Mars Orbiter Sees Changes

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @10:26PM from the no-dead-batteries-on-this-probe dept.

pin_gween writes "The long-lived Mars Global Surveyor (8 yrs and flying) has enabled scientists to see changes in the surface of Mars. From the article: 'New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune. New impact craters formed since the 1970s suggest changes to age-estimating models. And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress.' The probe's primary mission ended in 2001 and scientists are hopeful the orbiter's life can be extended for another 5 -10 years."

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Wouldn't it shake things up if... by Anonymous Coward · 2005-09-20 22:29 · Score: 5, Interesting

...the orbiter shows that the climate on Mars is heating up at the same rate as Earth's?
1. Re:Wouldn't it shake things up if... by Ihlosi · 2005-09-20 23:37 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Averaged out, it is cooler than Venus, but the maximum temperature is much higher.
  NASA doesn't think so, and I'd much rather trust them. In fact, according to them the _average_ temperature on Venus is higher than the _maximum_ surfact temperature on Mercury
  http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planetfact.ht ml