Tootfinder

Yay, the #Mars close-up images taken by the #Psyche spacecraft during its #GravityAssist two days ago have begun to appear on https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/psyche-raw-images/ - severe image processing required ...

ESA's Mars orbiters watch solar superstorm hit the Red Planet - Universe Today https://www.universetoday.com/articles/esas-mars-orbiters-watch-solar-superstorm-hit-the-red-planet

ESA's Mars orbiters watch solar superstorm hit the Red Planet
What happens when a solar superstorm hits Mars? Thanks to the European Space Agency’s Mars orbiters, we now know: glitching spacecraft and a supercharged upper atmosphere.

Meanwhile some Slope Streaks in Amazonis Planitia on #Mars from the MRO: https://www.uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_076980_2115 - a paper had proposed this location as a candidate site for recurring slope lineae (RSL), where slope streaks were also observed.

And another #Psyche #Mars image from the #GravityAssist, just in as https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/psyche_images/6658/ - see also https://bsky.app/profile/thomasappere.bsky.social/post/3mm2lwu6qrk23 for a great mosaic from images appearing previously on https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/psyche-raw-images/

Two more #Psyche pictures from the #Mars #GravityAssist two days ago - https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/psyche-raw-images/ is taking off, but a lot of contrast-boosting remains necessary.

🥕 Why Mars astronauts need more than just space greenhouses
#mars

Why Mars astronauts need more than just space greenhouses
Thinking about food systems in deep space likely brings to mind something like The Martian where an astronaut is scratching barely enough food to survive out of potatoes grown in Martian regolith. Or perhaps a fancy hydroponic system on an interplanetary transport ship, with artificial lighting and all the associated technological wizardry. But a new paper published in Acta Astronautica by Tor Blomqvist and Ralph Fritsche points out that growing food is only one small part of the whole cycle of…

Animation crossfading between a canali map of #Mars, and a modern CGI map, so you can see how the "canals" line up with real features: https://vimeo.com/1192785015

Almost like the real thing: Three years before ESA's #ExoMars rover #RosalindFranklin is scheduled to land on #Mars,

Moments ago #Psyche came closest to #Mars during its #GravityAssist - here is the planet yesterday still as a crescent, in fan processing of the raw images https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/psyche-raw-images/ (full caption and credit in ALT).

Even though our knowledge has greatly advanced over the decades, I must say the #planetary literature was much more exciting during the Mariner program
#Mars
(Image from here:

The Constraint of Crewed Mars Missions Based on Current Radiation Dose Measurements: #Mars: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/The_radiation_paradox_why_solar_maximum_is_the_safest_time_to_travel_to_Mars

Strong nickel enrichment co-located with redox-organic interactions in Neretva Vallis, Mars: #Mars coughs up another maybe-life clue in the form of nickel compounds: https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/31/nickel_found_on_mars/ - Perseverance found the minerals in an ancient river channel, but researchers say geology may still beat biology.

Using asteroid early orbital data for rapid mars missions: #Mars: https://t3n.de/news/abkuerzung-mars-route-mission-1740314/ - neue Route könnte Gesamtmission auf 153 Tage eindampfen.

Elon #Musk Won't Get Us to #mars
#ElonMusk won’t get you to Mars and none of the #ai companies are work…

Elon Musk Won't Get Us to Mars
or: on space travel and AI and federations

Investigating potential Martian habitats - survival of the halotolerant yeast Debaryomyces hansenii in deliquescence-driven brines: #Mars: https://www.tu.berlin/news/pressemitteilung/neue-hinweise-auf-lebensfreundliche-nischen-auf-dem-mars

Even though our knowledge has greatly advanced over the decades, I must say the #planetary literature was much more exciting during the Mariner program
#Mars
(Image from here:

Diverse organic molecules on #Mars revealed by the first SAM TMAH experiment: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-70656-0 -> NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curiosity-rover/nasas-curiosity-finds-organic-molecules-never-seen-before-on-mars/

Ground penetrating radar observations of ancient large-scale deltaic structures in Jezero crater, #Mars: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adz6095 -> Perseverance’s radar revealed ancient subsurface river delta on Mars: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/perseverances-radar-revealed-ancient-subsurface-river-delta-on-mars/ - there may be a river delta hidden under the obvious delta in a Martian crater.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on BBCRadio3's #NightTracks
Mars Smith, Daniela Mars & Paul Smith:
🎵 Sea in Minor
#MarsSmith #DanielaMars #PaulSmith
https://open.spotify.com/track/1ios4kKpi0eorGMXuLt2vC

Amapari Marker Band Metal-Enrichments - Potential Mechanisms and Implications for Surface and Subsurface Water and Weathering in Gale Crater: #Mars: https://www.lanl.gov/media/news/0421-ancient-lakes-on-mars

Identifying the topographic signature of early Martian oceans: #Mars: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/bathtub-ring-is-new-evidence-for-an-ancient-ocean-on-mars

A funny incident just happened on #Mars - the drill of the rover Curiosity got stuck in a rock which was then lifted up and moved around a bit before it fell off on its own: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztB7lgMxr_g

#Extremophile survives the transient pressures associated with impact-induced ejection from #Mars: #panspermia

Magnetic Reconnection as a Potential Trigger for #Magnetotail Flapping at #Mars - Insights From #MAVEN and Tianwen-1 Observations: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2026AV002343 -> What Makes Mars’s Magnetotail Flap?
Spacecraft reveal a key driver of up-and-down motions of thin, current-carrying plasma sheets on the nightside of Mars: https://eos.org/research-spotlights/what-makes-marss-magnetotail-flap

Simultaneous Double Transits of #Phobos and #Deimos as Seen from the Martian Surface - A Millennium Catalogue: #Mars