craters tagged posts

Researchers have identified the specific locations from which most of the approximately 200 Martian meteorites originate. They’ve traced the meteorites to five impact craters within two volcanic regions on the red planet called Tharsis and Elysium. Their study was published recently in the journal Science Advances.

Martian meteorites find their way to Earth when something hits the surface of Mars hard enough so that material is “blasted off the surface and accelerated fast enough to leave Mars’ gravity,” says Chris Herd, curator of the U of A’s Meteorite Collection and professor in the Faculty of Science...

Cartoon illustration. Credit: Christine Daniloff/MIT

Fueling up on the moon could lighten cargo by 68% on the journey to Mars. Previous studies have suggested that lunar soil and water ice in certain craters of the moon may be mined and converted to fuel.

The group developed a model to determine the best route to Mars, assuming availability of resources and fuel-generating infrastructure on the moon. They found the most mass-efficient path involves launching a crew from Earth with just enough fuel to get into orbit around Earth. A fuel-producing plant on the surface of the moon would then launch tankers of fuel into space, where they would enter gravitational orbit...