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    NASA baffled by mysterious ridges on Mars

    NASA has spent years observing and exploring Mars, but the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took a picture of a ridged portion of the Martian surface last month that is “puzzling” to researchers.

    The image, taken by the HiRise Context camera, was enhanced with color to help correlate rock units, but that has left more questions than answers about the area known as Aureum Chaos.

    The team at the University of Arizona, which operates the HiRise camera, offered a suggestion for how the area formed.

    (NASA/JPL/UArizona)

    MASSIVE LAVA TUBES ON MARS AND THE MOON COULD BE HOME TO LIFE, RESEARCHERS FIND

    “A crudely polygonal patterned ground was created by stresses in the sediments, and groundwater followed the fractures and deposited minerals that cemented the sediments,” the researchers wrote in a blog post. “This was followed by perhaps billions of years of erosion by the wind, leaving the cemented fractures as high-standing ridges.”

    “Of course, this story is almost certainly incomplete if not totally wrong,” the researchers added.

    According to NASA, the Aureum Chaos is a “229-mile wide area in the eastern part of Valles Marineris.” The region is rough and collapsed, which makes it difficult for rovers to explore.

    However, the Ingenuity helicopter attached to the recently launched Perseverance rover could eventually help explore this region of the Red Planet.

    In August, NASA reached a “big milestone” on its latest mission to Mars, as the space agency was able to power up the helicopter’s six lithium-ion batteries.

    BACTERIA COULD HAVE TRAVELED FROM MARS TO EARTH, CHANGING WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HOW LIFE FORMED

    NASA’s Perseverance rover, which recently left Earth on its way to the Red Planet, will perform a number of tasks on Mars, including looking for fossilized evidence of extraterrestrial life.

    Much is still being learned about the Martian terrain and atmosphere. Earlier this week, the Curiosity rover spotted a “dust devil” in the Gale Crater.

    NASA’s long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

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    Ancient Mars may have been covered in ice, not water, study suggests

    As the Perseverance rover heads to Mars to look for signs of ancient life, a new study suggests the Red Planet could have been “covered in ice sheets” and not a valley of rivers, as previously thought.

    The research theorizes that if the valleys on Mars work the same way they do on Earth–in particular, those in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago–they would have been formed by water melting beneath glacial ice. This would put a damper to the “warm and wet ancient Mars” theory, thus constraining the climate on the Red Planet and “the search for ancient life.”

    “For the last 40 years, since Mars’s valleys were first discovered, the assumption was that rivers once flowed on Mars, eroding and originating all of these valleys,” said the study’s lead author, Arizona State University Geophysicist Anna Grau Galofre, in a statement. “But there are hundreds of valleys on Mars, and they look very different from each other.”

    UBC researchers have concluded that the early Martian landscape probably looked similar to this image of the Devon ice cap. (Credit: Anna Grau Galofre)

    ORGANIC MOLECULES FOUND ON MARS ‘CONSISTENT WITH …. LIFE,’ STUDY SAYS

    Galofre continued: “If you look at Earth from a satellite you see a lot of valleys: some of them made by rivers, some made by glaciers, some made by other processes, and each type has a distinctive shape. Mars is similar, in that valleys look very different from each other, suggesting that many processes were at play to carve them.”

    The study was published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience.

    Galofre and the other researchers analyzed more than 10,000 segments of Martian valleys, using maps created by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, also known as MOLA, to come up with their findings.

    MOLA was an instrument on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft that mapped Mars for approximately four-and-a-half-years.

    “These results are the first evidence for extensive subglacial erosion driven by channelized meltwater drainage beneath an ancient ice sheet on Mars,” study co-author Mark Jellinek added. “The findings demonstrate that only a fraction of valley networks match patterns typical of surface water erosion, which is in marked contrast to the conventional view. Using the geomorphology of Mars’ surface to rigorously reconstruct the character and evolution of the planet in a statistically meaningful way is, frankly, revolutionary.”

