Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jennifer C. Stern, Charles A. Malespin, Jennifer L. Eigenbrode, Christopher R. Webster, Greg Flesch, Heather B. Franz, Heather Graham, Christopher H. House, Brad Sutter, Paul Douglas Archer, Amy E. Hofmann, Amy C. McAdam, Douglas W. Ming, Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez, Andrew Steele, Caroline Freissinet, Paul R. Mahaffy
Summary: The analysis of Mars samples from Gale crater revealed the presence of organic carbon from both Martian and meteoritic origins. The experiment showed that there is approximately 431μg C/g of indigenous organic and inorganic carbon on Mars. The source of high-temperature organic carbon remains uncertain, possibly coming from igneous organic carbon, meteorites, or diagenetically altered biomass.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Review
Astronomy & Astrophysics
James J. Wray
Summary: The Martian surface preserves a record of aqueous fluids throughout the planet's history, but the existence of such fluids at the contemporary surface remains uncertain. Large volumes of water remain on Mars today, mostly trapped in minerals or frozen underground, with limited direct evidence of aquifers. The presence of salts in Martian soil enhances liquid stability but also impacts the habitability of these liquids.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, VOL 49, 2021
(2021)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Danica Adams, Yangcheng Luo, Michael L. Wong, Patrick Dunn, Madeline Christensen, Chuanfei Dong, Renyu Hu, Yuk Yung
Summary: The study investigates nitrogen fixation in early Mars' atmosphere, discovering potential nitrate and cyanide deposition, and discussing their implications for early life activities.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Yan Chen, Li Liu, Huiqing Zhang, Xue Guo, Wensi Zhang, Chunxia Zhang, Wei Lin
Summary: The search for life is a major focus of Mars exploration missions. This study investigates potential microbial habitats in the subsurface of the Martian analog Qaidam Basin in Northwest China. The researchers find that there are more habitable niches for microbial colonization at shallow depths of 5-25 cm compared to the surface and deep subsurface. Factors such as physical stability, limited radiation, and moderate water availability contribute to the maximum biomass and biotic activity in the shallow subsurface of hyperarid deserts.
SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Laura M. Barge, Erika Flores, Jessica M. Weber, Abigail A. Fraeman, Yuk L. Yung, David VanderVelde, Eduardo Martinez, Amalia Castonguay, Keith Billings, Marc M. Baum
Summary: The study found that iron mineral-driven reduction of NO3- or NO2- in experiments containing NOx- could not provide sufficient NH3/NH4+ to form amino acids, requiring an exogenous source of NH3/NH4+. Additionally, NO2- was observed to react with Fe2+ and Fe(II) minerals, leading to Fe oxidation and the formation of oxidized mineral phases.
GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Neveda Naz, Dongyu Liu, Bijan F. Harandi, Samuel P. Kounaves
Summary: Research has shown that martian simulants under extreme conditions can support the growth and survival of certain extremophiles, which may help understand how similar early Martian life forms could have survived in today's environment.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Neveda Naz, Dongyu Liu, Bijan F. F. Harandi, Samuel P. P. Kounaves
Summary: We investigated the growth and survival of bacteria from Earth and extremophiles in three Martian soil simulants. Our results indicate that extremophiles can grow in these Martian simulants, suggesting that similar organisms on early Mars may have survived in Earth-like ecological niches.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
S. Tuhi, Harish, K. B. Kimi, K. Vigneshwaran, K. S. Sharini, R. K. S. Priya, S. Vijayan
Summary: Alluvial fans on Mars provide insights into the evolution and nature of fluvial activity on the planet, and the preserved mineralogy can contribute to the study of its hydrological history.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
A. Dugdale, N. K. Ramkissoon, P. Fawdon, M. R. Patel, L. Hills, G. Degli-Alessandrini, E. Bonsall, C. Schroder, S. M. R. Turner, C. N. Achilles, V. K. Pearson
