NASA scientists are trying to solve a mystery about Mars’ atmosphere, and now they want the help of the public
The ‘Cloud Spotting on Mars’ project want members of the public to help identify Martian clouds.
NASA is urging people to use the ‘Zooniverse’ online program to solve the Mars mystery.
“We want to learn what triggers the formation of clouds—especially water ice clouds, which could teach us how high water vapor gets in the atmosphere—and during which seasons,”
Marek Slipski, a postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA believes the information may help researchers work out why the planet’s atmosphere is 1 per cent as dense as Earth’s.
There is already a stack of evidence to suggest the red planet was once covered by lakes and rivers, which means would mean the atmosphere would have been much thicker.
“We now have over 16 years of data for us to search through, which is very valuable—it lets us see how temperatures and clouds change over different seasons and from year to year,” said Armin Kleinboehl, who is a Mars Climate Sounder’s deputy principal investigator at JPL.
Despite this, Kleinboehl concedes “it’s a lot of data for a small team to look through”.
NASA wants people to help search and mark clouds that appear on a high-altitude.
The program also offers webinars in which participants can hear from scientists about how the data will be used.
Costa is a news producer at ticker NEWS. He has previously worked as a regional journalist at the Southern Highlands Express newspaper. He also has several years' experience in the fire and emergency services sector, where he has worked with researchers, policymakers and local communities. He has also worked at the Seven Network during their Olympic Games coverage and in the ABC Melbourne newsroom.
He also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Professional), with expertise in journalism, politics and international relations. His other interests include colonial legacies in the Pacific, counter-terrorism, aviation and travel.
New reports reveal that Facebook has handed over data to police to help criminally punish a teenager for seeking to get an abortion
The tech giant turned Celeste Burgess’ Facebook message’s into the authorities, where she is being charged for “removing and abandoning a dead human body.”
The 17-year-old lives in Nebraska where abortion isn’t illegal, but the abortion happened via medication at 23 weeks.
Nebraska has a 20 week pregnancy cut off date, and the medication also warns against medical abortion past this time.
The teen’s mother is also facing 5 charges.
This comes amid widespread controversy after the historic Roe v Wade ruling was overturned in the United States.