By Alimat Aliyeva

Astronomers from all over the world gathered in California this week to assess the state of Mars science and discuss the goals of the next steps in exploring the Red Planet, Azernews reports.

The first issue is the creation of an International Scientific Fleet on Mars. Currently, nine spacecraft are operating on the Red Planet, two of them are ground—based and seven are orbital. NASA's fleet includes the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, MAVEN, the Mars Reconnaissance orbiter and the Mars Odyssey orbiter. ESA (European Space Agency) operates the Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Both China and the United Arab Emirates also have spacecraft exploring Mars from orbit.

The second topic of discussion is the discovery of a mysterious methane wave on the Red Planet. In June 2019, NASA's Curiosity probe made an amazing discovery: the largest amount of methane ever measured during a mission. Astronomers continue to study this.

The third problem is the flow of water and the earthquake that occurred on Mars last year. A team of astronomers is already expanding seismological research on the Red Planet. At the same time, the first images of the deep parts of the planet were obtained. Melting of the surface layers was also recorded here as part of NASA's InSight program.

In October 2022, when cameras aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a new crater from space surrounded by boulder-sized chunks of ice, NASA's InSight system felt the Earth shake during impact. Astronomers have also recorded this amazing meteorite impact on Mars.

The California debate also marked the end of NASA's Opportunity rover mission, one of the most successful and longest-running interplanetary exploration attempts, after 15 years of exploring the surface of Mars and helping prepare the ground for NASA's return to the Red Planet. During these studies, powerful dust storms were detected on Mars and on Earth.

Finally, NASA has mapped water ice on Mars for use by astronauts. This mapping product can help you decide where the first astronauts will land on the Red Planet. In addition, images of the Martian research orbiter used to create a massive interactive globe of Mars were also presented. These materials include a new mosaic of craters and impact craters on the Red Planet.