A new class of Martian impact craters have been discovered, by Northern Arizona University scientists from which public, co-educational college and university?
LARLE crater A new class of Martian impact craters have been discovered by Northern Arizona University scientist Prof Nadine Barlow and Dr Joseph Boyce from the University of Hawaii in Oct 2013. They have termed it as ‘low-aspect-ratio layered ejecta (LARLE) craters’. Prof Nadine Barlow, a scientist Northern Arizona University described this class of craters with “thin-layered outer deposit” surpassing “the typical range of ejecta”. “The combination helps vaporize the materials and create a base flow surge. The low aspect ratio refers to how thin the deposits are relative to the area they cover,” Prof Barlow said. The scientists used data from continuing reconnaissance of Mars using the old Mars Odyssey Orbiter and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, discovered 139 LARLE craters ranging in diameter from 1.0 to 12.2 km, with 97 per cent of the LARLE craters are found poleward of 35N and 40S, while remaining mainly traced in the equatorial Medusae Fossae Formation.
NASA Robotic Mining Competition NASA Robotic Mining Competition (NASA RMC) is a competition established in 2010 for university students to build a mining robot that is designed to navigate on the Martian surface. One team per school is allowed to compete and around 50 schools compete each year. The teams should compose of at least 2 undergraduate students and graduate students who are enrolled in the current school year. The teams also need to include a current faculty member or advisor. There is no limit to the number of members but NASA advises the teams to have a sufficient and manageable size. While the competition is focused on graduate and undergraduate students from four year institutions, invitations are also extended to teams from community colleges. The latest (eighth annual) competition, in May 2017, resulted in the team from the University of Alabama, winning for the third consecutive year.