Global Martian Map being developed by NASA for public display and research

Scientists with the help of camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft constructed a map using 21,000 images Thermal Emission Imaging System.



You can just log into jmars and have a look yourself. You can zoom around the images of Mars and it looks really great.The images will be used as a research work on Mars for coming years too.

Water everywhere on Mars and Moon

Yes water, water is everywhere on Moon and Mars.......Ice deposits at least 6 feet can be found in some small craters on the Moon it was reported by researchers on 12 th April 2010 as the studies showed evidence of water on Moon and Mars .
According to one of the recent studies ice has melted and re-frozen on Mars.
India's spacecraft Chandrayaan has found evidence of thick ice being deposited on some permanently shaded craters on the Moon. Researchers say that Moon has been constantly bombarded with water-bearing objects such as comets and meteorites and implanted with solar wind hydrogen over geological time and some of this material must have made its way into these cold, dark areas.
One of the study showed that 6-feet wide gully on Mars had become nearly 400 feet longer over 2 years and it can be best explain the melting of small amounts of water ice.
Photographs also show dark patches in gully as well as in some smaller new channels.
In September last year several teams reported clear evidence of water likely frozen on desert surfaces of both Moon and Mars and researchers have also seen snow in Mars.

Has your HiWish come true ?

Has your HiWish come true ?
Yes, the first eight pics chosen by public and imaged as a part of the HiWish project using the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), has been released . It consists of collapsing volcanoes, boulder strewn plains and dune-filled valleys on the red planet.
Only 1% of Mars has been imaged by HiRISE and there is whole planet to be discovered. Near about 1000 suggestions have been received and you can still log in and add your suggestions.

First 8 images which have been imaged are of Samara valles which extends in total over 1,000 kilometres across the southern highlands

gently sloping towards Mars’ northern lowlands in Chryse Basin , thousands of boulders lining the rim of an ancient crater in the region Utopia Planitia ,


northern lowlands and the southern highland lobate debris apron in Deuteronilus Mensae is full of pure ice ,


Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System, a seven kilometre high cliff is crumbling underneath the weight of the volcano, bumpy, eroded terrain found on the floor of Palos Crater,



weathered by water erosion from a time long ago when the a river running in the 180-kilometre long valley Tinto Vallis breached the walls of Palos Crate ,dust concealed in a hill outside a 30-kilometre wide crater in Zephyria Tholus which is a hill which has uncertain origin ,


icy layers at Mar's north pole
and region filled with plateaus and mesas called Aureum Chaos reveals volcanic and sedimentary deposits stacked up in layers along cliff faces .



Enjoy these amazing pics of Mars !

A Gorilla on Mars - Another Myth

I was surfing web when i stumbled upon this news Gorilla seen in Mars . But guys hold on........ it can't be true as there have been various rumors Face on Mars .
Gorilla on Red Planet seems just to be an optical illussion , yup it is an image taken from zoomed in image from Mars Rover.

Have a look at the pic yourself and see if it is really a GORILLA or a ROCK !

Astronomical video showing the surface of Mars

Planet Mars has attracted us always Vegetarian and Mars .
I was surfing net when i came across an astronomical video to see the surface of Mars. The video was created with the aid of the virtual reality astronomy program VRMars-Spirit .
Hoping that you will also enjoy going through the video as much as i did.

Can a vegetarian survive in Mars ?

Do you want to have a Martian home and plan to stay there forever....... then you need a lotta chickens.
Mars climate is not like Earth as there are no plants in Red planet hence, the future settlers of Mars will have to depend on Earth to meet their demand of daily bread.
We are all aware of the fact that chicken is a great source of protein , chicken's dung can be used as manure to grow the crops such as wheat and barley in the Martian soil by genetically altering the plants and can also be used as energy to light up the homes there. It is believed that chicken dung has the highest level of nutrients available.
Using the process of Pyrolysis the future settlers can turn chicken manure into biochar ( a charcoal like product ).
Now, why chickens ?
Simple reason for the use of chickens is that they are easy to transport as compared to other animals which are larger in size. The size of an egg is average 57 gms and an average size of a calf is 32 kgs at the time of the birth so it makes chicken as the preferred choice for the future space animals.
If you are a vegetarian then you will have to give your Mars dream a miss for the time being !


