Gravity feels reliable — stable and consistent enough to count on. But reality is far stranger than our intuition.
Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry
Posted inMapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report
Mars Image Of The Week 262
This photo was selected by public vote and featured as “Image of the Week” for Week 262 (Feb. 15 – 21, 2026) of the Perseverance rover mission on Mars.
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Aurora Vent Field Is A Hotspot For Microbial Hydrogen Oxidation In The Arctic Ocean
Molecular hydrogen (H2) is a widespread, energetically efficient reductant supporting microbial metabolism across most known ecosystems. Although seafloor hydrothermal vents are major energy providers for H2-oxidizing microorganisms, the diversity of […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Mars Curiosity Rover Observes Evidence Of Past Groundwater
A hilly landscape that looks like spiderwebs when viewed from orbit holds clues to the history of water on ancient Mars.
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Status Report, Titan, Tricorders & Sensors, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Terrestrial Analogs To Titan For Geophysical Research
Saturn’s moon Titan exhibits remarkable parallels to the Earth in many geophysical and geological processes not found elsewhere in the solar system at the present day.
Posted inAstrogeology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Status Report
MarsRetrieval: Benchmarking Vision-Language Models for Planetary-Scale Geospatial Retrieval on Mars
Data-driven approaches like deep learning are rapidly advancing planetary science, particularly in Mars exploration. Despite recent progress, most existing benchmarks remain confined to closed-set supervised visual tasks and do not […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Dale Andersen's Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Life Support Systems, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Sample Return, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 19 February 2026: Return Overland Traverse From Lake Untersee
Dale: Arrived UAL airbase about 2:45 on UTC/GMT after a 5 hr 45 min drive across the polar landscape! Very windy morning but great ride back!
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Extinction events, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Understanding Snowball Earth Extreme Climates
In the whole history of Earth’s climate, few events are as extreme as those that geologists call “Snowball Earth.”
Posted inAstrogeology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Press Release
Unusual Crater Texture On Mars Hints At Early History
This scene from the eastern side of Terra Cimmeria, northeast of the Hellas impact basin, shows many impact craters of different sizes and types of preservation, with a few sharp-looking […]
Posted inAI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Deployable Artificial Intelligence for Exploration and Discovery in the Deep Sea
Editor’s note: When we start to mount Astrobiology missions to explore ocean worlds we’ll need ways for our robotic submersibles to observe and interact with whatever life forms they may […]