Mars is one of the hottest destinations in discussion for potential future settlement. That’s one of the reasons that we’re always nosing into Mars affairs.
This week, Google’s Eric Schmidt took over as CEO of SpaceX rival Relativity Space with a big investment and plans to build a base on Mars, a prospect that might be closer than we think.
In February, China’s Mars rover Zhurong discovered an ancient beach on the red planet, giving weight to the speculation that the planet used to be habitable.
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“The structures don’t look like sand dunes. They don’t look like an impact crater. They don’t look like lava flows. That’s when we started thinking about oceans,” Michael Manga, a University of California, Berkeley, professor of earth and planetary science and co-author of the study, said in a statement. “The orientation of these features are parallel to what the old shoreline would have been. They have both the right orientation and the right slope to support the idea that there was an ocean for a long period of time to accumulate the sand-like beach.”
We have been trying to know Mars in various ways for a long time now. According to recent news, Mars is spinning faster. With the help of NASA’s InSight Mars lander, scientists have measured Mars’ rotation precisely, detecting a slight acceleration and the planet’s wobble due to its molten core. This study offers unprecedented insights into the Martian core’s size and shape, providing vital information for understanding Mars’ internal structure.
Research has also revealed that the Olympus Mons and Alba Mons volcanoes on Mars show similar features as Earth’s active volcanic islands, pointing to a past interaction between lava and liquid water. This supports the hypothesis that an ocean may have once existed in Mars’ northern lowlands. A closer look at these volcanic rocks could provide clues about Mars’ climatic evolution.
As per a study published in the journal Science Advances, Mars can be warmed up quickly using specially engineered dust particles made with minerals abundant on its surface.
And reaching Mars might be closer than we think. NASA is funding the Pulsed Plasma Rocket (PPR) to make deep space travel faster, more affordable, and safer. The PPR is a propulsion system that uses superheated plasma pulses to generate thrust. It uses a fission-based nuclear power system to split atoms and generate thrust and can launch spacecrafts at speeds of up to 100,000 miles per hour. It can support heavier spacecraft, which can carry more shielding to protect astronauts from cosmic rays. Right now, the PPR is in phase two of a NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) study and its engine design is being optimized, and proof-of-concept experiments are being carried out.
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The PPR could enable human missions to Mars in two months instead of the current two years, a big win for ambitious Mars astronauts. It can also support mining and exploration in the far reaches of the solar system and enable large cargo transports to and from Mars.
In other news about Mars, NASA’s Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) recently achieved strategic milestones in its preparation for a 2028 launch. The vehicle, which is a part of the Mars Sample Return program, plans to bring Martian samples back to Earth for study, revealing Mars’s ancient history and signs of life.
