Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
On 2 December 1971, the Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing, but its transmission was interrupted after 14.5 seconds. [47] The Mars 2 and 3 orbiters sent back a relatively large volume of data covering the period from December 1971 to March 1972, although transmissions continued through to August. By 22 August ...
On March 2, 2004, NASA announced that "Opportunity has landed in an area of Mars where liquid water once drenched the surface". Associate administrator Ed Weiler told reporters that the area "would have been good habitable environment", although no traces of life have been found. Larger grains suggest the presence of fluid.
The Mars Science Laboratory team used the rover to collect samples from the mudstone at Yellowknife Bay then, using the mass spectrometer, from the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument package measured argon isotopes for an absolute radiometric date of the rock member, and an approximate age of its exposure to the surface. [8]
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rovers to explore the Martian surface and geology ; both landed on Mars at separate locations in January 2004.
The observatory was used for the exploration of Mars during the last good opportunity in 1894 and the following less favorable oppositions. He published books on Mars and life on the planet, which had a great influence on the public. [61]
Rocks on Mars have been found to frequently occur as layers, called strata, in many different places. Columbus Crater is one of many craters that contain layers. Rock can form layers in a variety of ways. Volcanoes, wind, or water can produce layers. [83] Many places on Mars show rocks arranged in layers.
The same methodology was later applied to the Moon [1] and then to Mars. [2] Another stratigraphic principle used on planets where impact craters are well preserved is that of crater number density. The number of craters greater than a given size per unit surface area (usually a million km 2) provides a relative age for that surface. Heavily ...
Mars Exploration Program (MEP) is a long-term effort to explore the planet Mars, funded and led by NASA.Formed in 1993, MEP has made use of orbital spacecraft, landers, and Mars rovers to explore the possibilities of life on Mars, as well as the planet's climate and natural resources. [1]