this be what it seems? for more information please see also: http://www.mars-tourist-guide.co.uk/curiosity/detail.html?s=551&i=MAST_RIGHT&p=0551MR2233051000E1_DXXX
