Life on Mars...

revisited:  Complexity Analysis of the Viking Labeled Release Experiments.

Mars Science Laboratory...

adjusts its trajectory and tests instruments as it passes the midpoint on its nine month voyage to the red planet.  The Curiosity rover is scheduled to land in Gale crater in August and, so far, everything appears nominal for the mission.

Periodic bedrock ridges...

are a newly identified landform on Mars, although resembling dunes, are likely shaped by wind erosion.

I'll have to recalibrate my thinking when I hear "PBR" from now on.

The serpent dust devil...

of Mars, captured in action by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (click to enlarge):

the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/16Jan)

Read more about this serendipitous image here.

Mars is at opposition...

this weekend, meaning that the Earth and the red planet are in alignment on the same side of the Sun, and it's also the closet the two planets will approach each other in 2012.  Here's a map view of the solar system showing the positions of all the planets, and a sky map if you want to go out around midnight and locate it in the night sky.  Look toward the south and up, and it'll be the bright red object in Leo.  (Here's a more advanced sky map if you want to track the motion of Mars over the next few months and into late summer.)

NOTE:  Just a little east of Mars, Saturn will be glowing bright yellow in Virgo, very near the hot white-blue star Spica.

Life on Mars...

will resemble this: Underground oasis found below Earth's driest desert.

Disney finally releases...

the movie John Carter that was partly filmed in southern Utah and around Fisher Towers in 2010. Most of the story takes place on Mars, and what better place to find Mars on Earth?

RELATED:  Here are the promotional trailers with shots of recognizable stratigraphy from various locations in southern Utah and northern New Mexico.

Visualization of an ancient ocean...

on Mars courtesy of the European Space Agency, using the MARSIS instrument on their Mars Express spacecraft (click to enlarge):

Here's the press release with more information.

Image credit:  ESA.

Is it ethical...

to terraform Mars?   Here's an interesting and thoughtful consideration: Does Mars Have Rights?

It's an excellent question, and I think the linked article comes to the correct conclusion.

RELATED:  Here's a terrific treatment of this topic in the Environmental Law Reporter (.pdf file).

Opportunity rover settles in for winter...

on the edge of Endeavour Crater: 'Greeley Haven' Is Winter Workplace for Mars Rover.  While it will continue to make science observations at its parked position during the next several months, let's hope this amazing robot geologist survives the frigid conditions and continues its explorations the following Martian spring.

Periglacial processes...

alive and well on the red planet: Icy 'hand' moves boulders on Mars. Albeit at a very, very slow, um, glacial pace.

Here's the technical abstract: Boulder movement at high northern latitudes of Mars. 

Scientists find microbes...

in lava tube living in conditions like those on Mars.

That's where I'd look for extant life on the red planet - in thin films on the walls of lava tubes.  The cavern environment provides more moderated temperatures, and shielding from ionizing radiation, than on the surface.

Plan a hike...

on Mars using the new HiView software and HiRISE images acquired by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.

This will have to do until you're able to get there.  Have fun.

Gypsum veins discovered on Mars...

by Opportunity rover: NASA Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited By Water.  This removes any and all doubt that water flowed through fractures in the past on Mars.  Be sure to check out the related images at the link.

Dust covered glaciers on Mars...

in the Phlegra Montes range could contain large quantities of water ice (click to enlarge):

Full story here: Mountains and buried ice on Mars.

Image credit:  ESA.

This morning begins...

with a successful launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (also known as the Curiosity rover).  The Atlas 5 rocket performed flawlessly and the upper Centaur stage is now accelerating the spacecraft to a point over the Indian Ocean where it will leave Earth orbit and head to Mars.  Landing on the red planet will occur in nine months time, in August 2012.

Godspeed, Curiosity.

UPDATE:  Here's a video of today's launch.

Mars-bound Atlas 5 rocket...

is rolled out to Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 pad for launch tomorrow morning at 7:02 am PST, successfully completing the first third-of-a-mile of the spacecraft's 354-million-mile voyage (click to enlarge):

There's a 70% chance of favorable weather at the time of lift-off.   Get mission updates here, and watch the launch on NASA-TV.

Photo credit: NASA-KSC.

The most capable robot geologist...

ever built now heads to Mars.  And a friend of mine built one of the instruments on the Curiosity rover.  How cool is that?

Liftoff rescheduled...

for the Atlas 5 rocket carrying the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover from Friday to Saturday, 7:02 a.m. PST.  A swap out of a battery for the rocket's launch safety system is the reason for the one-day delay.

Here's the Mission Status Center to keep up with launch preparations, and a related previous post.

Fingers crossed.

Marching Martian sand dunes...

caught in motion (advancing up to two meters over several years) by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.  Click on the images at the link and you will see "blinked" comparisons of various dunes at two different points in time.  Very interesting.

Credit: NASA/JPL/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY.