Exploring Diverging Worlds: The Habitability of Venus, Earth, and Mars
Stephen R. Kane and colleagues explore why Earth supports life while Venus and Mars do not by examining their atmospheres, geology, and solar influences. Earth’s stability stems from processes that balanced its climate, supporting liquid water and life. Venus, with a runaway greenhouse effect, and Mars, which lost its atmosphere, exemplify extreme planetary conditions. Their findings offer insights into the “habitable zone” and guide the search for life on exoplanets using Venus, Earth, and Mars as models of diverse evolutionary paths.
Exploring Martian Winds with Ingenuity: The First Near-Surface Wind Profiling on Mars
The Mars Ingenuity helicopter has been repurposed to study near-surface winds, providing unprecedented data on wind speeds and directions at altitudes between 3 and 24 meters. Ingenuity’s telemetry data, analyzed by Brian Jackson's team, showed winds significantly stronger and sometimes in different directions than predicted by Mars climate models, suggesting complex local wind dynamics influenced by terrain around Jezero Crater. These findings highlight the potential of drones to deepen understanding of Martian atmospheric layers and improve future exploration models and planning.