All Questions
Tagged with geology astrobiology
10 questions
3
votes
2
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347
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Could there be caves on Mars in the areas inside Jezero crater and the watershed west and north of it where the Mg carbonates are detected?
Both images above are screenshots from Fig. 1 of the article Formation of Magnesium Carbonates on Earth and Implications for Mars
The green coloured regions indicate where Mg carbonates were detected, ...
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5
votes
3
answers
987
views
What could be the cause of the extraordinary high Fe counts from the PIXL instrument onboard the Perseverance rover?
In this answer a table is showed with all the elements that were detected by the PIXL instrument on 2 occasions, namely sol 140 and sol 167.
As could be expected, X-ray counts were high for Si (...
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3
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2
answers
258
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After one year exploring Jezero's crater floor, has there been any investigation into the presence of trace elements with PIXL?
PIXL instrument chart sample Credit:NASA/JPL-CALTECH
Of course PIXL has been used already in Jezero crater, but as far as I know only to identify mineral compositions and textures, as described in ...
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8
votes
1
answer
284
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How did Spirit and Opportunity identify ferric sulfate and jarosite on Mars?
In the short BBC video Spain's otherworldly red river, Ricardo Amils, a researcher in Spain's Astrobiology Center says the following (amateur transcription):
Río Tinto is a peculiar place in our ...
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3
votes
1
answer
129
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Has the HP$^3$ on the Insight lander actually a probe to detect water and ice in the subsurface of Mars?
The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP$^3$) is a science instrument onboard the Insight lander that features a self-penetrating probe to determine how heat flows inside Mars.
Nicknamed "the ...
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2
votes
1
answer
187
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What were the 21 potential landing sites for the Mars 2020 mission?
In August 2015 more than 150 scientists attended a conference to evaluate 21 potential landing sites for NASA's next rover, a mission called Mars 2020.
Out of those proposed landing sites the Mars ...
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1
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3
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343
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Would a circular saw on one arm and a trowel on another on the Mars 2020 rover add scientific value? [closed]
Edit:
I changed the question from one arm with a shovel to two arms, with one with a circular saw and the other with a trowel, some time after the first answer of @Hobbes.
I did this because in his ...
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5
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2
answers
552
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Which potential landing sites were identified at the MSL Landing Site workshops?
In the Wikipedia article Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory it is mentioned that at the first MSL Landing Site workshop, 33 potential landing sites were identified, and that by the second workshop in ...
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9
votes
1
answer
595
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Why is the northeastern region of Syrtis Major Planum a selected landing site for the Mars 2020 mission?
Image below:
One of the 3 selected landing sites, on the left side of Jezero crater, which is also selected !
A workshop for the Mars 2020 Rover mission was held in February 2017 that selected 3 ...
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9
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1
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694
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What type of rock or soil on Mars will give Nostoc Commune cyanobacteria the best chance to survive there?
Photo taken by YAMAMAYA
Cyanobacteria are a group of photosynthetic bacteria, who use the energy of light to synthesize organic compounds from carbon dioxide, and producing oxygen this way.
Nostoc ...
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