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Power for Martian homes

Have you ever played with the idea that your future generations could be building their homes in Martian soil. Yes, it can be very much possible ........ a house in Mars . How they will they get energy for using it at home and for cutting rocks ??????
The answer could be biofuels. It is believed that a slightly altered cynobacterium may help us to power future Martian homes.
The sunlight which Mars gets is half the amount of sunlight which Earth receives so no any chances of using solar energy as power. Mars has rust , dust and lots of carbondioxide in its environment and carbondioxide can be used by cynobacterium to turn into a biofuel called isobutanol .
This biofuel can help people living in Mars for power. Biofuels can't burn in the carbon atmosphere so the future houses in Mars need to be altered to carry oxygen as well.
Having an inexpensive biofuel can fulfill our dream of our future generations building homes in Martian soil.

Make a wish for a Martian pic

The above pic is one of the possible future landing site on Mars.

Now, you can suggest photos of Mars to be taken by NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars.
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment ( HiRISE) has recorded 13,000 images of Martian surface. Inspite of thousands of pictures of Mars being taken it is believed that only 1% of the surface of Mars is being photographed.
A web tool called HiWish allows you to suggest a location on Mars where HiRISE instrument should take an image. You can go through the site to browse the Red planet and find out a location which can be photographed.

With the help of this tool you can place a rectangle on Mars where you would like the pics to be taken , you will have to explain a possible benefit of photographing that particular area.HiRISE is trying to find a possible landing site . You can track your suggestion and will be notified when your suggestion is taken.
For students and other people who are involved in exploring Martian surface, its a perfect opportunity.
Its time for making a HiWish .......

Does Mars has trees ?

Martian trees ........ no there is no such any evidence of trees in Mars . The scientists say that it is just an optical illusion .They are the naturally erupting dust clouds on Mars

The so called Martian Trees are actually dark basaltic sand pushed to the surface of sand dunes by sun-heated solid carbon dioxide ice, sublimating directly into vapor.

The image, taken by MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera.

Search continues for Mars Polar Lander

Mars Polar Lander is one of the two exploration vehicles of NASA Mars Surveyor' 98 Program launched on 3rd January 1999.

It all happened 10 years ago in December 1999 the Mars Polar Lander before entering the atmosphere of Mars became missing.
The search for the remains of MPL began using Mars Global Surveyor and now HIRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is continuing the search.
It is believed that the spacecraft’s computer misinterpreted the release of the lander’s legs in preparation for decent on the surface of Mars which might have caused the engines to shut down.
The search still continues…….

The Face on Mars : a myth

Face on Mars is a myth, although the picture resembles a human head formed by shadows giving the illusion of eyes, nose and mouth.

In 1976, NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft took the photos of Mars and one of the photos shows the resemblance of human face.The head is huge nearly 3 km from the region of planet called Cydonia. Since, then some people think that Mars has life and that NASA is trying to hide the fact from people.

On April 8, 2001 — a cloudless summer day in Cydonia pictures were taken and the pictures were like landforms common in American West and these are known as butte or mesa in Mars.It was found that Cydonia contains many mesas like the Face, but the others don't look like human heads, so they've attracted little attention.

Spirit Rover finally moves in Martian soil

Spirit Rover which was stuck in Martian soil since April, 2009 has finally showed some movements from its current position.

The Spirit Rover team is trying to get her out from the sand trap in which she has got stuck.

Enjoy the animations of recent movement of Spirit

NASA is planning to have a press conference on 12th November, 2009 regarding the escape plan of the Rover.

" Marquette Island" a Martian Rock

3D image of the rock

Opportunity Rover has found a big rock on planet Mars. It is not clear that the rock is a meteorite or some thing else.