    NASA THINKS ALIEN LIFE MIGHT BE HIDING UNDERGROUND IN ANCIENT CAVES ON MARS

    The researchers also noted that valleys that may have been formed by melting water from underneath glaciers were spread across the planet, while those formed by rivers were near Arabia Terra, according to Space.com.

    “Climate modeling predicts that Mars’ ancient climate was much cooler during the time of valley network formation,” Grau Galofre added. “We tried to put everything together and bring up a hypothesis that hadn’t really been considered: that channels and valleys networks can form under ice sheets, as part of the drainage system that forms naturally under an ice sheet when there’s water accumulated at the base.”

    Researchers continue to learn about Mars’ past. A study published in March suggested the Red Planet had two unique reservoirs of ancient water that once flowed deep beneath the planet’s surface.

    This illustration depicts NASA’s Perseverance rover operating on the surface of Mars.
    (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

    In May, scientists discovered 4-billion-year-old organic molecules containing nitrogen in a Martian meteorite, suggesting that Mars could have been “blue” in its past, with water covering the planet’s surface.

    In June, researchers suggested Mars could have been a ringed planet in its ancient past, as one of its moons, Deimos, has a slightly altered orbit that suggests there was something responsible for its slight tilt.

    NASA’s long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

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    Fox News’ James Rogers contributed to this story.

    Ancient Mars may have been covered in ice, not water, study suggests

    As the Perseverance rover heads to Mars to look for signs of ancient life, a new study suggests the Red Planet could have been “covered in ice sheets” and not a valley of rivers, as previously thought.

    The research theorizes that if the valleys on Mars work the same way they do on Earth–in particular, those in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago–they would have been formed by water melting beneath glacial ice. This would put a damper to the “warm and wet ancient Mars” theory, thus constraining the climate on the Red Planet and “the search for ancient life.”

    “For the last 40 years, since Mars’s valleys were first discovered, the assumption was that rivers once flowed on Mars, eroding and originating all of these valleys,” said the study’s lead author, Arizona State University Geophysicist Anna Grau Galofre, in a statement. “But there are hundreds of valleys on Mars, and they look very different from each other.”

    UBC researchers have concluded that the early Martian landscape probably looked similar to this image of the Devon ice cap. (Credit: Anna Grau Galofre)

    ORGANIC MOLECULES FOUND ON MARS ‘CONSISTENT WITH …. LIFE,’ STUDY SAYS

    Galofre continued: “If you look at Earth from a satellite you see a lot of valleys: some of them made by rivers, some made by glaciers, some made by other processes, and each type has a distinctive shape. Mars is similar, in that valleys look very different from each other, suggesting that many processes were at play to carve them.”

    The study was published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience.

    Galofre and the other researchers analyzed more than 10,000 segments of Martian valleys, using maps created by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, also known as MOLA, to come up with their findings.

    MOLA was an instrument on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft that mapped Mars for approximately four-and-a-half-years.

    “These results are the first evidence for extensive subglacial erosion driven by channelized meltwater drainage beneath an ancient ice sheet on Mars,” study co-author Mark Jellinek added. “The findings demonstrate that only a fraction of valley networks match patterns typical of surface water erosion, which is in marked contrast to the conventional view. Using the geomorphology of Mars’ surface to rigorously reconstruct the character and evolution of the planet in a statistically meaningful way is, frankly, revolutionary.”

    NASA THINKS ALIEN LIFE MIGHT BE HIDING UNDERGROUND IN ANCIENT CAVES ON MARS

    The researchers also noted that valleys that may have been formed by melting water from underneath glaciers were spread across the planet, while those formed by rivers were near Arabia Terra, according to Space.com.

    “Climate modeling predicts that Mars’ ancient climate was much cooler during the time of valley network formation,” Grau Galofre added. “We tried to put everything together and bring up a hypothesis that hadn’t really been considered: that channels and valleys networks can form under ice sheets, as part of the drainage system that forms naturally under an ice sheet when there’s water accumulated at the base.”

