Could Jezero Crater hold the keys to unlocking an ancient and hidden past when life existed on the Martian surface? As NASA’s Perseverance rover heads to Mars to find out, we take you on board the spacecraft to learn more about some of its incredible exploratory technology from the scientists who created it. Come journey with us on an exciting podcast by Los Alamos National Laboratory.
How a trip to the Arctic could help us find life on other planets
A team of researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory recently returned from the Haughton Impact Crater in northern Canada, where they tested technology that could one day be used to search for life on other planets. Today on Mars Technica, we’re talking with Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos, and Lisa Danielson, director of the Center for Space and Earth Science at Los Alamos, about their expedition to the Arctic.
28 Feb 2023
What does a Martian dust devil sound like?
When a dust devil — nearly 400 feet tall — passed directly over the Perseverance rover on Mars, a team of researchers on Earth recorded its sound. This eerie whooshing was captured for the first time ever thanks to the microphone on the SuperCam instrument developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
3 Aug 2022
Mars: 10 years of incredible discoveries
When the Curiosity rover landed on Mars in the Gale Crater 10 years ago, its mission — to determine whether the Red Planet was ever habitable to microbial life — was expected to last just a few years. More than a decade later, the rover is still going — and so is its collecting and delivery of fascinating scientific data. In this episode, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists Nina Lanza and Sam Clegg talk about the major discoveries made by the LANL-developed ChemCam instrument on the rover.
18 Feb 2022
One year on Mars!
One year ago, Perseverance touched down on Mars. Sam Clegg (institutional principal investigator on SuperCam) and Nina Lanza (SuperCam co-investigator) relive the thrill of the landing, recap the rover's remarkable discoveries, and talk about exciting finds they hope are in the mission's future.
21 Dec 2021
Flash floods on Mars!
The first published results from the Perseverance mission offer intriguing insight into what the climate may have been like on the Red Planet. Once upon a time, there were flash floods on Mars.
26 May 2021
Surprising first audio from Ingenuity on Mars
NASA’s tiny Ingenuity helicopter unfolded itself from beneath the Perseverance rover’s belly, powered up with solar energy, and took to the Martian skies. SuperCam’s microphone captured surprising audio from its flights.
30 Mar 2021
First sounds from Mars
The sounds of Mars had never before been heard — until SuperCam. Audio of its laser zapping rock targets and wind swirling in the Martian atmosphere offer key pieces of information in the search for signs of ancient life on Mars.
9 Mar 2021
Perseverance has landed
Our second season launches...with a landing! With NASA’s Perseverance rover now safely on Mars, LANL scientist Roger Wiens recaps about what's happened so far — and talks about what comes next.
19 Nov 2020
Bonus: SuperCam talks!
NASA’s Perseverance rover is zooming toward Mars on its 300-million-mile journey. A few weeks ago, as it traveled at more than 24,000 miles per hour, something really cool happened.
3 Sept 2020
What rocks may reveal about Martian life
Before we can dive into answering questions about life on Mars, we have to answer some questions about life on Earth — and rocks throughout the American Southwest have a lot to add to the conversation.
27 Aug 2020
A day in the life of a Mars rover
Learn how the team will operate the rover from millions of miles away, discover some theories about where possible Martian life could have gone, and listen to caution about why we shouldn’t jump to any conclusions about life on the Red Planet — not yet.
20 Aug 2020
Searching for signs of life on Mars
The dusty Mars of today looked a lot different in the deep past. NASA’s Perseverance rover is headed for a spot that scientists believe was a river delta. There, its instruments will search for signs that life could have once existed.
12 Aug 2020
Plutonium power
To have the power needed to explore the sub-zero temperatures of Mars, the rover uses a nuclear battery that uses heat from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium-238 to generate electricity as fuel.
5 Aug 2020
The eye on the rover
At the end of the long-necked mast on top of the rover sits something that looks like a head with one wide eye. That’s SuperCam. The suite of instruments will zap rocks and examine their chemical and mineral makeup.
29 Jul 2020
Was there life on Mars?
The Perseverance rover will dig into the Red Planet’s past to find out if ancient life once existed on the Martian surface — but to fully understand what we want to learn, we have to look back at what we already know.
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