Michael Malin
Michael Malin
Michael C. Malinis an American astronomer, space-scientist, and CEO of Malin Space Science Systems. His cameras have been important scientific instruments in the exploration of Mars...
knowing mars today warmer
Why is Mars warmer today that it was in the past, we really have no way of knowing why.
course frost merge season spots
Over the course of the season we'll see these spots merge and all of the frost will dissipate,
diversity last mars photos seeing several shows
This set of photos shows the diversity of things we've been seeing on Mars during the last several months,
confused fit mars model quite surprised
We were quite surprised and confused by it. It didn't fit our model of what Mars is like,
ancient clouds covered eroded hanging high ice sand water
We see everything from sand dunes covered with frost, water ice clouds hanging over volcanoes and ancient craters being eroded by high winds.
bit despite detail diverse fog ground landing latitude quite rugged seen south surface zone
Despite ground fog that obscures part of the surface in these images, we can see much more surface detail than we've ever seen before, which suggests that the 75-degree south latitude landing zone is quite a bit more rugged and geologically diverse than we had previously thought.
begin climate co2 colder conditions conducive distant earlier eroded form mars permanent polar present seeing sometime
The significance of this is that Mars is experiencing climate change, because the present conditions are not conducive to the formation of all this CO2 to begin with in the polar region. So sometime in the distant past, Mars was colder than it is now to form a permanent CO2 deposit. Subsequent to that, it has warmed and we are seeing that earlier deposit being eroded away,
both cameras exceed images meet performance science test
The test images show that both cameras will meet or exceed their performance requirements once they're in the low-altitude science orbit.
cold dry features mars reinforce seeing
Mars was very cold and dry, ... All the features we are seeing reinforce that view, that's it's cold and dry today.
active changes mars range
Mars is an active planet, and over a range of timescales changes occur, even in the surface.
motion possible strong wind
It is possible they were set in motion by strong wind or by a 'Mars quake,'
features flowing formed rocks seen soil water
These are new landforms that have never been seen before on Mars. We see features that look like gullies formed by flowing water and the deposits of soil and rocks transported by these flows.
features flowing formed rocks seen soil water
These are new landforms that have never been seen before on Mars, ... We see features that look like gullies formed by flowing water and the deposits of soil and rocks transported by these flows.
active good mars missions picture three
By the end of this year, we're going to have three Mars missions active all at the same time, ... That should give us a very good picture of what's going on today.