Christopher Edwards shared a press release from JPL about recent findings of widespread CO2 frost on Mars and its role in regolith generation.
Read the JPL Press release here!
Mars
Searching for ‘ground truth’ on Mars with NASA’s Curiosity Rover
Even before he joined NAU’s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science in 2016, Christopher Edwards was already a participating scientist on the MSL team, funded through a grant of $470,000. In addition to funding his research, the grant enabled him to build the Mars Rover Operations and Analysis Laboratory on NAU’s Flagstaff campus, where faculty researchers and students use sophisticated equipment to help command the day-to-day activities of the rover.
See the article
Brief presence of water in Arabia Terra on Mars
In support of their Mars research, Koeppel (on the left) and Edwards (right) conducted an analog study in a cinder field near Flagstaff, Arizona. At the Flagstaff study site, they were able to collect data in the field and compare it with the data collected from the drones, simulating satellite imagery.
Read the full article here.
Mars’ moment: Planetary scientists from NAU, USGS share experiences watching Perseverance land on the Red Planet
On Feb. 18, the world watched as the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landed on Mars and started exploring Earth’s closest neighbor. For scientists who have spent their lives researching the Red Planet, the seven-minute descent from the top of the Martian atmosphere to the safe landing on the surface was a stomach-churning combination of fear, nerves, hope and exhilaration.
NAU News spoke to researchers out of the Department of Astronomy and… Read more
EMM/EMIRS Image from HOPE
One of the first images taken by the infrared spectrometer(EMIRS) on the Hope orbiter, co-designed by NAU scientist Christopher Edwards, the first global snapshot of the Mars atmosphere produced since the 1970s Viking mission.
UAE Mars Mission Reaches Mars With ASU/NAU Instrument Aboard
The United Arab Emirates today became the fifth space agency ever to place a spacecraft in orbit around Mars.
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ASU’s Philip Christensen developed the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS) with former student Christopher Edwards, who is now an assistant professor at NAU.