Summary: Oxia Planum on Mars is the proposed landing site for the Rosalind Franklin rover mission, which aims to search for signs of life. In anticipation of this mission, a simulant called SOPHIA has been developed to represent the local mineralogy at Oxia Planum and assist in interpreting data from the rover. The simulant was designed based on mineralogy data from comparable sites on Mars and characterized using laboratory techniques.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Kathryn E. Steakley, Melinda A. Kahre, Robert M. Haberle, Kevin J. Zahnle
Summary: The impact heating hypothesis suggests that injecting water, energy, and reducing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere could warm early Mars and induce rainfall. By simulating post-impact scenarios, we found that degassed hydrogen does not prolong the warm temperatures and heavy rainfall immediately after an impact. However, it does contribute enough warming to raise mean annual surface temperatures, with long-lasting warm conditions as hydrogen slowly escapes to space. The ability of impacts to induce transient warm and wet conditions on early Mars is much better than previously thought if those impacts degassed H2 in thick CO2 atmospheres.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Andrea Corpolongo, Ryan S. S. Jakubek, Aaron S. S. Burton, Adrian J. J. Brown, Anastasia Yanchilina, Andrew D. D. Czaja, Andrew Steele, Brittan V. V. Wogsland, Carina Lee, David Flannery, Desiree Baker, Edward A. A. Cloutis, Emily Cardarelli, Eva L. L. Scheller, Eve L. L. Berger, Francis M. M. McCubbin, Joseph Razzell Hollis, Keyron Hickman-Lewis, Kim Steadman, Kyle Uckert, Lauren DeFlores, Linda Kah, Luther W. W. Beegle, Marc Fries, Michelle Minitti, Nikole C. C. Haney, Pamela Conrad, Richard V. V. Morris, Rohit Bhartia, Ryan Roppel, Sandra Siljestroem, Sanford A. A. Asher, Sergei V. V. Bykov, Sunanda Sharma, Svetlana Shkolyar, Teresa Fornaro, William Abbey
Summary: The goals of NASA's Mars 2020 mission are to search for evidence of ancient life, study the geology of Jezero crater, understand Mars' climate, and prepare for human exploration. During the mission, the Perseverance rover's instrument collected images and data from different areas of the crater, revealing mineralogical differences and suggesting the presence of a past environment suitable for microbial life.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS
(2023)
Article
Spectroscopy
Melissa McHugh, John Parnell, Ian B. Hutchinson, Hannah N. Lerman, Howell G. M. Edwards, Mark J. Burchell, Mike J. Cole, Andoni Moral, Guillermo Lopez-Reyes, Carlos Perez, Aurelio Arranz, Marco Veneranda, Jose Antonio Manrique, Fernando Rull
Summary: The research discusses the importance of using the ExoMars Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS) to identify reduced carbon on Mars and analyze its impact on the habitability of the planet. Spectral data obtained confirm that the RLS instrument can accurately detect differently thermally processed carbon materials and demonstrate that impact shock can increase the molecular disorder of carbon, potentially making it more biologically accessible.
JOURNAL OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jianxun Shen, Li Liu, Yan Chen, Yu Sun, Wei Lin
Summary: This study investigates the possibility of differentiating biotic and abiotic chemical signals using LIBS spectral data in Mars exploration missions. The research shows that, with a sufficient sample size, unsupervised PCA can partially distinguish biotic and abiotic signals based purely on LIBS spectral measurements. This finding is significant for biosignatures filtering in life exploration on Mars.
ACS EARTH AND SPACE CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Review
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ashwin R. Vasavada
Summary: NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission has been exploring Gale crater since 2012 to assess Mars' potential to support life. The mission has compiled evidence that the crater had lakes suitable for sustaining life approximately 3.6 billion years ago. The investigation of the modern atmosphere and environment has provided valuable data for future crewed missions.
SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
J. D. Campbell, B. Schmitt, O. Brissaud, J-P Muller
Summary: Laboratory experiments were conducted to generate a diagnostic spectrum for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the context of the Martian South Polar Residual Cap (SPRC) and to improve the detectability of PAH spectral features in CO2 ice. The study aims to provide data to enhance the interpretation of orbital remote sensing spectroscopic imaging data and records a detectability limit for observing PAHs in CO2 ice with new spectral features revealed between 0.7 and 1.1 μm.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS
(2021)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Maria Angeles Lopez-Cayuela, Maria-Paz Zorzano, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Carmen Cordoba-Jabonero
Summary: The atmospheric dust cycle on Mars plays a dominant role in the planetary radiative balance, atmospheric photochemistry escape, and redistribution of materials on the surface. A methodology is presented to accurately describe the annual dust redistribution cycle on Mars using orbital global and seasonal measurements of atmospheric dust opacity. The analysis shows that approximately 4 trillion kilograms of dust is transported globally in the atmosphere during a typical Mars year.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Audrey Vorburger, Shahab Fatemi, Shane R. Carberry Mogan, Andre Galli, Lucas Liuzzo, Andrew R. Poppe, Lorenz Roth, Peter Wurz
Summary: The study presents new model results for the composition of Ganymede's atmosphere, finding that sublimation remains the major source process for H2O, while radiolysis induced by auroral electrons dominates the source fluxes for O2 and H2.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Qi He, Zhi Cao, Yuqi Qian, Hejiu Hui, Ioannis Baziotis, Long Xiao, Zaicong Wang, Biji Luo, Yiheng Li, Zongjun Ying, Yang Li
Summary: The Chang'e-5 mission collected lunar soil containing magnesian troctolitic granulites, which provide valuable information on the composition of the lunar crust. Through analysis and modeling, it is suggested that these granulites may have originated from the Pythagoras crater and were transported to the landing site.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Jordan M. Bretzfelder, Kathryn M. Stack, Abigail A. Fraeman, Mackenzie Day, William E. Dietrich, Alexander B. Bryk
Summary: This study investigates the development of bedrock ridges on Mars and their implications for wind history, deposition, and erosion in Gale crater.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lot Ram, Diptiranjan Rout, Rahul Rathi, Paul Withers, Sumanta Sarkhel
Summary: This study investigates the impacts of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) on the Martian ionosphere, specifically the behavior of the ionospheric peak density and height during ICME passages. The study used observations from the Radio Occultation Science Experiment (ROSE) aboard the MAVEN spacecraft and selected 8 ICMEs from existing catalogs. The results show that ICMEs lead to an elevation of the ionospheric peak height and a decrease in peak density, and propose that vertical pressure gradient and electron temperature enhancement are plausible causes for ionospheric variability.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Benoit Jabaud, Riccardo Artoni, Gabriel Tobie, Erwan Le Menn, Patrick Richard
Summary: The Cassini spacecraft discovered active jets of water vapour and ice grains at the South Pole of Enceladus, resulting in the deposit of freshly erupted materials on the moon's icy surface. Similar processes may be happening on Europa as well. Determining the mechanical properties of fresh icy powder-like materials is essential for future landing and sampling missions. The flowability and surface energy of ice powders decrease with increasing temperatures, which may have implications for stable landing and the flow of ice materials on Enceladus and Europa.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lydie Bonal, Eric Quirico, Gilles Montagnac, Mutsumi Komatsu, Yoko Kebukawa, Hikaru Yabuta, Kana Amano, Jens Barosch, Laure Bejach, George D. Cody, Emmanuel Dartois, Alexandre Dazzi, Bradley De Gregorio, Ariane Deniset-Besseau, Jean Duprat, Cecile Engrand, Minako Hashiguchi, Kanami Kamide, David Kilcoyne, Zita Martins, Jeremie Mathurin, Smail Mostefaoui, Larry Nittler, Takuji Ohigashi, Taiga Okumura, Laurent Remusat, Scott Sandford, Miho Shigenaka, Rhonda Stroud, Hiroki Suga, Yoshio Takahashi, Yasuo Takeichi, Yusuke Tamenori, Maximilien Verdier-Paoletti, Shohei Yamashita, Tomoki Nakamura, Hiroshi Naraoka, Takaaki Noguchi, Ryuji Okazaki, Hisayoshi Yurimoto, Shogo Tachibana, Masanao Abe, Akiko Miyazaki, Aiko Nakato, Satoru Nakazawa, Masahiro Nishimura, Tatsuaki Okada, Takanao Saiki, Kanako Sakamoto, Satoshi Tanaka, Fuyuto Terui, Yuichi Tsuda, Tomohiro Usui, Sei-ichiro Watanabe, Toru Yada, Kasumi Yogata, Makota Yoshikawa
Summary: This paper focuses on characterizing the thermal history of asteroid Ryugu by studying the structure of polyaromatic carbonaceous matter in the returned samples. The study finds that there is no structural difference in the polyaromatic component between the two sampling sites on Ryugu, indicating that the thermal metamorphism related to radioactive decay was not significant. However, some structural variability is observed within the particle set.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
