Nasa Mars announcement: Agency promises to unveil ‘key’ findings on fate of Mars’ atmosphere

The last announcement about Nasa’s Mars work revealed proof of running water on the Red Planet

Nasa is gearing up for another major announcement on its research into Mars, promising to unveil “key” new findings on the fate of the planet’s atmosphere on Thursday.

The last time Nasa promised a big announcement from its ‘Journey to Mars’ the space agency revealed it had found evidence of flowing water on the Red Planet, improving the chances of it supporting alien life.

Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at Nasa headquarters will be leading the news conference, set for 2pm EST on 5 November.

The Mars announcement is not the only big news for Nasa this week – on Monday the space agency and its global partners celebrated the 15th anniversary of continuous residency at the International Space Station.

Meanwhile the Nasa astronauts told their Twitter followers to stay tuned for an “exciting” announcement expected on Thursday, but it is not yet known if this linked to the Mars announcement.

There are currently six astronauts living on the International Space Station hailing from the US, Russia and Japan. They were said to have shared a special dinner together on Monday to celebrate the 15 year milestone.

Since the first permanent crew moved in to the space station on 2 November 2000, 220 people have come and gone, representing 17 countries. At least one American and one Russian have been on board at all times.

 

A milestone of human achievement, people have lived off the planet continuously for 15 years aboard the International Space Station (@ISS). Think about it, a teenager doesn't know a world where humans haven't lived and worked in space. Since Nov. 2, 2000, NASA astronauts and our international partners work off the Earth, for the Earth. From 1998 to 2011, five different space agencies representing 15 countries assembled the station, the largest structure ever built in space. Since being occupied in 2000, we've conducted more than 1,760 research investigations on the orbiting laboratory and more than 220 people from 17 countries have visited. Image credit: NASA #space #spacestation #anniversary#milestone #OffTheEarthForTheEarth #nasa #15YearsOnStation #iss

A photo posted by NASA (@nasa) on Nov 2, 2015 at 5:22pm PST

More than 26,500 meals have been dished up, according to NASA, and the complex has grown from three to 13 rooms since 2000. The current structure has a mass of nearly 1 million pounds and as much pressurized volume as a Boeing 747.

Additional reporting by agencies