    Researchers continue to learn about Mars’ past. A study published in March suggested the Red Planet had two unique reservoirs of ancient water that once flowed deep beneath the planet’s surface.

    This illustration depicts NASA’s Perseverance rover operating on the surface of Mars.
    (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

    In May, scientists discovered 4-billion-year-old organic molecules containing nitrogen in a Martian meteorite, suggesting that Mars could have been “blue” in its past, with water covering the planet’s surface.

    In June, researchers suggested Mars could have been a ringed planet in its ancient past, as one of its moons, Deimos, has a slightly altered orbit that suggests there was something responsible for its slight tilt.

    NASA’s long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

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    Fox News’ James Rogers contributed to this story.

    NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover set for launch to the Red Planet

    NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is ready for launch to the Red Planet Thursday.

    The mission’s launch window opens at 7:50 a.m. EDT. The rover will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A Mars helicopter is also being transported with the rover. Dubbed Ingenuity, the helicopter will be the first aircraft to attempt powered flight on another planet.

    The two-hour launch window has been planned for when Earth and Mars are in perfect alignment for the epic mission to the Red Planet.

    NASA’S MARS 2020 PERSEVERANCE ROVER: EPIC MISSION EDGES CLOSER TO LAUNCH

    A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will launch to Mars arrives at Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
    (AP Photo/John Raoux)

    “It’s almost go time! Our @NASAPersevere rover is set to launch this morning to begin its journey to the Red Planet!,” tweeted NASA on Thursday morning.

    “In the latest weather briefing, @45thspacewing meteorologists continue to forecast an 80% chance of favorable conditions for liftoff from Cape Canaveral this morning,” tweeted United Launch Alliance early on Thursday. “Weather is good for proceeding into fueling operations.”

    Initially, the launch window was scheduled to open on July 17, although this was pushed back to July 20, July 22 and then July 30. This gave experts time to resolve, respectively, a crane malfunction in the VIF, a “contamination concern” in the ground support lines in NASA’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility and a liquid oxygen sensor line that presented “off-nominal data” during what is known as a “Wet” Dress Rehearsal for the launch.

    Coronavirus played no part in the delays, ULA CEO told Fox News recently, noting that the Mars rover will be the company’s third space launch since the start of the pandemic.

    NASA’S MARS 2020 PERSEVERANCE ROVER: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

    Mars is looming large for a number of other countries. China, for example, recently launched its own Tianwen-1 mission to land a rover on Mars.

    The United Arab Emirates also recently launched its Amal orbiter to the Red Planet. Amal, which is Arabic for Hope, will not land on Mars, but is the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.

    So far, the U.S. has been the only country to successfully put a spacecraft on Mars, doing it eight times. Two NASA landers are operating there, InSight and Curiosity. Six other spacecraft are exploring the planet from orbit: three U.S., two European and one from India.

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    NASA’s longer-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s. However, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin said he thought a slightly later target date of 2040 was more realistic. In an interview in 2016, the Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut told Fox News that by 2040, astronauts could visit Mars’ moon Phobos, which could serve as a sort of stepping stone to the Red Planet.

    Fox News’ Chris Ciaccia, David Aaro and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

    NASA delays launch of next Mars rover

    NASA announced that it will delay the launch of its next Mars rover a few days, citing repair issues.

    The Perseverance rover, which will look to see if there are any signs that life may have existed on the Red Planet, will now launch on July 20 instead of July 17.

    “NASA and ULA are now targeting Monday, July 20, for launch of the Mars 2020 mission of the Perseverance Rover on an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida,” the space agency wrote in a blog post. “Additional time was needed for the team to repair an issue with the ground system equipment.”

    The “Send Your Name to Mars” logo is installed on the Mars Perseverance rover on March 16, 2020, inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credits: NASA/JPL

    NASA’S PERSERVERFANCE ROVER CARRYING ‘SPECIAL’ HIDDEN MESSAGE TO MARS

    It was not related to the coronavirus pandemic, a NASA spokesman told Fox News via email. Instead, the agency’s rocket contractor had an issue with a crane, which has since been resolved.

