On July 20, 1976, a machine of steel and titanium dropped through a thin atmosphere and touched the dirt of Chryse Planitia. Scientists at NASA held their breath, since five years earlier, the Soviet Union’s Mars 3 probe had died less than two minutes after touchdown. To mitigate this nightmare, engineers programmed Viking 1 to scan its own footpad first. If the lander sank into oblivion, hu ...[Read More]
In a couple of days, on 22 February, we will mark a major milestone in space history: 40 years since the launch of the first Swedish Viking satellite, when an Ariane rocket from Kourou in French-occupied Guiana launched on 22 February 1986! While the general public might hear the word Viking and picture longboats, heavy axes, and a level of beard maintenance that borders on the professional, space ...[Read More]
And what if we could prevent a catastrophe as old as the dinosaurs?… As Hera’s mission launched last month, this blog post aims to give you insights into this mission and why it matters. Continue reading and find out! One of humans’ biggest rebellious acts against insignificance is staring at the sky and wondering what else is out there, then thinking “We can definitely fin ...[Read More]
One of the realities of studying the Earth, planetary or space sciences is that we are attempting to observe an experiment that has been in progress for billions of years, with variables that are most often far outside of our control. Many researchers try to understand these systems by recreating aspects of it, either in analogue experiments or by using simulations, where the variables can be adju ...[Read More]
February 2021 is an important month for Martian missions, with three arriving at our planetary neighbour within 10 days. Many people have been following the USA’s NASA Perseverance mission, as they landed the new Perseverance rover, with it’s specially designed Ingenuity helicopter in the Jezero Crater in the last 24 hours. Earlier this month the Chinese mission Tianwen-1 also entered ...[Read More]
Establishing a human presence on Mars is increasingly seen by space agencies and private organizations as the horizon frontier in human space exploration. These long-duration missions however, impose a high degree of technological, operational, physical and psychological challenges. Mars analog habitats, such as the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah (U.S.) are established to conduct fiel ...[Read More]
Drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels, major geoscience headlines, as well as unique and quirky research, this monthly column aims to bring you the latest Earth and planetary science news from around the web. Major stories Earth’s red and rocky neighbor has been grabbing a significant amount of attention from the geoscience media this month. We’ll give you the rundo ...[Read More]
In three days’ time, NASA’s InSight Lander is expected to plunge through Mars’ atmosphere before parachuting down to a controlled landing on the flat plains of the Elysium Planitia. Once the dust has settled, a solar powered robotic arm will painstakingly unload the precious instruments stored onboard onto the planet’s surface, carefully guided by scientists back on Earth. These instruments are de ...[Read More]
Drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels, as well as unique and quirky research news, this monthly column aims to bring you the best of the Earth and planetary sciences from around the web. Major stories Signs of water 55 million kilometres away Last week scientists announced that they have found signs of existing water on Mars, offering new hope to the possibility o ...[Read More]
GeoLog followers will remember our previous report on Citizen Geoscience: the exciting possibilities it presents for the acquisition of data, whilst cautioning against the exploitation of volunteered labour. This blog presents a Citizen Science platform that goes beyond data collection to analysis, specifically for geological changes in remote sensing imagery of Mars. Jessica Wardlaw, a Postdoctor ...[Read More]