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China To Launch Probe To Mars With Russian Help In 2009
Beijing (RIA Novosti) Dec 08, 2008 - China will send a space probe to Mars with Russia's assistance in October 2009, a Chinese newspaper said on Friday.
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ESA Presents European Participants In Mars500 Isolation Study
Paris, France (ESA) Dec 08, 2008 - March 2009 will see two European participants entering a set of modules at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow. Together with four Russian participants, they will be sealed inside these isolation chambers for 105 days.
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Ancient Climate Cycles Recorded In Mars Rocks
Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 05, 2008 - Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues have found evidence of ancient climate change on Mars caused by regular variation in the planet's tilt, or obliquity. On Earth, similar astronomical forcing of climate drives ice-age cycles.
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Simulating Mars On Earth
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Dec 05, 2008 - The possibility of life on Mars has been debated almost since the invention of the telescope-annual growth and shrinkage of the martian ice caps and seasonal changes in color were observed by astronomers such as Herschel and Whewell in the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Mars Science Lab Launch Delayed Two Years
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 05, 2008 - NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will launch two years later than previously planned, in the fall of 2011. The mission will send a next-generation rover with unprecedented research tools to study the early environmental history of Mars.
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NASA lands a cosmic first with tweets from Mars
San Francisco (AFP) Dec 5, 2008 - If the Phoenix Lander comes back to life on Mars, Twitter users could be among the first to know.
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NASA delays Mars mission until 2011
Washington (AFP) Dec 4, 2008 - US space agency NASA delayed a landmark mission to Mars by 26 months on Thursday, adding another 400 million dollars to the already over-budget project to see if the red planet can support life, officials said.
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NASA Finishes Listening For Phoenix Mars Lander
Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 03, 2008 - After nearly a month of daily checks to determine whether Martian NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander would be able to communicate again, the agency has stopped using its Mars orbiters to hail the lander and listen for its beep.
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Spirit Drained As Martian Dust Storms Continue
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 02, 2008 - Spirit's condition has improved during the past week, though skies remain fairly dusty after the recent Martian dust storm. Since sol 1730 (Nov. 14, 2008), solar-array energy has averaged 169 watt-hours (100 watt-hours is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for 1 hour). The latest measurement of atmospheric darkness caused by dust, known as Tau, is 0.858. The dust factor, representing the portion of sunlight penetrating the coating of dust on the solar panels, is 0.2912.
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Opportunity Set For Two Weeks Of Operational Independence
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 02, 2008 - Opportunity is getting ready for solar conjunction, the time when the Sun is in the line of sight between Earth and Mars. During this two-week period, from Nov. 30, 2008 to Dec. 13, 2008, the mission team will not send new commands to the rover. The science team plans to position Opportunity on a rock outcrop, possibly near a cobble the rover can study with the Moessbauer spectrometer, during this time interval.
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PolyU Gears Up For Sino-Russian Interplanetary Space Mission
Hong Kong (SPX) Dec 01, 2008 - The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is working closely with the well-established Russian Space Agency in designing a state-of-the-art space tool which will be carried onboard a Russian spacecraft for the Red Planet in the 2009 Sino-Russian Space Mission - the first strategic interplanetary collaboration between China and Russia.
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Public Presentation About Mars Orbiter Images And Findings
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 27, 2008 - Mars scientists will present dramatic images and key findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter at a free evening program in Pasadena on Thursday, Dec. 4, celebrating completion of the mission's first two-year science phase.
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Phoenix Lander Winds Up Its Astonishing Summer On Mars
Tempe AZ (SPX) Nov 27, 2008 - Mars has slipped far enough behind the sun today that signals from Mars-orbiting spacecraft are effectively blocked until mid-December. This solar conjunction happens every two years.
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Solar Wind Rips Up Martian Atmosphere
Huntsville AL (SPX) Nov 25, 2008 - Researchers have found new evidence that the atmosphere of Mars is being stripped away by solar wind. It's not a gently continuous erosion, but rather a ripping process in which chunks of Martian air detach themselves from the planet and tumble into deep space.
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Mars Express Observes Aurorae On The Red Planet
Paris, France (SPX) Nov 24, 2008 - Scientists using ESA's Mars Express have produced the first crude map of aurorae on Mars. These displays of ultraviolet light appear to be located close to the residual magnetic fields generated by Mars's crustal rocks. They highlight a number of mysteries about the way Mars interacts with electrically charged particles originating from the Sun.
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Baking The Rover Is Not An Option
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), scheduled to launch in fall 2009, will follow the Mars Exploration Rovers and the Phoenix Lander to help determine if Mars is habitable for life.