    United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno noted the delay “cost us about three days.”

    The pandemic forced the entire agency to move to Stage 3 “mandatory telework status” in mid-March.

    Days prior to that announcement, the space agency told Fox News the coronavirus pandemic had not yet impacted the timing of the Perseverance launch.

    The slight delay still gives Perseverance plenty of room to travel to Mars. Space.com reports the launch window extends until Aug. 11, due to the limited alignment windows of Mars and Earth, something that happens once every 26 months.

    The rover, which was recently renamed to Perseverance, will attempt to detect if there is any fossilized evidence of extraterrestrial beings, in addition to other tasks.

    Perseverance will also have a small, autonomous helicopter, known as Ingenuity, that will let researchers understand the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet.

    The Mars helicopter will travel with the rover to the Red Planet.
    (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

    Once Perseverance lands on Mars at the Jezero Crater, it will join the still functioning Curiosity rover and the now-deceased Opportunity rover on the Red Planet. Unlike Curiosity or Opportunity, this rover will carry the “first helicopter that will fly on another planet,” NASA added.

    NASA’s long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

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    Fox News’ Christopher Carbone contributed to this story.

    Ancient Mars had 2 reservoirs of water deep underground, study claims

    Scientists have discovered that two unique reservoirs of ancient water once flowed deep beneath the surface of Mars.

    It’s hard to believe, but at one time the dry and dusty Red Planet was wet and lush.

    “A lot of people have been trying to figure out Mars’ water history,” University of Arizona planetary scientist Jessica Barnes said in a statement. “Like, where did water come from? How long was it in the crust [surface] of Mars? Where did Mars’ interior water come from? What can water tell us about how Mars formed and evolved?”

    Barnes and her colleagues examined the isotopes of hydrogen locked inside Mars rocks. Isotopes are variants of an element with different numbers of neutrons. They studied samples they knew were originated from the planet’s crust: the Black Beauty and Allan Hills meteorites.

    NEW CORONAVIRUS TEST CAN RETURN RESULTS IN FIVE MINUTES

    A recent impact crater on Mars. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)
    (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)

    AMAZON OFFERS HIGHER PAY FOR SWITCHING TO GROCERY WORK AMID INCREASED FOOD DEMAND

    Two geochemically different types of Martian volcanic rocks — enriched shergottites and depleted shergottites — contain water with different hydrogen isotope ratios, the researchers found.

    Their analysis, which was published today in Nature Geoscience, showed that Mars likely received water from at least two vastly different sources early in its history.

    The variability the researchers found seems to imply that Mars, unlike Earth and the moon, never had an ocean of magma completely encompassing the planet.

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    5 interesting facts about the moon

    The moon has been the Earth’s companion in the Solar System for almost five billion years. It is the only place beyond Earth where humans have set foot.

    The brightest and largest object in our night sky, the moon makes Earth a more livable planet by moderating our home planet’s wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate.

    EARTH AND MOON ARE NOT ‘IDENTICAL OXYGEN TWINS,’ RESEARCHERS SAY

    In addition, it has guided the way humans live for thousands of years.

    The moon is the fifth largest of the 190+ moons orbiting planets in the Solar System.

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    Earth’s only natural satellite is simply called “the moon” because people didn’t know other moons existed until Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610.

    Here are five interesting facts you should know about the Earth’s moon.

    1. Theories about how the moon was formed are varied

    An artist’s interpretation of the Big Bang. (Image: © NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab)

    Although theories about the formation of the moon vary, the leading explanation remains that a “Giant Impact”  or “Big Whack” created the ingredients for the moon off the primitive molten Earth and into orbit.