M. Luginin, A. Fedorova, D. Belyaev, F. Montmessin, O. Korablev, J. -l. Bertaux
Summary: Spectroscopic solar occultation measurements by the SPICAV/SOIR instrument onboard the Venus Express orbiter provided new data on the upper haze aerosol properties, its distribution, and variations. A joint analysis of data from two spectrometers revealed a bimodal distribution in about 50% of observations previously believed to be unimodal, and characterized the size distribution 10 km higher in the atmosphere compared to previous analysis.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
A. Mahieux, S. Viscardy, K. L. Jessup, F. P. Mills, L. Trompet, S. Robert, S. Aoki, A. Piccialli, A. C. Vandaele
Summary: We report on the mean upper limit number densities and volume concentrations of H2CO, O-3, NH3, HCN, N2O, NO2, NO, and HO2 at the Venus terminator above the cloud layer. Attempts to detect these species using a statistical algorithm and the method presented by Trompet et al. (2021) were unsuccessful, and upper limits of detection are provided.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
P. M. Streeter, S. R. Lewis, M. R. Patel, J. A. Holmes, K. Rajendran
Summary: The northern polar vortex on Mars shows a high degree of interannual repeatability in its structure and evolution, except during large dust storms. The seasonal timing of these storms seems to be the key factor determining their impacts on the polar vortex.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Michael T. Mellon, Hanna G. Sizemore, Jennifer L. Heldmann, Christopher P. McKay, Carol R. Stoker
Summary: The search for life is a major focus of Mars exploration, with temperature and water activity being key factors for habitability. The most recent habitable conditions occurred about 510 kyrs ago and lasted for about 10s of kyrs each occurrence. All latitudes offer potential for life exploration, but middle-latitude sites have access to 100-kyr-old ice that experienced past habitable conditions, while high-latitude sites offer access to ancient ice over 1 Myrs old.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Anthony Ozerov, Jeffrey C. Smith, Jessie L. Dotson, Randolph S. Longenbaugh, Robert L. Morris
Summary: The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instruments, with their large combined field of view, are useful for studying the population of atmospheric phenomena like bolides. However, there are biases when using GLM for non-lightning purposes, which need to be studied and accounted for before precise measurements of bolide flux can be obtained. A Bayesian Poisson regression model was developed to estimate instrumental biases and the latitudinal variation of bolide flux concurrently. The estimated bias corresponds to the known sensitivity of the GLM instruments, and the latitudinal flux variation estimates are consistent with a strong bias towards high-velocity bolides, as compared to existing theoretical models.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
P. Beck, P. Y. Meslin, A. Fau, O. Forni, O. Gasnault, J. Lasue, A. Cousin, S. Schroeder, S. Maurice, W. Rapin, R. C. Wiens, A. M. Ollila, E. Dehouck, N. Mangold, B. Garcia, S. Schwartz, W. Goetz, N. Lanza
Summary: Analysis of data obtained by ChemCam on Mars reveals that the carbon signal is mainly related to ionization of the atmosphere, with variability potentially linked to the physical state of the atmosphere. Up to sol 3355, no carbonate was detected in the ChemCam dataset, suggesting that it is not a major constituent (>50%) in the analyzed targets and that carbon in soils is not enriched beyond the limit of detection. The dominant salts found in Gale are sulfate and chlorides, while the absence of carbonates, seen in Jezero, may be due to differences in protolith.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Eloy Pena-Asensio, Jaakko Visuri, Josep M. Trigo-Rodriguez, Hector Socas-Navarro, Maria Gritsevich, Markku Siljama, Albert Rimola
Summary: The observation of interstellar objects 1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov suggests the existence of a larger population of smaller projectiles that impact our planet with unbound orbits. A statistical evaluation of uncertainties in the CNEOS database and study of its hyperbolic fireballs reveals an anisotropic geocentric radiant distribution and low orbital inclinations, challenging the assumption of a randomly incoming interstellar population. These findings suggest that apparent interstellar meteors may, in fact, be the result of accelerated meteoroid impacts caused by close encounters with massive objects within or passing through our solar system.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Cecilia W. S. Leung, Leslie K. Tamppari, David M. Kass, German Martinez, Erik Fischer, Michael D. Smith
Summary: Using a combination of orbital and surface observations, this study investigates the vertical distribution of water vapor in the lower atmospheres of Mars. The findings suggest that the assumption of uniformly mixed water vapor in the boundary layer is not always consistent with observational constraints. The results provide important insights into the seasonal transport of water and the role of regolith-atmospheric exchange.