The scientific debate over whether a meteorite contains evidence of past life on Mars continues to intensify, with colleagues of the team that announced the possibility in 1996 revealing new […]
Meteorites & Asteroids
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs
MARS-1 Humvee Rover Reaches Devon Island After Successful Crossing of Frozen Arctic Sea
The Mars Institute today announced that its MARS-1 Humvee rover has reached Devon Island in the Canadian high Arctic after successfully crossing the Wellington Channel, a 23 mile (37 km) […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
Researchers Publish Latest Results in Continuing Search for Ancient Martian Life
In the latest study of a 4.5 billion-year-old Martian meteorite, researchers have presented new evidence confirming that 25 percent of the magnetic material in the meteorite was produced by ancient […]
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Panspermia, Status Report
Doubts About ALH84001: The JSC Mars Meteorite Team Responds
Editor’s note: the following is a response provided to SpaceRef by the JSC Mars Meteorite Team (David McKay, Kathie Thomas-Keptra, and Everett Gibson) regarding a paper “Magnetite morphology and life […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Meteorites & Asteroids, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Sample Return, Status Report
Determinative Mineralogy: An essential component of Planetary Exploration – Decadal White Paper of the Extraterrestrial Mineralogy Panel
INTRODUCTION Our existing knowledge of extraterrestrial mineralogy has been gained largely from analyses of returned or collected samples — returned samples and collected meteorites from the Moon, meteorites from Mars, […]
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
Swiss Geologists Find A Mars Meteorite In Oman
Geologists from Bern University and from the Natural History Museum Bern have found more than 180 meteorites in Oman in January/February 2001.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report
Commentary by NASA ARC’s Chris McKay on Magnetotactic Bacteria on Mars
The recent paper by Imre Friedmann and co-authors in PNAS (PNAS vol 98 page 2176, 2001) reports finding chains of magnetite that are consistent with a biological origin.
Posted inAstrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids
NASA Announces New Evidence Regarding Past Life on Mars
Today, a team of NASA scientists is announcing that they have determined that small magnetite crystals in the now-famous ALH84001 Martian meteorite were almost certainly produced by living organisms – […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Press Release
New Analysis of Meteorite Shows Key Ingredients for Life on Earth May Have Been Delivered by Comets
An object that fell to Earth more than 136 years ago has revealed new clues about the origin of meteorites in space and new information about how life may have […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report
NASA JSC Background Information on PNAS Mars Meteorite ALH84001 Magnetite Paper
Researchers have found small particles of a magnetic mineral called magnetite in a Martian meteorite that could only have been produced by bacteria.