    Scientists have suggested that the impactor was about 10 percent of the mass of Earth — just larger than Mars. A cloud of vaporized rock was kicked up after the event and went into orbit around the Earth. The cloud then cooled and condensed into a ring of small, solid bodies, which then gathered — forming the celestial object.

    According to Space.com, because the Earth and the moon are so similar, researchers have come to the conclusion that the collision must have happened around 95 million years after the formation of the Solar System, which is roughly 4.6 billion years old.

    Studies in 2015 that uncovered differences in the abundance of the element tungsten-182 detected in the Earth and the moon gave weight to this theory.

    2. There’s water on the moon

    This prominent thrust fault is one of thousands discovered on the moon by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. These faults, called scarps, resemble small stair-shaped cliffs when seen from the lunar surface. The scarps form when one section of the moon’s crust (left-pointing arrows) is pushed up over an adjacent section (right-pointing arrows) as the moon’s interior cools and shrinks. New research suggests that these faults may still be active.

    “Unambiguous evidence” of traces of water have been found on the surface of the moon that may have originated from deep under its surface.

    Detailed in the journal Science, evidence of lunar polar water ice was recorded by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. While the moon remains drier than any desert on Earth, water is said to exist on the moon in very small quantities. One ton of the top layer of the moon’s surface has the capacity to hold about 32 ounces of water, researchers said.

    When the Apollo astronauts returned from the moon, they brought back several samples of lunar rocks. The rocks were later analyzed for signs of water and, while trace amounts were detected, they were assumed to be contamination from Earth. The consensus then became that the rest of the moon was dry.

    However, later observations of the surface made with Chandrayaan-1, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, and NASA’s Deep Impact probe called that assumption into question after detecting the spectral signal of either water or the hydroxyl group. The findings exhibited that not only is the moon hydrated, but the process that makes it so is a dynamic one driven by changes in solar radiation hitting any given spot on the surface.

    3. The moon’s gravitational pull affects our oceans’ tides

    Waves crash against the Aberystwyth coastline in Wales, as strong winds and high tides continue to blow in from the west. 
    (AP)

    The moon’s gravitational force pulls on the Earth’s oceans. The pull causes two bulges of water on the Earth’s oceans — one where the ocean waters face the moon and the pull is strongest and one where the ocean waters face away from the moon and the pull is weakest.

    As Earth rotates underneath, the bulges move around it — one always facing the moon, the other directly opposite. This is created because gravity pulls Earth toward the moon more than it pulls at the water.

    The combined forces of gravity, the Earth’s rotation, and other factors usually cause two high tides to two low tides every day.

    At the full moon and the new moon, the sun, Earth, and moon are aligned, producing higher than normal tides called “spring tides.” When the moon is at first or last quarter smaller tides form; when the moon is closest to the Earth in its orbital path, spring tides are even higher. Those tides are called Perigean spring tides.

    The pull of the moon means that some of the Earth’s rotational energy is stolen, causing the planet to slow down by 1.5 milliseconds every century.

    Lastly, the moon is moving away from us. The energy the moon takes is used to propel itself about 3.8 centimeters higher in its orbit.

    4. The moon has moonquakes

    Ron Mikulaco, left, and his nephew, Brad Fernandez, examine a crack caused by an earthquake on highway 178 Saturday, July 6, 2019, outside of Ridgecrest, Calif. Crews in Southern California assessed damage to cracked and burned buildings, broken roads, leaking water and gas lines and other infrastructure Saturday after the largest earthquake the region has seen in nearly 20 years jolted an area from Sacramento to Las Vegas to Mexico. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

    Small moonquakes several miles below the surface are believed to be caused by the gravitational pull of the Earth. Tiny fractures may appear at the surface and gas escapes.

    Scientists report that the moon has a core that is hot and potentially partially molten much like the Earth’s core. However, data from NASA’s Lunar Prospector spacecraft showed in 1999 that the moon’s core is tiny compared to that of the Earth, likely between two percent and four percent of its mass.

