The ChemCam instrument, developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, recently zapped its laser for the 1 millionth time on Mars. Sitting on top of NASA’s Curiosity rover, ChemCam has been helping make groundbreaking discoveries since 2012.
You may have flown a flight simulator in a computer game or at a science museum. Landing without crashing is always the hardest part. But that’s nothing compared to the challenge that engineers are facing to develop a flight simulation of the very large vehicles necessary for humans to explore the surface of Mars. The Red Planet poses innumerable challenges to astronauts, not the least of which is getting there. That’s where the Department of Energy Office of Science’s user facility supercomputers come in. Researchers at DOE’s Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) are working with NASA engineers and scientists to simulate the process of slowing down a huge spacecraft as it moves towards Mars’ surface.
Since 2019, a team of NASA scientists and their partners have been using NASA’s FUN3D software on supercomputers located at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, or OLCF, to conduct computational fluid dynamics, or CFD, simulations of a human-scale Mars lander. The team’s ongoing research project is a first step in determining how to safely land a vehicle with humans onboard onto the surface of Mars.
In the three years since NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars, the NASA science team has made the daily task of investigating the red planet seem almost mundane.
New research shows that atmospheric pressure fluctuations that pull gases up from underground could be responsible for releasing subsurface methane into Mars’ atmosphere; knowing when and where to look for methane can help the Curiosity rover search for signs of life.
Researchers have taken the first steps toward finding liquid solvents that may someday help extract critical building materials from lunar and Martian-rock dust, an important piece in making long-term space travel possible.
The surface of Mars, unlike the Earth's, is not constantly renewed by plate tectonics. This has resulted in the preservation of huge areas of terrain remarkable for their abundance in fossil rivers and lakes dating back billions of years.
New observations of mud cracks made by the Curiosity Rover show that high-frequency, wet-dry cycling occurred in early Martian surface environments, indicating that the red planet may have once seen seasonal weather patterns or even flash floods.
A new study featuring data from the NASA Mars Perseverance rover reports on an instrumental detection potentially consistent with organic molecules on the Martian surface, hinting toward past habitability of the Red Planet.
EMSL user Kim Tait is using Martian meteorites to determine if the necessary ingredients for life once existed on Mars. Tait explains how these findings could teach us about evolution of life on our own planet.
A study led by Brown University researchers offers new insights into how water from melting ice could have played a recent role in the formation of ravine-like channels that cut down the sides of impact craters on Mars.
In a study published in Nature Communications, scientists assess a new technique which could convert renewable, green energy from outside the Earth’s atmosphere. They are taking advantage of photosynthesis – the chemical process plants undergo every day to create energy – to help the space industry become more sustainable.
Michaela Hemming, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), is using a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO) fellowship to make advances in propulsion under the guidance of NASA engineers.Hemming has designed a small-scale rotating detonation engine (RDE) manufactured by NASA as part of a joint research effort.
A new study has uncovered intriguing insights into the liquid core at the centre of Mars, furthering understanding of the planet’s formation and evolution.
Researcher will discuss the study which involved a sleeping aid known as suvorexant that is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for insomnia, hints at the potential of sleep medications to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
A planetary scientist at NAU is part of a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission to travel to Mars and survey the planet’s two moons, including collecting a sample from one and returning it to Earth.
At Idaho National Laboratory, computational scientists use INL’s supercomputers to perform “virtual experiments” to accomplish research that couldn’t be done by conventional means. While supercomputing can’t replace traditional experiments, supercomputing is an essential component of all modern scientific discoveries and advancements.
A joint research team led by Dr. Xiaohui Fu and Dr. Zhongchen Wu from Shandong University, China, proposed a new carbonate formation mechanism in Martian dust activities based on simulation experimental studies.
Current state-of-the-art instrumentation being sent to Mars to collect and analyze evidence of life might not be sensitive enough to make accurate assessments, according to a research team co-led by a Cornell University astronomer.
Mars is infamous for its intense dust storms, some of which kick up enough dust to be seen by telescopes on Earth. When dust particles rub against each other, they can become electrified. New research shows that this electrical discharge could be the major driving force of Martian chlorine cycle.
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