Minerals on ancient Martian rock formed in a habitable environment

September 19th, 2009 LONDON - Recent laboratory studies have shown that Mars is not red due to the rocks being rusted by the water that once flooded the planet, but due to the ongoing grinding of surface rocks, which forms the red dust. These findings, which open up the debate about the history of water on Mars and whether it has ever been habitable, have been presented at the European Planetary Science Congress by Dr.

September 17th, 2009 LONDON - Researchers from the Open University, UK, are laying the groundwork for a new equation that could mathematically quantify a habitat's potential for hosting life, in a similar way to how the Drake equation estimates the number of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way. Dr. Axel Hagermann will be proposing a method to find this 'habitability index' at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Germany.

September 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Networks of giant polygonal troughs etched across crater basins on Mars have been identified as desiccation cracks caused by evaporating lakes, providing further evidence of a warmer, wetter Martian past. The findings were presented at the European Planetary Science Congress by PhD student M.

September 13th, 2009 LONDON - There are thousands of habitable moons orbiting planets in other solar systems trillions of miles from our own, British scientists say. On the basis of mathematical calculations, scientists at the University College London have said that it should be possible to spot these moons using a space telescope launched by NASA.

August 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has concluded that if there's any life on Mars, it's not likely to exist on or just below the planet's surface because rapid destruction of methane would make the Red Planet's environment too hostile to support life. The discovery of rich plumes of methane on Mars earlier this year fed theories that the planet could host underground colonies of microorganisms.

July 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists have found evidence that the earliest animals on Earth lived in lakes. Conventional wisdom has it that animal evolution began in the ocean, with animal life adapting much later in Earth history to terrestrial environments.

July 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists have found that the surface of Mars was molten for more than 100 million years after it formed, preventing any early life evolving on the planet. According to a report in Discovery News, the findings are based on an analysis of rare Martian meteorites at NASA's Johnson Space Center in the US.

July 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, scientists from the CSIC-INTA Astrobiology Centre in Madrid have confirmed that the type of mineralogical composition on the surface of Mars influences the measuring of its temperature. The study will be used to interpret the data from the soil temperature sensor of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) vehicle, whose launch is envisaged for 2011.

July 14th, 2009 LONDON - A new study has suggested that craters embedded on pedestals that tower above the Martian landscape like giant egg cups could be used to trace the planet's climate. 'Pedestal' craters were gouged out by impacts, like other craters, but stand out because they sit atop plateaus that loom an average of 50 metres above the Martian surface.

June 8th, 2009 LONDON - Scientists have developed a new technique that allows them to recover rare minerals from rocks, which may helps piece together how the Earth's continents were arranged 2.5 billion years ago. According to a report by BBC News, by analyzing the composition of these minerals, researchers can precisely date ancient volcanic rocks for the first time.

June 5th, 2009 LONDON - The rover Opportunity has found six new iron meteorites on Mars, which may reveal how much water they have come into contact with since they landed on the planet millions or billions of years ago. The rovers Spirit and Opportunity have previously found three iron meteorites, whose shiny, metallic appearance makes them stand out against the dusty Martian surface.

June 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Large bombardments of meteorites nearly four billion years ago probably made earth and mars more habitable by modifying their atmosphere. When a meteorite enters a planet's atmosphere, extreme heat causes some of the minerals and organic matter on its outer crust to be released as water and carbon dioxide before it breaks up and hits the ground.

June 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has suggested that large bombardments of meteorites approximately four billion years ago could have helped to make the early Earth and Mars more habitable for life by modifying their atmospheres. When a meteorite enters a planet's atmosphere, extreme heat causes some of the minerals and organic matter on its outer crust to be released as water and carbon dioxide (CO2) before it breaks up and hits the ground.

April 27th, 2009 LONDON - A team of researchers at the University of Portsmouth, UK, has claimed to have solved the ancient Mediterranean mystery of how 2 feet deep tracks were cut into the rock of Malta. According to a report in The News, the research team was led by Professor Derek Mottershead, of the university's geography department, who followed generations of scholars to unravel the mysteries of the Maltese landscape.he team claims that the tracks, or ruts, were almost certainly caused by carts because the rock was not strong enough to support the wooden wheels of loaded carts.

March 27th, 2009 LONDON - Scientists at NASA have identified dozens of mounds or domes in the northern plains of Mars, which they say bear a striking resemblance to mud volcanoes. According to a report by BBC News, the domes on the Red Planet were detected using images taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, and Carlton Allen and Dorothy Oehler of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.