Perseverance has recorded “mini-lightning” in Martian dust devils. The rover captured audio and electromagnetic data confirming that dust devils on Mars produce electrical sparks and mini-sonic booms. Research results like these are why The Planetary Society led a 25-year campaign to send microphones to Mars. Pictured: A dust devil captured by another Mars rover, Curiosity, in 2020. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.
ESA has identified Enceladus as its top target for a future mission. The European Space Agency’s long-range plan has selected Saturn’s icy, potentially habitable moon as the highest-priority “large-class” mission target in the next decades. An Enceladus mission would include flybys and possibly sampling of plume material.
Jared Isaacman’s nomination to lead NASA has cleared the Senate Commerce Committee. The billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut’s nomination was approved by a vote of 18-10. The final step will be for the full Senate to vote on the nomination.
NASA has lost contact with the MAVEN Mars orbiter. The spacecraft, which has been in Mars orbit since 2014, studies the loss of the Martian atmosphere to space and serves as a communications relay station for rovers on the Martian surface. NASA announced this week that ground stations lost contact with MAVEN on Dec. 6 and are working to understand the issue.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published a vision for the first humans on Mars. A committee of expert scientists recently published its consensus report on the science priorities and technological capabilities required for a series of human missions to Mars. The report emphasizes the search for life, accessing Martian resources for a sustained human presence, and the complementary roles of humans and robots in conducting science from the surface.