Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 25, 2009 - Spirit remains stationary on the west side of Home Plate in the location called Troy. The rover continues to be busy with an ambitious observation campaign employing both remote sensing and in-situ (contact) science with the robotic arm (instrument deployment device, IDD).
San Antonio TX (SPX) Jun 25, 2009 - With the whoosh of compressed gas and the whir of unspooling wire, a team of Boulder scientists and engineers tested a new instrument prototype that might be used to detect groundwater deep inside Mars.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 25, 2009 - Opportunity has been stationary this week resting the right-front drive actuator. During this time, the rover is conducting a series of robotic arm (IDD) activities.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 23, 2009 - NASA's long-lived Mars Odyssey spacecraft has completed an eight-month adjustment of its orbit, positioning itself to look down at the day side of the planet in mid-afternoon instead of late afternoon.
Paris, France (ESA) Jun 22, 2009 - On 14 July, a crew of six will leave their Mars mission simulator and see the Sun once again. The crew, which includes a French pilot and a German engineer selected by the European Space Agency, will have completed 105 days of confinement and numerous scientific experiment runs inside the isolation facility at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 19, 2009 - Spirit remains stationary on the west side of Home Plate. Work continues on developing the ground testing to assist the rover in extracting itself from the embedding in this location, called Troy.
Hong Kong (AFP) June 19, 2009 - NASA should focus on sending a man to Mars and helping other nations travel in space, Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin said Friday.
Washington (AFP) June 18, 2009 - US researchers have uncovered traces of an ancient lake on Mars boosting hopes of discovering evidence that billions of years ago the Red planet hosted life.
Ann Arbor MI (SPX) Jun 18, 2009 - U.S. scientists say they have detected the first direct evidence of lightning occurring on Mars. University of Michigan researchers said they found signs of electrical discharges during dust storms on the red planet. The bolts were dry lightning, Professor Chris Ruf said.
Paris, France (SPX) Jun 18, 2009 - Lockheed Martin has completed production and testing of the heatshield for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The heatshield is half of the large and sophisticated two-part aeroshell that will encapsulate and protect the Curiosity rover during its deep space cruise to Mars, and from the intense heat and friction that will be generated as the system descends through the Martian atmosphere.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 18, 2009 - Opportunity continues to drive south on the way to Endeavour crater. On Sol 1906 (June 4, 2009), the rover completed a 69-meter (266-foot) drive due south. Elevated actuator currents with the right-front wheel continue to cause concern. The rover rested for four sols before driving again, conducting observations with the panoramic camera (Pancam) and atmospheric argon measurements with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS).
Le Bourget, France (AFP) June 15, 2009 - NASA is likely to shoulder a major chunk of a planned unmanned European mission to Mars that has been troubled by rows over design and budget, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Monday.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 12, 2009 - Although Spirit has yet to begin to extricate herself from the loose, soft terrain on the west side of Home Plate, the rover has been active using her instruments to assess her embedded state.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 12, 2009 - Opportunity has been busy driving south. The rover drove four out of the last six sols. The drives have all been blind drives with regular slip checks for progress.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 11, 2009 -
Huntsville AL (SPX) Jun 11, 2009 - Just when you thought it was safe to check your email...For the sixth year in a row, a message about the Red Planet is popping up in email boxes around the world. It instructs readers to go outside after dark on August 27th and behold the sky. Mars will look as large as the full moon, it says. No one alive today will ever see this again.
