Young Mars Seemingly Even More Earth-Like With Evidence of Plenty of Oxygen
"Moooom, Mars is copying me!" -Young Earth, probably.
Venus may be a lot more like Earth—in terms of size—than Mars is, but Mars may once have been similar to Earth in more meaningful ways, unlike now, when it pretty much shares the general quality of being a giant ball of death with all the other planets in our solar system. Evidence is mounting that Mars once had lots of oxygen in its atmosphere to go along with its oceans of water, but that doesn't necessarily mean it fostered life; it couldn't been part of that "death ball" transformation.
Read MoreThis 360-Degree Mars Video and These Space Tourism Posters Mean NASA Wants Us to Visit Space ASAP
We live in the future, folks. We're looking up into the sky like never before, and we've got our sights set on the red planet, Mars, and with SpaceX development making great strides, and you can (virtually) take a tour of Mars in this 360-degree viewer courtesy of Curiosity.
Read MoreNASA Offers Up $20,000 If You Can Think of a Use for 660 Pounds of Dead Weight on Mars Lander
It's a major award!
The ballast on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory entry-descent-landing (MEDLI) system is very important for science in that, without it, the spacecraft wouldn't be able to put robots and other heavy objects safely on the surface of another planet. However, it's not actually very useful to science in that it's a bunch of extra weight on a spacecraft that could be better used for scientific equipment. That's where you and your brilliant idea come in.
Read MoreNASA’s MAVEN Is Now in Orbit Around Mars to Study Its Atmosphere and Climate Change
Your carbon footprint is off the hook for this one.
Studying Earth's climate has grown too contentious, so NASA's brilliant scientists sent a satellite to orbit Mars and study its less politically divisive atmosphere. Or they just really want to learn more about how Mars works, since they're getting kind of tired of just sending robots there and sending people is dangerous.
Read MoreNeil deGrasse Tyson and Felicia Day Narrate a Video About the Mars Curiosity Rover
More space videos narrated by these two please.
Need some inspiration for why it's worth doing things like landing SUV-sized robots on other planets? Watch this video about the Mars Curiosity rover from Caltech. It's narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Felicia Day, and it tells what we really sent to Mars—our curiosity.
Read MoreCould Plants Grow on Mars? Proposed Mission Wants to Find Out
"Bring me a shrubbery!" —Mars Curiosity Rover... probably.
Just because no life has been found on Mars, doesn't mean life couldn't survive there—right? That's the thought behind a proposed mission that would attempt to grow a plant on the Martian surface when the next rover lands there in 2021. Besides sprucing up the place, this could pave the way for long-term settlements.
Read MoreLEGO’s Mars Curiosity Rover Set Is Now Available, but It’s Already out of Stock
Please make a Bobak Ferdowsi minifig to go with this.
The LEGO Mars Curiosity Rover set is finally available for sale, or was, briefly, before it sold out. We haven't seen any on eBay yet either, but when they do appear, they'll probably be somewhere between the $29.99 LEGO price, and the $2.5 billion price of the actual Curiosity mission.
Read MoreIt’s Raining Mars – Hallelujah! But Seriously, Bits Of Mars Are Falling to Earth As Meteorites
We're all really sorry for that terrible headline.
It's been speculated for decades that little bits of Mars have been raining down on the Earth, but Mars rover Curiosity has finally proven it: we're basically being aggressively assaulted by the red planet, and Martian rocks are just about everywhere.
Read MoreCuriosity Has Found Water Bound Up in the Soil of Mars
We want to go to Mars and give Curiosity a high five.
The Curiosity rover has found water on Mars, or rather in Mars. The rover analyzed a soil sample and found it to be made up of about two percent water. It's not exactly an ocean, but it's significant. Curiosity was sent to Mars to find out if the planet could have once supported life, and water is a big component in that.
Read MoreCuriosity Rover Basically Gets Its Learner’s Permit, Drives Itself With New Autonomous Navigation System
No one likes a backseat driver. Not even robots on Mars.
