WEB FOCUS
Mars Exploration: It's not rover yet
In this focus:
Current research | Image gallery | Archive
Half the spacecraft sent to Mars have crashed and burned. Not so NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, who have clocked up more than 1000 days of extraordinary geological exploration since their launch in January 2004.
In this web focus, Nature presents the latest peer-reviewed papers to come from analysis of the rovers' data. The science of wayward moons, salty rocks and a curious magnetic dust are revealed by the principal research teams behind the most successful missions ever launched to the red planet. Enjoy a FREE image gallery featuring exclusive new images alongside an archive of news & views, articles and letters.
Current research
MARS: NEWS & VIEWS
Mars: Twin studies on Mars
The twin Mars Exploration Rovers don't themselves range widely, but the observations they make do. Information on partial solar eclipses, salty rocks and magnetic dust are among the latest highlights of the rovers' findings.
David C. Catling
Nature 436, 42-43 (7 July 2005) doi:10.1038/436042a
MARS: ANALYSIS
Assessment of Mars Exploration Rover landing site predictions
M. P. Golombek et al.
Nature 436, 44-48 (7 July 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03600
MARS: ARTICLES
An integrated view of the chemistry and mineralogy of martian soils
Albert S. Yen et al.
Nature 436, 49-54 (7 July 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03637
MARS: LETTERS
Solar eclipses of Phobos and Deimos observed from the surface of Mars
J. F. Bell et al.
Nature 436, 55-57 (7 July 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03437
Aeolian processes at the Mars Exploration Rover Meridiani Planum landing site
R. Sullivan et al.
Nature 436, 58-61 (7 July 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03641
Indication of drier periods on Mars from the chemistry and mineralogy of atmospheric dust
Walter Goetz et al.
Nature 436, 62-65 (7 July 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03807
Water alteration of rocks and soils on Mars at the Spirit rover site in Gusev crater
Larry A. Haskin et al.
Nature 436, 66-69 (7 July 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03640
Top of pageArchive
Web Focus
Insight
Mars: a series of specially commissioned review articles on the evolution of the red planet over geological timescales, from the differentiation and solidification of the martian core to the dynamics of its atmosphere.
Nature 412, 6843 (12 July 2001)
Missions to Mars special
news@nature.com, Jan 2004
In Focus - Mars
news@nature.com
Discovery of an aurora on Mars
Jean-Loup Bertaux et al.
Nature 435, 790-794 (09 June 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03603
Albedo of the south pole on Mars determined by topographic forcing of atmosphere dynamics
Anthony Colaprete et al.
Nature 435, 184-188 (12 May 2005) doi:10.1093/nature03561
Palaeomagnetism of the Vredefort meteorite crater and implications for craters on Mars
Laurent Carporzen, Stuart A. Gilder and Rodger J. Hart
Nature 435, 198-210 (12 May 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03560
Evidence from the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera for a frozen sea close to Mars' equator
John B. Murray et al. and The HRSC Co-Investigator Team
Nature 434, 352-356 (17 Mar 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03379
Discovery of a flank caldera and very young glacial activity at Hecates Tholus, Mars .
Strassmann J.E., Zhu Y. & Queller D.C.
Nature 434 356-361 (17 Mar 2005) doi:10.1038/nature03423
Recent ice-rich deposits formed at high latitudes on Mars by sublimation of unstable equatorial ice during low obliquity .
Benjamin Levrard, Fran�ois Forget, Franck Montmessin and Jacques Laskar
Nature 431, 1072-1075 (28 Oct 2004) doi:10.1038/nature03055
Jarosite as an indicator of water-limited chemical weathering on Mars
M. E. Elwood Madden, R. J. Bodnar and J. D. Rimstidt
Nature 431, 821-823 (14 Oct 2005) doi:10.1038/nature02971
Magnesium sulphate salts and the history of water on Mars
David T. Vaniman et al.
Nature 431, 663-665 (07 Oct 2004) doi:10.1038/nature02973
Inhibition of carbonate synthesis in acidic oceans on early Mars
Alberto G. Fairén et al.
Nature 431, 423-426 (23 Sep 2004) doi:10.1038/nature02911
Extraterrestrial meteors: A martian meteor and its parent comet
An image of an extraterrestrial meteor was captured as a strange streak in the sky over Mars last year.
Franck Selsis, Mark T. Lemmon, Jérémie Vaubaillon, James F. Bell
Nature 435, 581-581 (02 Jun 2005) Brief Communications doi:10.1038/435581a
Tropical to mid-latitude snow and ice accumulation, flow and glaciation on Mars
J. W. Head et al. and The HRSC Co-Investigator Team
Nature 434, 346-351 (17 March (2005) doi:10.1038/nature03359
Recent and episodic volcanic and glacial activity on Mars revealed by the High Resolution Stereo Camera
G. Neukum et al. and The HRSC Co-Investigator Team
Nature 431, 971-979 (23 Dec 2004) doi:10.1038/nature03231
Full Text | PDF | Supplementary Information
Mars: The devil is in the dust
Mars is a highly dynamic planet at least as far as dust is concerned. A better knowledge of how dust is lofted into the
Conway B. Leovy
Nature 424, 1008-1009 (28 Aug 2003) News and Views doi:10.1038/
Mars: Water, water everywhere
Mars is a very watery planet, but all the water seems to be frozen. Divining the amount and distribution of this water, past and present,
Timothy N. Titus
Nature 428, 610-611 (08 Apr 2004) News and Viewsdoi:10.1038/
Mars: Blueberry fields for ever
The Mars saga continues. The latest finds wide areas covered in balls of haematite, or 'blueberries', and large sulphate deposits in rocks enable
Jeffrey M. Moore
Nature 428, 711-712 (15 Apr 2004) doi:10.1038/428711a
Top of page