An inspirational look a Mars exploration and colonization as seen in art. [terrible spelling. Still learning to type on a smartphone].

patrickleger:

Another Mars piece!  This one for The Atlantic about the future of martian colonization. The article was an interview with an entrepreneur who represents some investors that are beginning a company built around mining asteroids and future living on Mars. I thought it was pretty funny how flippant he was in addressing the idea of manned travel / colonization of another world.    

(via scinerds)

Seeing the Martian sunset - one day.

the-science-llama:

Martian Sunset

(via we-are-star-stuff)

“Mars is a fixer-upper of a planet, but we could make it work.” - Elon Musk

space-pics:

Elon Musk’s quote from D11
http://space-pics.tumblr.com/

An interesting look at Mars.

itsfullofstars:

A Dust Devil on Mars

(via abcstarstuff)

The microbiological contamination of Mars? (Well, if we`re careless anyway).

we-are-star-stuff:

Scientists show that microbes from Earth can survive conditions found on Mars

Astrobiologists have been worried for quite some time now that the Martian surface has been contaminated with microbes originating from Earth - what got there by clinging to all the various probes and artifacts we’ve sent there. But given how severe the conditions are on Mars, it has been generally assumed that this is likely an impossibility.

A recent study now threatens to overturn this sentiment. Researchers from Russia and the U.S. have demonstrated that a hardy bacterium found in Siberia is in fact capable of surviving Mars-like conditions - a revelation that will have profound implications on how we prepare our Mars-bound artifacts for future missions.

To conduct the study, researchers from the University of Florida and the Russian Academy of sciences extracted various strains of bacteria found in the Siberian permafrost off the banks of the Kolyma River — extremophiles that can survive some of the harshest conditions that Earth has to offer. The samples were taken from a depth of 12 to 20 meters (40 to 65 feet) where the soil has an average temperature of -7 °C (19 °F).

The samples were drilled out directly from the depth of the permafrost, and without fluid (which normally serves as lubrication) to avoid any contamination. The microbes that were taken had endured their conditions deep underground for the past 6,000 to 8,000 years.

The team grew larger cultures of these microbes back at the lab at normal temperatures in preparation for the next phase. The researchers took these cultures and exposed them to similar conditions found on Mars, including a severe lack of oxygen, extreme cold temperatures, and very low pressure (about 150 times lower than the Earth’s). The experiment was run over the period of 30 days. Over 10,000 isolates were exposed to these conditions - and they all died.

Except six.

And in fact, these six surviving microbes actually did better under these conditions. Surprised by the result, the researchers took a closer look at the survivors, and following a genetic analysis concluded that they all came from the same genus: an extremely hardy extremophile called Carnobacterium.

Carnobacterium can be found in cold climates around the world, including Alaska and the oxygen-poor waters of Ace Lake in Antarctica.

Indeed, it’s a startlingly common anaerobic organism that doesn’t require oxygen for growth. And in fact, a species of Carnobacterium (CB1) is used as a food additive for vacuum or modified atmosphere-packaged ready-to-eat and processed meats. In other words, it’s the kind of bacterium that could easily make its way onto a probe bound for the Martian surface.

As the researchers note in their study, “the ability of terrestrial microorganisms to grow in the near-surface environment of Mars is of importance to the search for life and protection of that planet from forward contamination by human and robotic exploration.” Moving forward, and despite the fact that Mars has a highly irradiated surface, scientists will now have to ensure complete sterilization of all artifacts bound for the Martian surface.

The study was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

(via abcstarstuff)

A look at dust storms on Mars.

(Though this blog deals with emerging technology, you may have noticed a few more posts like these. To me Mars is part of that future, though I will try keep these ones for Mondays - Martian Mondays, though other astronomical posts may appear from time to time).

(via abcstarstuff)

A look at Mars`s Olympus Mons - the largest mountain in the solar system.

photogregory:

Olympus Mons on Mars at 2.5 times the height of mount Everest is the highest known mountain in the solar system.

Another look at Mars` Valle Marineris.

spacettf:

The Solar System’s grandest canyon by europeanspaceagency on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Valles Marineris, seen at an angle of 45 degrees to the surface in near-true colour and with four times vertical exaggeration. The image covers an area of 630 000 sq km with a ground resolution of 100 m per pixel. The digital terrain model was created from 20 individual HRSC orbits, and the colour data were generated from 12 orbit swaths. The largest portion of the canyon, which spans right across the image, is known as Melas Chasma. Candor Chasma is the connecting trough immediately to the north, with the small trough Ophir Chasma beyond. Hebes Chasma can be seen in the far top left of the image.

The image was first published in 2009 in the ESA science monograph Mars Express: The Scientific Investigations.

For further information and a higher resolution of this image, please click here.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

The Planet Mars - the Valles Marineris visible

visualgspot:

The Planet Mars

(via abcstarstuff)