The Curiosity Rover tried out a new feature yesterday when it successfully tested out an automatic navigation system that let it decide for itself how to safely drive on Mars. Curiosity doesn't seem old enough to drive, but I guess it's ruled by Martian law at this point.
Read MoreRover Watches Mars’ Moons Pass One Another In The Night For First Time Ever [Video]
Man, I wish we had two moons...
Today, NASA demonstrated just how neat it would be if the Earth had two moons. This video, stitched together from numerous stills captured by the Mars Curiosity rover's Mast camera, offer the first look at Mars' larger moon, Phobos, passing in front of and blotting out the planet's smaller moon, Deimos.
Read MoreNew Study Suggests Snowfall on Mars
Snowsuits that the little green men might have worn as of yet unconfirmed.
While scientists are now certain that there was once water on Mars, there are still many questions about what that means. Questions linger over how much water there was, what form it may have taken, and what role it had in the Martian ecosystem. Researchers at Brown University have been studying some of these questions, and have found evidence to support the theory that the water regularly precipitated on Mars, suggesting a history of snowy seasons on the Red Planet.
Read MoreStop What You’re Doing and Look at This Billion-Pixel Panorama of Mars
In case you were wondering what your next desktop background should be...here you go. You're welcome.
No, seriously, check it out. This is the first gigapixel image produced from almost 900 images snapped by the Curiosity Rover, and all billion-plus pixels of it are totally amazing. The clarity with which you can see the rocky landscape of the Red Planet, looking south from the it's perch at the so-called Rock Nest, is unmatched by any images we've seen. It's like being there. You can almost feel the Martian wind blowing crimson sand past you. You can see the amazing panorama courtesy of NASA right here, along with the option to view the image on a cylinder, look at raw and color-corrected versions, and of course zoom in to get a better look at the details of what certainly seems like every rock on the planet.
Read More“Mars Rat” is Just a Rock on Mars, Not a Rat, Because Apparently People Need to Hear That
Just because a rock looks like an animal doesn't mean that there's a rat on Mars, so everybody relax.
I've seen this story popping up a few places, and it's been getting on my nerves. What you see in that picture is not some kind of Martian rat or lizard. It is a rock. It's not even a rock that looks that much like a rat or a lizard. Our brains are wired for us to recognize familiar shapes and see faces. That's all this is.
Read MoreBuggy Curiosity Rover Retreats Back Into Safe Mode
NASA Reveals Contents Of Martian Rock Analyzed By Curiosity, Watch It Live Here
Just what was in that sample of rock the Curiosity rover drilled out of Mars? We don't know yet, but we'll find out later this afternoon, and we'd love for you to join us. Watch with us live at 1:00 pm EST as NASA announces the contents of the rock sample and explains why those results are important. Chances are this won't be the end of the story on whether or not Mars was once capable of supporting life, but it has the potential to be a major piece of that puzzle, and you can watch its reveal live below thanks to the magic of NASA TV.
Read MoreCuriosity Rover Leaves Safe Mode, Comes Back Online
Curiosity Rover Gets Latest Taste Of Martian Bedrock, Chemical Analysis Underway
NASA Hosting Curiosity Rover Teleconference at 3pm ET, Watch It Live Here
This afternoon NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be hosting a live teleconference to update everyone on how the Mars Curiosity rover is doing. It seems like things are going well. Earlier today the team behind the rover confirmed that Curiosity collected the first ever sample from the interior of a Martian rock. The teleconference will start at 3pm ET, and we have the live feed right here for your convenience.
Scientists Say Europa, Not Mars, Is Best Place To Search For Life
Searching for life on Mars is all the rage right now. We've covered the Curiosity rover mission quite a bit here at Geekosystem, because NASA shot a robot at a planet, landed it safely on the surface, and now that robot is drilling and sending back data. That's amazing. As amazing at it is, though, some scientists think we should be using our resources to look for life in a more likely spot -- Jupiter's moon Europa.
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