Tootfinder

A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars: #Mars, Says New Report: https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/search-for-life-should-be-top-science-priority-for-first-human-landing-on-mars-says-new-report -> In a major new report, scientists build rationale for sending astronauts to Mars: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/in-a-major-new-report-scientists-build-rationale-for-sending-astronauts-to-mars/

🌊 Long ago, Mars had massive watersheds—now finally mapped
#mars

Long ago, Mars had massive watersheds—now finally mapped
What can mapped drainage systems on Mars teach scientists about the red planet's watery past? This is what a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences hopes to address as a team of scientists from the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) conducted a first-time mapping study involving Martian river basins. This study has the potential to not only gain insight into ancient Mars and how much water existed there long ago, but also develop new methods for map…

"Tesco and Mars post successes with sustainable farming schemes"
#Mars #Tesco #Farming #Food

Mars - The Search Begins (1974): #Mars, including speculation on what form that life might take, many of the core ideas are still current 1/2 century on. The film was made just before NASA's Viking landers were launched in 1975 to begin the search but after the great success of the orbiter Mariner 9 - Olympus Mons was still called Nix Olympica and model makers believed that the sky over the Martian landscape was a deep blue.

Seasonal Ice Cover Could Allow Liquid Lakes to Persist in a Cold #Mars Paleoclimate: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025AV001891 -> Thin ice may have protected lake water on frozen Mars: https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/thin-ice-may-have-protected-lake-water-frozen-mars

How should #Mars samples be handled upon arrival on Earth? What measurements are necessary to unlock their full scientific potential? In a new report, the Measurement Definition Team of #NASA and #ESA

🌱 Could we really turn Mars green?
#mars #space

Could we really turn Mars green?
Terraforming is the theoretical process of transforming a planet or moon to make it habitable for humans and other Earth-like life. The concept involves altering an alien world's atmosphere, temperature, and surface conditions to resemble Earth's environment, such as adding oxygen to the air, creating liquid water on the surface, and establishing a stable climate.

Sediments on #Mars Hint at Large Ancient Martian Moon
"Regular, alternating layers in Gale Crater may have been deposited as the result of tides raised by a moon at least 18 times the mass of Phobos" | Eos |
https://…

Sediments Hint at Large Ancient Martian Moon
Regular, alternating layers in Gale Crater may have been deposited as the result of tides raised by a moon at least 18 times the mass of Phobos, a study says.

Dust, sand and wind drive slope streaks on #Mars: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65522-4 -> Swoosh! https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/11/Swoosh

A Comparative Study of Time on Mars with Lunar and Terrestrial Clocks: #Mars? NIST Physicists Have the Answer: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2025/12/what-time-it-mars-nist-physicists-have-answer

Isotope effects (Cl, O, C) of heterogeneous electrochemistry induced by Martian dust activities: #Mars

Sediments Hint at Large Ancient Martian Moon
"Regular, alternating layers in Gale Crater may have been deposited as the result of tides raised by a moon at least 18 times the mass of Phobos" #Mars
https://

Sediments Hint at Large Ancient Martian Moon
Regular, alternating layers in Gale Crater may have been deposited as the result of tides raised by a moon at least 18 times the mass of Phobos, a study says.

Search for in situ signatures of electric activity on Mars: #Mars / Electric discharges detected on Mars for the first time / This is what lightning on Mars sounds like: https://www.natureasia.com/en/info/press-releases/detail/9162 / https://www.cnrs.fr/en/press/electric-discharges-detected-mars-first-time / https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03896-7

High Frequency Radar Perspective of Putative Subglacial Liquid Water on Mars: #Mars After All / NASA Orbiter Shines New Light on Long-Running Martian Mystery: https://eos.org/research-spotlights/maybe-thats-not-liquid-water-on-mars-after-all / https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter/nasa-orbiter-shines-new-light-on-long-running-martian-mystery/

Large drainage systems produced half of Mars’ ancient river sediment: #Mars’ Large River Drainage Systems for First Time: https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/2025/12/scientists-map-mars-large-river-drainage-systems-for-first-time/

Alteration history of aluminum-rich rocks at Jezero crater, #Mars: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02856-3 -> Findings suggest red planet was warmer, wetter millions of years ago: https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/2025/Q4/findings-suggest-red-planet-was-warmer-wetter-millions-of-years-ago/ - evidence of rain-driven climate on Mars found in bleached rocks scattered in Jezero crater.

Slow Radiolysis of Amino Acids in Mars-Like Permafrost Conditions - Applications to the Search for Extant Life on Mars: #Mars? Check the ice, researchers say: https://www.psu.edu/news/earth-and-mineral-sciences/story/are-there-living-microbes-mars-check-ice-researchers-say - intact biomolecules from dormant microbes degrade far slower in pure water ice than mixed soil samples.

Planning Considerations Related to Contamination Control for the Return and Analysis of Martian Samples: #MarsSampleReturnMission

Carbonated ultramafic igneous rocks in #Jezero crater, Mars: #Perseverance #Mars Rover Ready to Roll for Miles in Years Ahead: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-mars-rover-ready-to-roll-for-miles-in-years-ahead/

Aeolian Sediment Lithification From Late-Stage Aqueous Activity in the Gale Crater - Implications for Habitability on #Mars: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024JE008804 -> Evidence of Ancient Underground Water Reveals Mars May Have Stayed Habitable Longer Than Believed: https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/news/latest-news/science-and-technology/2025/november/nyuad-research-uncovers-mars-water-history.html. Meanwhile an early webcast for the ESCAPADE launch is already running at https://www.youtube.com/live/9sT4Hr-Il30

Interesting corollary to the #Perseverance discovery in the Bright Angel formation on #Mars making headlines 1 1/2 months ago: at a public talk in Bochum as part of a mathematics outreach event - #Life Detection scale #MarsSampleReturnMission the rating could jump up to 5 or 6 after lab analysis.
Green also remarked that the sample tubes dropped by Percy are up for grabs for *any* spacefaring nation capable of doing a MSRM - including China though they don't plan to go after the Percy samples with their upcoming #Tianwen3 mission (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianwen-3) as far as he has heard. And regardless of where they'll get their own samples they could advance the case for life, perhaps even extant, on Mars a lot - which Green feels has been all but made in the past decades of Mars research anyway. Oh, and he also thinks terraforming Mars is quite viable ...