Category Archives: Uncategorized

Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Blog Post: Apr 16, 2024 https://science.nasa.gov/blog/comet-geyser-perseverances-21st-rock-core/ Mastcam-Z image (Sol 1088, zcam05068) of the Comet Geyser core. The partially illuminated core is visible in this image of Perseverance’s coring bit. The diameter of the core is 1.3 cm. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU Written by Adrian Broz, Postdoctoral Scientist at Purdue University/University of Oregon After investigatingContinue reading “Comet Geyser: Perseverance’s 21st Rock Core”

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/status/511/bright-rocks-on-the-horizon-an-exciting-glimpse-of-uncharted-territory/ BLOG | February 01, 2024 Bright Rocks on the Horizon: An Exciting Glimpse of Uncharted TerritoryWritten by Adrian Broz, Postdoctoral Scientist at Purdue University/University of Oregon Mars Perseverance Sol 1039 – Left Mastcam-Z Camera: Mastcam-Z image (Sol 1039, zcam03849) showing bright, light-toned outcrops near the Jezero Crater Rim (upper center) approximately 4 km away, with darker tonedContinue reading “Mars 2020 Perseverance Blog Post: Bright rocks on the horizon! Long distance imaging of the Jezero Crater Rim”

New blog post live! : https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/status/490/a-tale-of-turquoise-bay-sampling-unique-bedrock-at-the-margin-unit/ BLOG | October 23, 2023 A Tale of Turquoise Bay: Sampling Unique Bedrock at the Margin UnitWritten by Adrian Broz, Postdoctoral Scientist, Purdue University/University of Oregon Mars Perseverance Sol 942 – Right Mastcam-Z Camera: Mastcam-Z image (Sol 942, zcam05068) of drilled rock core collected from Turquoise Bay bedrock at the Marginal Unit,Continue reading “Mars 2020 Perseverance Blog Post: Sampling carbonate-rich bedrock at the Margin unit, Jezero Crater, Mars”

Our work at “Hogwallow Flats”, Jezero Crater, Mars was just mentioned in this Nature article. Check it out! We collected three rock cores from the “Hogwallow Flats” area for return to Earth (pictures below). This area contains sedimentary rocks that were most likely altered by interactions with liquid water, which suggests habitable environments when theyContinue reading “Mars Sample Return and the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover”

2024 Update: This work was recently published in Nature Scientific Reports. Check it out! A few years ago, we were surfing at Cardiff-by-the-Sea over the magical reefs that lend the area incredible surfing conditions and shapely wave formation. Something out of the ordinary caught my eye – paleosols sandwiched in the beach cliff! At theContinue reading “Geology and surfing: An Eocene (50-55 Ma) tropical greenhouse climate recorded in nonmarine rocks of San Diego, CA, USA”

The Mars Science Laboratory onboard Curiosity rover has been traversing up the slopes of Mt. Sharp since landing on Mars in 2012. In late 2021, the rover entered a new region of Mt. Sharp known as the “Sulfate-bearing unit” because of the widespread orbital detections of sulfate minerals from orbit (Figure 1). The sulfate-bearing unitContinue reading “Did the Curiosity rover just encounter an ancient soil profile on Mars?”

MOMA is an instrument designed to detect organic molecules on Mars and will fly onboard the upcoming ExoMars 2022 Rosalind Franklin rover, due to land in June 2023 at the ~4 billion year old Oxia Planum region. Here, what appear to be ancient weathering profiles have been detected from orbital remote sensing, and the roverContinue reading “Introducing the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA)”

From this year’s Astrobiology Graduate Student Conference (Remote, 14-17 September 2021) Topic: Searching for biosignatures in Earth’s oldest soils

Before research lockdown due to COVID-19: Assisting with the deployment of the Mastcam-Z engineered prototype, a multispectral, high resolution 3D camera which is now flying on Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover. The prototype was designed and built by Megan Barrington and Alex Hayes, Cornell University. It was an exciting and humbling opportunity to work with membersContinue reading “(Rover) eyes on the prize”