Washington DC (SPX) May 15, 2008 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is preparing to end its long journey and begin a three-month mission to taste and sniff fistfuls of Martian soil and buried ice. The lander is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet May 25.
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 14, 2008 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is preparing to end its long journey and begin a three-month mission to taste and sniff fistfuls of Martian soil and buried ice. The lander is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet May 25.
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 14, 2008 - After completing a battery of diagnostic tests, engineers planned to attempt to move Opportunity's shoulder azimuth joint, also known as Joint 1, during the coming week.
Pasadena CA (SPX) May 13, 2008 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled to land on the Martian northern plains near 68 degrees north latitude, 127 degrees west longitude on May 25, 2008. In preparation for the landing, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been monitoring weather in the region around the landing site. On April 20, 2008, the orbiter's Mars Color Imager camera captured this view of a large region of northern Mars that includes the landing target area in the lower right quadrant.
Washington (AFP) May 13, 2008 - A US space probe sent to Mars to dig for signs of life is nearing the end of its nine-month voyage and should touch down on the Red Planet on schedule, NASA said Tuesday.
Canberra, Australia (SPX) May 12, 2008 - CSIRO and NASA are collaborating to develop exploration technologies currently used by the Australian minerals industry, for use on the Moon and Mars CSIRO Exploration and Mining scientist, Dr Brent McInnes - who recently worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre - says there is huge potential for US-Australian collaboration in lunar and planetary exploration technology.
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 11, 2008 - When NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander descends to the surface of the Red Planet on May 25, few will be watching as closely as the men and women who have spent years planning, analyzing and conducting tests to prepare for the dramatic and nerve-wracking event known as EDL - Entry, Descent and Landing.
Moffett Field (SPX) May 09, 2008 - Many space missions use robots to explore. The rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still travelling around Mars, taking pictures and digging in the dirt. But could a robot identify alien life? How would a machine know the difference, for instance, between a rock and bacteria?
Pasadena CA (SPX) May 07, 2008 - Opportunity is healthy and all subsystems are performing as expected, with the exception of the Instrument Deployment Device (the robotic arm). Power has improved slightly during the last week, primarily as the result of a better state of charge in the batteries.
Moffett Field CA (SPX) May 06, 2008 - Between three and four billion years ago, Mars was a lot like Earth. Both planets are believed to have had surface water. Those similarities make it a prime candidate for extraterrestrial life. The assumption is that if bacterial life emerged on Earth at that time, then why not on Mars? says Soon Sam Kim, principal member of technical staff at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Pasadena CA (SPX) May 06, 2008 - Spirit's Tau measurements of atmospheric dust have remained steady, but solar array input has dropped a bit to 235 watt-hours per sol. Spirit still has enough energy to squeeze in Moessbauer studies of iron-bearing minerals at a time of year when the rover's handlers expected Spirit to be concerned only with survival. At present, the rover's target of scientific interest is a soil exposure nicknamed after Arthur C. Harmon, a former Tuskegee airman.
Seattle WA (SPX) Apr 30, 2008 - Andrews Space has announced that it has signed a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to analyze design solutions related to NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. The specific efforts are focused on the Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing technologies and techniques.
Paris, France (ESA) Apr 30, 2008 - Artificial intelligence (AI) being used at the European Space Operations Centre is giving a powerful boost to ESA's Mars Express as it searches for signs of past or present life on the Red Planet. Since January 2005, Mars Express has been using its sophisticated instruments to study the atmosphere, surface and subsurface of Mars, confirming the presence of water and looking for other signatures of life on and below the Red Planet's rocky terrain.
Providence RI (SPX) Apr 30, 2008 - The prevailing thinking is that Mars is a planet whose active climate has been confined to the distant past. About 3.5 billion years ago, the Red Planet had extensive flowing water and then fell quiet -- deadly quiet. It didn't seem the climate had changed much since.
Laurel MD (SPX) Apr 30, 2008 - A new online map lets visitors explore Mars' past through a collection of high-resolution observations from one of the most powerful spectrometers ever sent to the Red Planet. Evidence of ancient bodies of water, flowing rivers and groundwater peeks out from beneath layers of hardened magma and dust -- testaments to Mars' progression through wet, volcanic and dry eras.
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Apr 28, 2008 - The prevailing thinking is that Mars is a planet whose active climate has been confined to the distant past. About 3.5 billion years ago, the Red Planet had extensive flowing water and then fell quiet - deadly quiet. It didn't seem the climate had changed much since.
