Zhurong Mars Rover Observations Primary Evaporite In Southern Utopia Planitia

by Keith CowingAugust 18, 2026August 19, 2026

[Nature] The Zhurong rover has identified a layer consisting of platy rocks enriched in hydrous minerals on a ~0.76-Ga surface in southern Utopia Planitia, indicating unexpected recent aqueous activity on […]

ID: ESP_077239_1965 date: 17 January 2023 altitude: 282 km NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona Larger Imagery

Mars

ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover Recon: Geological History Of Oxia Planum

by Keith CowingAugust 18, 2026August 19, 2026

[NASA] This crater contains exposures in the rim that can corroborate prevailing hypotheses for Oxia Planum’s geologic history ahead of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover’s landing, currently planned for 2030. […]

Global distribution of polygonal terrain, canali (Bledsoe and Klimczak, 2025) and wrinkle ridges (Bilotti and Suppe, 1999). Wagner IV authalic projection centred at 130°E. Almost all are located below 6052 km radius. -- Earth and Planetary Science Letters

Venus

The Lost Oceans Of Venus

by Keith CowingAugust 17, 2026August 17, 2026

[Earth and Planetary Science Letters] Whether Venus once had oceans and, if so, when it lost them are critical issues in the understanding of habitability on exoplanets, as well as […]

3D rendering of meteorite and clasts. (a) 3D rendering of the attenuation tomograms cut in half in z to show two H‐Fe‐ox clasts, showing neutron attenuation on the left and X‐ray attenuation on the right. White means high attenuation, darkmeans low attenuation. (b) 3D rendering of segmented phases throughout the meteorite, with H‐rich Fe‐oxyhydroxides inblue and H‐poor Fe‐Ti oxides in red. (c) 3D rendering of the three biggest H‐Fe‐ox clasts -- Geophysical Research Letters

Mars

Crustal Water Reservoir On Early Mars

by Keith CowingAugust 17, 2026August 17, 2026

[Geophysical Research Letters]. The next great leap in Martian exploration is the return of samples to Earth. Maximizing their scientific value requires non-destructive analytical techniques for early three-dimensional characterization.

Reduced oxidation state phosphorus species, such as phosphite, have been proposed as more soluble phosphorus sources, yet their role in phosphorylation chemistry remains incompletely understood. -- Journal of Molecular Evolution

Origin & Evolution of Life

Concurrent Phosphite Oxidation And Adenosine Phosphorylation Under Prebiotic Evaporative Conditions

by Keith CowingAugust 17, 2026August 17, 2026

[Journal of Molecular Evolution] Here, we investigate the concurrent oxidation of phosphite and phosphorylation/phosphonylation of adenosine under prebiotically plausible conditions.

Evolution of biosignature properties in the prebiotic and biotic world.

Biosignatures & Paleobiology

Emergence Of Biosignatures On Earth And Implications For Life Detection

by Keith CowingAugust 17, 2026August 17, 2026

[PNAS] Earth’s organic chemical evolution (OCE) from abiotic to prebiotic to biotic provides critical insights that may have implications for how we interpret observations made by life-detection planetary missions.

Left: Spatial distribution of the ROIs within the Red, Transitional, and Blue units used to extract the data.

Phobos

Infrared-to-visible Albedo Ratio Of Phobos: Comparison With Primitive Asteroids

by Keith CowingAugust 17, 2026August 17, 2026

[astro-ph.EP] Aims. The ratio between infrared and visible albedo, pIR/pV, provides a simple proxy for the spectral slope of asteroid surfaces between the visible and near-infrared wavelength ranges. The aim […]

ID: ESP_047247_1150 date: 24 August 2016 altitude: 248 km NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona larger image

Mars

Cracks In A Martian Crater’s Ice

by Keith CowingAugust 16, 2026August 16, 2026

[NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA] Many impact craters on Mars were filled with ice in past climates. Sometimes this ice flows or slumps down the crater walls into the center and acquires concentric wrinkles […]