MAVEN uses a planetographic coordinate system to report altitude, latitude, and longitude on Mars. By contrast, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter generally used a planetocentric coordinate system. These two coordinate systems are different: latitudes differ by up to 0.34 degrees and altitudes differ by up to 2 km. These differences are large enoug...

[1] The quadrupole mass spectrometer of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on Curiosity rover has made the first high-precision measurement of the nonradiogenic argon isotope ratio in the atmosphere of Mars. The resulting value of 36Ar/38Ar = 4.2 ± 0.1 is highly significant for it provides excellent evidence that "Mars" meteorites are indeed of Martian origin, and it points to a signi...

[1] Mars is an unmagnetized planet whose hydrogen exosphere extends into the solar wind, creating proton cyclotron waves. Mars Global Surveyor data reveal the occurrence of waves to be extensive and often intermittent at large distance, indicating that the exosphere is time varying or non-spherical. When the region of wave occurrence is examined in a magnetic-electric coordinate system, a stron...

Introduction: The presence of alternately magnetized sources on Mars indicates that at one time Mars had a magnetic field, presumably generated by an internal dynamo, and that its polarity reversed at least once before shutting off. Mars does not currently possess a magnetic field, so the anomalies are attributed to remanent magnetization (RM) of minerals in the crust. The initiation and cessat...

Despite the success in knowledge gained by the Mars missions in the last two decades, the search for traces of life on Mars is still in progress. The reconstruction of (paleo-) environments on Mars have seen a dramatic increase, in particular with regard to the potentially habitable conditions, and it is now possible to recognize a significant role to subaerial hydrothermal processes. For this ...

[1] Serpentine, recently discovered on Mars using Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data, is uncommon but found in three geologic settings: (1) in mélange terrains at the Claritas Rise and the Nili Fossae, (2) associated with a few southern highlands impact craters, and (3) associated with a regional olivine‐rich stratigraphic unit near the Isidis basin. Any presently active serpentinization processe...

MARS a program for robust automatic backbone assignment of (13)C/(15)N labeled proteins is presented. MARS does not require tight thresholds for establishing sequential connectivity or detailed adjustment of these thresholds and it can work with a wide variety of NMR experiments. Using only (13)C(alpha)/(13)C(beta) connectivity information, MARS allows automatic, error-free assignment of 96% of...

Debates over strategy for human exploration of the solar system focus on whether the next interplanetary travelers ought to go to the Moon or to Mars. The Space Exploration Initiative explicitly calls for a lunar presence, but the "Mars Now" advocates argue for a token effort on the Moon with major emphasis on Mars. A strategy which moves directly to piloted Mars missions incurs serious program...

Attachment regions of the eukaryotic chromosomal DNA to the nuclear scaffold/matrix (S/MARs) participate in various important cellular processes. However, no obvious characteristics common for these nucleotide sequences have been revealed, except that S/MARs are non-coding sites containing putative regulatory elements and binding sites of DNA-topoisomerase II. Heterogeneity among S/MARs can be ...

?abstract NASA and ESA have outlined visions for solar system exploration that will include a series of lunar robotic precursor missions to prepare for, and support a human return to the Moan, and future human exploration of Mars and other destinations, including possibly asteroids. One of the guiding principles for exploration is to pursue compelling scientific questions about the origin and e...