    5. The craters on the moon were formed by asteroids

    Artistic impression of two near earth objects. (Credit: ESA / P. Carril)

    The craters which pockmark the moon are formed by asteroid impacts millions of years ago. The craters have not eroded much over the years.

    The moon is not geologically very active, so earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain-building do not alter the landscape as they do on Earth. There are also no weather events, as the moon has virtually no atmosphere. There is no wind or rain, so very little surface erosion occurs on the moon.

    NASA, LiveScience, Space.com, and National Geographic contributed to this report.

    Coronavirus impact: NASA not pushing back next Mars rover just yet

    Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, NASA said it currently has no plans to push back the launch of its Perseverance rover to Mars, Fox News has learned.

    “We are proactively monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, and have plans in place to address issues as they arise,” NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said in an email to Fox News. “Currently, the coronavirus has not impacted the Mars Perseverance rover launch preps, and work is continuing on schedule.”

    NASA, which recently renamed the rover to Perseverance, will launch the rover on July 17, 2020. This rover will attempt to detect if there is any fossilized evidence of extraterrestrial beings, in addition to other tasks.

    (NASA)

    CORONAVIRUS DELAYS NEXT MISSION UNTIL 2022

    The U.S. space agency’s announcement comes after the European Space Agency and Russian space agency Roscosmos said they would back its upcoming ExoMars mission, which had also been scheduled for July 2020.

    The agencies said the decision to postpone the launch of the Rosalind Franklin rover was made due in part to additional testing and concerns that the novel coronavirus could affect the availability of personnel needed to operate and maintain the rover.

    “We have made a difficult but well-weighed decision to postpone the launch to 2022,” said Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin in a statement. “It is driven primarily by the need to maximise the robustness of all ExoMars systems as well as force majeure circumstances related to exacerbation of the epidemiological situation in Europe which left our experts practically no possibility to proceed with travels to partner industries.”

    NASA UPDATES CORONAVIRUS PLANS AFTER EMPLOYEE TESTED POSITIVE

    Although there are no “current” plans to push back the Perseverance rover’s mission, which is expected to land on the Martian surface on Feb. 18, 2021, NASA is also dealing with altered plans because of COVID-19.

    Earlier this week, NASA updated its work-from-home plans after an employee at NASA’s Ames Research Center tested positive for the virus.

    Ames Research Center remains on mandatory telework and restricted access through at least March 13.

    The government agency added that “all work-related travel is canceled for the week of March 9, and future travel will be reviewed on an individual basis.”

    “NASA is coordinating with the White House, State Department, and other federal agencies and officials, and has formed an internal, multi-office working group that will address issues as they arise,” Beutel added in the email, stating the space agency will “follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the agency’s Chief Health and Medical Officer, and communicate that guidance to its workforce as it becomes available.”

    Once Perseverance lands on Mars, it will join the still functioning Curiosity rover and the now-deceased Opportunity rover on the Red Planet. Unlike Curiosity or Opportunity, this rover will carry the “first helicopter that will fly on another planet,” NASA added.

    NASA’s long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

    COVID-19 has infected 132,567 people around the world, up 5.6 percent from Thursday. Four-thousand nine hundred forty-seven people have died from the virus.

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    Coronavirus delays next Mars mission until 2022

    The European Space Agency announced that its next mission to Mars will be delayed until 2022 due in part to the coronavirus pandemic.

    In a statement posted to its website, ESA, in conjunction with Russian space agency Roscosmos, said the second ExoMars mission, known as the Rosalind Franklin rover, needs additional testing.

    There are also concerns that the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, could affect the availability of personnel needed to operate and maintain the rover.

    “We have made a difficult but well-weighed decision to postpone the launch to 2022,” said Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin in the statement. “It is driven primarily by the need to maximise the robustness of all ExoMars systems as well as force majeure circumstances related to exacerbation of the epidemiological situation in Europe which left our experts practically no possibility to proceed with travels to partner industries.

    “I am confident that the steps that we and our European colleagues are taking to ensure mission success will be justified and will unquestionably bring solely positive results for the mission implementation.”

