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Spirit Hits 2000 Sols On Mars Duty
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 20, 2009 - Today marks the 2,000th Martian day, or sol, of what was initially planned as a 90-sol mission on Mars for NASA's Spirit rover.
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Spirit Hits 2000
Pasadena CA (SPX) Aug 19, 2009 - Today marks the 2,000th Martian day, or sol, of what was initially planned as a 90-sol mission on Mars for NASA's Spirit rover.
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Roving The AMASEing Arctic
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Aug 18, 2009 - This is my first post to the blog about AMASE 2009. I am writing it from the Spitzbergen Guest house, a nice little accommodation place located in Nybyen at the southeast end of Longyearbyen (Svalbard), the place where part of the members of the AMASE expedition are staying before flying to Ny-Alesund. I am writing this blog while lying on bed because I am very tired...after a full week of work... however, the start of this trip could not have been better.
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Planned Rover Test To Run A Week Or More
Pasadena CA (SPX) Aug 17, 2009 - Mars rover team members are planning a long-duration experiment with the test rover at JPL beginning next week. This test will check whether favorable motion seen in earlier tests can be sustained to gain as much distance in the sandbox as Spirit would need to complete on Mars to escape its predicament.
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Mars Orbiter Shows Angled View Of Martian Crater
Tucson AZ (SPX) Aug 14, 2009 - The high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned a dramatic oblique view of the Martian crater that a rover explored for two years.
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Martian Dust Devil With Track And Shadow
Tucson AZ (SPX) Aug 14, 2009 - This telescopic view from orbit around Mars catches a Martian dust devil in action in the planet's southern hemisphere. The swirling vortex of dust can be seen near the center of the image. The shadow cast by this column of dust can be seen in the upper left while the dark track left by the passage of the dust devil is evident in the lower right.
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AMASE 2009 Expedition Takes Off In The Arctic
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 12, 2009 - From August 1 to 24, 2009 AMASE (the Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition) will be taking place in Svalbard (Norway, 76-81 degrees N). This expedition involves different researchers from the Carnegie Institution of Washington, NASA/JPL, ESA, Cornell University, the Earth and Planetary Exploration Services (Norway), DLR (Germany), the University of Valladolid (Spain) and the University of Leeds (UK).
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Orbiter Safe After Computer Swap
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 12, 2009 - NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is in safe mode, a precautionary standby status, and in communications with Earth after unexpectedly switching to its backup computer on Thurs. Aug. 6.
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Mars, Methane And Mysteries
Paris, France (ESA) Aug 11, 2009 - Mars may not be as dormant as scientists once thought. The 2004 discovery of methane means that either there is life on Mars, or that volcanic activity continues to generate heat below the martian surface. ESA plans to find out which it is. Either outcome is big news for a planet once thought to be biologically and geologically inactive.
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Meteorite Found On Mars Yields Clues About Planet’s Past
Pasadena CA (SPX) Aug 11, 2009 - NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is investigating a metallic meteorite the size of a large watermelon that is providing researchers more details about the Red Planet's environmental history.
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A Bit More Testing Before Next Driving Opportunity For Spirit
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 10, 2009 - A review on Aug. 6 of test results to date yielded a decision to conduct further checkouts in an augmented testing set-up on Earth before beginning to send driving commands to Spirit for attempting to get out of the loose soil where the rover has partially embedded itself.
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China’s first Mars orbiter in Russia for launch: state media
Beijing (AFP) Aug 6, 2009 - China's first satellite to probe Mars has been transported to Russia for a launch later this year, state media reported Thursday.
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Possible Meteorite Imaged by Opportunity Rover
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 05, 2009 - The Opportunity rover has eyed an odd-shaped, dark rock, about 0.6 meters (2 feet) across on the surface of Mars, which may be a meteorite.
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Free Spirit Testing Nearing Completion
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 31, 2009 - Mars rover engineers at JPL are winding down testing of different escape maneuvers using a test rover in a sand box filled with soil to mimic the Martian surface.
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Craters, Lava Flows And Tectonic Features Near Ma’adim Vallis
Paris, France (ESA) Jul 27, 2009 - The Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera imaged a region close to Ma'adim Vallis, one of the largest canyons on Mars, finding craters, lava flows and tectonic features.
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JPL Mars Sandbox Testing Continues For Spirit Extraction
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 27, 2009 - Mars rover team members have begun a new phase of testing at JPL - using longer-duration experiments - in their preparations for driving Spirit again on Mars. They have completed assessments of individual maneuvers, using the test rover in a box of sloped, soft soil that simulates conditions at the patch of Martian ground called Troy, where Spirit's wheels have dug themselves hub-deep.