The rock has been named as "Marquette Island".

Enjoy these amazingly beautiful images of the " Marquette Island".

First direct evidence of lightning on Mars

University of Michigan researchers say they have found direct evidence for lightning on Mars caused by a large dust storm.

Researchers saw on Mars a series of huge and sudden electrical discharges caused by a large dust storm . Clearly, there was no rain associated with the electrical discharges on Mars.

The findings were made using an innovative microwave detector developed at the University of Michigan Space Physics Research Laboratory. The kurtosis detector is capable of differentiating between thermal and non-thermal radiation, where non-thermal radiation is associated with the presence of lightning. Between 22 May and 16 June 2006 the instrument took measurements of microwave emissions for approximately five hours each day, and on 8 June both an unusual pattern of non-thermal radiation and an intense Martian dust storm occurred, the only time that non-thermal radiation was detected.

Evidence found of lake on Mars

A long, deep canyon and the remains of beaches are perhaps the clearest evidence yet of a standing lake on the surface of Mars, say scientists.

Images from a camera called the High Resolution Imaging indicate water carved a 50 kilometre long canyon.

The presence of water on Mars is widely accepted. The Mars Phoenix mission last year found frozen water on the surface of Mars, and there is also evidence that water may still seep to the surface from underground.

Planetary scientists have also seen what could be the shores of giant rivers and seas, but some of the formations could also arguably have been made by dry landslides.

The researcher says that this is the first unambiguous evidence of shorelines on the surface of Mars.

Mars orbiter imagery boosts Curiosity rover's life search

NASA and university scientists reviewing data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) say evidence is growing that the planet harbored life in its past or that Martian microbes exist now.

They say their views are based on the growing body of data on the diversity of water related minerals discovered by MRO. It is also supported by findings from other spacecraft such as Europe's Mars Express orbiter and NASA's Phoenix lander and twin Mars rovers.

The MRO data is being used to narrow the best sites to locate life related evidence, while also being safe enough for the Mars Science Laboratory rover "Curiosity" set for launch in 2011.

Victoria provides Opportunity to view Mars' geological history

Opportunity’s two-year stay in Mars’ Victoria Crater is now bearing fruit, with the publication of the first major analysis of what the Mars Exploration Rover found.

Details describe a crater carved by wind and water erosion, and a strong indication that the water was mostly underground rather than running freely on the surface. The water appears to have come and gone several times billions of years ago, with the wind continuing the erosion until the present day.

Spirit struggles with soft soil

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is facing one of its biggest challenges yet with a patch of soft soil that is currently holding the rover hostage.

During recent attempts to drive around the Home Plate area of Mars, Spirit’s wheels have sunk about halfway into the ground. Concerns have been raised that Spirit may sink so low that its body may make contact with rocks on the surface, making the escape from this situation even more of a challenge. Engineers and scientists have temporarily suspended all driving while they simulate driving options with a test rover back on Earth.

Behavioral problems that Spirit exhibited in early April – episodes of amnesia, computer resets and failure to wake for communications sessions – have not recurred in the past three weeks, though investigations have yet to diagnose the root causes.

Spirit rover resumes driving on the Red Planet

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove on Thursday for the first time since April 8, acting on commands from engineers who are still investigating bouts of amnesia and other unusual behavior exhibited by Spirit in the past two weeks.

The drive took Spirit about 1.7 meters (5.6 feet) toward destinations about 150 meters (about 500 feet) away. The rover has already operated more than 20 times longer than its original prime mission on Mars.

Three times in the past two weeks, Spirit has failed to record data from a day's activity period into non-volatile flash memory. That is a type of computer memory where information is preserved even when power is off, such as when the rover naps to conserve power.

The team is also investigating two other types of problems Spirit has experienced recently: failing to wake up for three consecutive communication sessions about two weeks ago and rebooting its computer on April 11, 12 and 18. Engineers have not found any causal links among these three types of events.