Boulder CO (SPX) Sep 17, 2008 - In the largest research contract ever awarded to the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics has been selected by NASA to lead a $485 million orbiting space mission slated to launch in 2013 to probe the past climate of Mars, including its potential for harboring life over the ages.
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 16, 2008 - NASA has selected a Mars robotic mission that will provide information about the Red Planet's atmosphere, climate history and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before. Called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, the $485 million mission is scheduled for launch in late 2013.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Sep 16, 2008 - Opportunity has completed one of the most fantastic scientific campaigns of the Mars Exploration Rover mission -- the interior investigation of Victoria Crater. After spending more than 340 Martian days, known as sols -- almost one Earth year -- inside the crater, Opportunity climbed back out on sol 1634 (Aug. 28, 2008).
Moffett Filed CA (SPX) Sep 12, 2008 - On the surface, Pavilion Lake, nestled among the peaks of Canada's Marble Range, looks like a thousand other mountain lakes. It's not unusually large or deep. It's not especially acidic, or alkaline; it's not overly salty; nor are there high concentrations of minerals dissolved in its water. Locals come here to fish, to boat, to swim, and to watch the summer clouds drift by.
Tucson AZ (SPX) Sep 12, 2008 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has photographed several dust devils dancing across the arctic plain this week and sensed a dip in air pressure as one passed near the lander. These dust-lofting whirlwinds had been expected in the area, but none had been detected in earlier Phoenix images.
Tucson AZ (SPX) Sep 11, 2008 - The next soil sample that NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will deliver to its deck instruments will go to the fourth of the four cells of Phoenix's wet chemistry laboratory, according to the Phoenix team's current plans.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Sep 10, 2008 - The Robotic Arm Camera on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander took this image on Sept. 1, 2008, at about 4 a.m. local solar time during the 97th Martian day, or sol, since landing. The view underneath the lander shows growth of the clumps adhering to leg strut (upper left) compared with what was present when a similar image was taken about three months earlier.
Santa Cruz CA (SPX) Sep 09, 2008 - A new study suggests that ancient features on the surface of Mars called valley networks were carved by recurrent floods during a long period when the martian climate may have been much like that of some arid or semi-arid regions on Earth.
Tucson AZ (SPX) Sep 05, 2008 - A fork-like conductivity probe has sensed humidity rising and falling beside NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, but when stuck into the ground, its measurements so far indicate soil that is thoroughly and perplexingly dry.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 05, 2008 - Spirit continues to ride out the Martian winter by doing minimal activities to conserve power. The rover completes very light science observations every three to four Martian days, known as sols, and relays data to NASA's Odyssey orbiter to be transmitted to Earth every four sols.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 05, 2008 - Like a backpacker hiking up a steep grade, Opportunity has been trying to gain elevation using a switchback approach inside Victoria Crater.
Tucson AZ (SPX) Sep 03, 2008 - The single-piece primary and tertiary mirror blank cast for the LSST is perfect, say project astronomers and engineers.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 03, 2008 - Opportunity faces several challenges on the way out of Victoria Crater but continues to make steady progress. The first of these is a traverse of approximately 10 meters (30 feet, a little longer than a double-decker bus) across a sandy, 17-degree slope.
Tucson, AZ (JPL) Sep 03, 2008 - Scientists have begun to analyze a sample of soil delivered to NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's wet chemistry experiment from the deepest trench dug so far in the Martian arctic plains. Phoenix has also been observing movement of clouds overhead.
Tucson AZ (SPX) Sep 03, 2008 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, having completed its 90-day primary mission, is continuing its science collection activities. Science and engineering teams are looking forward to at least another month of Martian exploration.
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Sep 02, 2008 - Hans Amundsen is a Norwegian geologist and the expedition leader of AMASE (Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition). AMASE is an international, interdisciplinary scientific research project that since 2003 has traveled to Svalbard, a group of islands in the High Arctic that provides some of the best sites on Earth for doing Mars-related field research.