    The Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows the typical state of Mars, seen here in May 2018, and what the planet looked like during a planet-encircling dust storm in July 2018.
    (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

    NASA UPDATES CORONAVIRUS PLANS AFTER EMPLOYEE TESTED POSITIVE

    “We want to make ourselves 100 percent sure of a successful mission,” added ESA Director General Jan Wörner. “We cannot allow ourselves any margin of error. More verification activities will ensure a safe trip and the best scientific results on Mars.”

    The rover, which had been slated to launch in July 2020, will learn more about the organic molecules that were discovered on the Red Planet in 2018 by NASA’s Curiosity rover.

    Earlier this week, researchers published a new study that the molecules are “consistent with early life” on Mars.

    NASA is slated to launch a new rover to Mars, known as Perseverance, on July 17, 2020. This rover will attempt to detect if there is any fossilized evidence of extraterrestrial beings, in addition to other tasks.

    Upon its expected arrival on the Martian surface on Feb. 18, 2021, it will join the still functioning Curiosity rover and the now-deceased Opportunity rover on the Red Planet. Unlike Curiosity or Opportunity, this rover will carry the “first helicopter that will fly on another planet,” NASA added.

    NASA’s long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

    Fox News has reached out to NASA to see if the plans for Perserverance have been altered in light of COVID-19, which has infected 132,567 people around the world, up 5.6 percent from Thursday. Four-thousand nine hundred forty-seven people have died from the virus.

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    NASA’s next Mars rover to be called Perseverance

    NASA’s new Mars rover has a name: Perseverance.

    The winning name for the rover announced on Thursday was chosen by 4,700 volunteer judges who selected 155 semifinalists and then only nine finalists from an initial pool of 28,000 entries; the public had five days to weigh in, and more than 770,000 votes were cast online. Seventh-grader Alexander Mather, who attends Secondary School in Burke, Va., was congratulated by NASA officials.

    “Alex’s entry captured the spirit of exploration,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate for the space agency, in a statement. “Like every exploration mission before, our rover is going to face challenges, and it’s going to make amazing discoveries. It’s already surmounted many obstacles to get us to the point where we are today – processing for launch. Alex and his classmates are the Artemis Generation, and they’re going to be taking the next steps into space that lead to Mars. That inspiring work will always require perseverance. We can’t wait to see that nameplate on Mars.”

    With its Mars 2020 program, NASA aims to study the Red Planet and see if there are any fossilized remnants of extraterrestrial life when the rover lands on Feb. 18, 2021.

    NASA’S CURIOSITY MARS ROVER SNAPS STUNNING PANORAMA OF THE RED PLANET

    NASA announced a new name for its Mars rover on Thursday.
    (NASA)

    MASSIVE ASTEROID TO PASS BY EARTH NEXT MONTH, NASA SAYS

    According to the space agency, Mather was more into video games than space, at least before a 2018 visit to Space Camp in Alabama.

    After seeing Saturn V, the rocket that launched the Apollo astronauts to the Moon, he became a real fan of space and began to check NASA’s blog regularly for information.

    “This was a chance to help the agency that put humans on the Moon and will soon do it again,” said Mather. “This Mars rover will help pave the way for human presence there and I wanted to try and help in any way I could. Refusal of the challenge was not an option.”

    The seventh-grader will also receive an invitation to travel with his family to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to witness the rover begin its journey when it launches this summer. While Mather has received NASA’s grand prize in this competition, NASA also is acknowledging the valuable contributions of the semifinalists whose entries were among the top ones considered.

    “They came so far, and their expressive submissions helped make this naming contest the biggest and best in NASA history,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, who sat on the panel of experts that helped select the winner. “So, we decided to send them a little farther – 314 million miles farther. All 155 semifinalists’ proposed rover names and essays have been stenciled onto a silicon chip with lines of text smaller than one-thousandth the width of a human hair and will be flown to Mars aboard the rover.”

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