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Editorial Team

Mars Daily Editorial Team

Editorial Team

The Mars Daily Editorial Team produces Mars Daily's coverage of Mars exploration and science. We report on rovers and orbiters, sample-return and human-Mars planning, and the geology, atmosphere and astrobiology of the Red Planet. Articles reflect our team's collective editorial process, source verification, drafting, technical review, and editing, rather than a single writer's work. Mars Daily takes editorial responsibility for content under this byline. For more on how we work, see our editorial policy.

Orbiter Puts Itself Into Safe Standby

Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 03, 2009 - NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter put itself into a safe standby mode on Saturday, Nov. 28, and the team operating the spacecraft has begun implementing careful steps designed to resume Odyssey's science and relay operations within about a week.

Dec 3, 2009

Mars Meteorite Debate Continues

Houston TX (SPX) Dec 03, 2009 - Using more advanced analytical instruments now available, a Johnson Space Center research team has reexamined the 1996 finding that a meteorite contains strong evidence that life may have existed on ancient Mars.

Dec 3, 2009

Opportunity Continues Study Of ‘Marquette’

Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 01, 2009 - Opportunity has been investigating the rock known as Marquette Island over the last couple of weeks. This target is proving to be something unique that Opportunity has not encountered in more than 2000 Sols of exploring Mars.

Dec 1, 2009

Team Plans Uplink Of Protective Files To MRO

Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2009 - The team operating NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter plans to uplink protective files to the spacecraft next week as one step toward resuming the orbiter's research and relay activities.

Nov 26, 2009

Gullies And Flow Features On Crater Wall

Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2009 - This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a sample of the variety and complexity of processes that may occur on the walls of Martian craters, well after the impact crater formed.

Nov 26, 2009

No Wheel Stall In Diagnostic Drive

Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2009 - On Sol 2095 (Tuesday, Nov. 24), Spirit performed a set of diagnostic actions related to a stall of the right-rear wheel on the previous drive, three days earlier. The diagnostics showed a fully functioning wheel free of obstruction. The rover was commanded forward with 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) of wheel spin.

Nov 26, 2009

Third Spirit Extrication Drive Ends With Wheel Stall

Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 24, 2009 - Spirit experienced a wheel stall with the right-rear wheel during the second step of a two-step drive on Sol 2092 (Saturday, Nov. 21).

Nov 24, 2009

Mars valleys point to rainy red planet

Washington (AFP) Nov 23, 2009 - A network of valleys discovered on Mars show that the red planet was likely once covered by a vast ocean that fed a humid, rainy climate, according to research published Monday.

Nov 23, 2009

New map suggests Mars was wet and humid

Washington (AFP) Nov 23, 2009 - A new detailed map of Mars shows what was likely a vast ocean in the north and valleys around the equator, suggesting that the planet once had a humid, rainy climate, according to research published Monday.

Nov 23, 2009

NASA And Microsoft Allow Earthlings To Become Martians

Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 19, 2009 - NASA and Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., have collaborated to create a Web site where Internet users can have fun while advancing their knowledge of Mars.

Nov 19, 2009

Distal Rampart Of Crater In Chryse Planitia

Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 18, 2009 - Impact craters on Mars are kind of neat. Many of them look very different than impact craters seen on Earth's moon or Mercury. Fresh lunar and Mercurian craters have ejecta blankets that look a bit rough near the crater rims; around larger craters, long rays or chains of secondary craters radiate away from the crater rims.

Nov 18, 2009

NASA fails in first attempt to free Spirit

Pasadena, Calif. (UPI) Nov 18, 2009 - NASA says it failed to free its stuck Mars explorer Spirit on the first attempt.

Nov 18, 2009

Spirit’s Flash Memory In Use Again

Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 18, 2009 - Spirit is preparing to attempt extrication from her embedded location at Troy on the west side of Home Plate.

Nov 18, 2009

Team Prepares To Uplink Commands To Spirit

Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 18, 2009 - Driving commands are being prepared to instruct Spirit to attempt to drive forward. These are the first driving commands since Spirit became embedded in a Martian sandtrap approximately six months ago. These commands will be transmitted to Spirit at 1 a.m. PST (4 a.m. EST) Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Nov 18, 2009

Taking A Bite Of Antarctic Ice

Moffet Field CA (SPX) Nov 17, 2009 - Scientists with NASA's IceBite project are heading this week for University Valley, a hanging valley perched more than 1600 feet (more than 1 mile) above sea level in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys.

Nov 17, 2009

Opportunity Approaching Marquette Island

Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 17, 2009 - Opportunity is still heading south before the turn east to head toward Endeavour Crater. The right front wheel is exhibiting elevated motor currents.

Nov 17, 2009