Moffet Field CA (SPX) May 20, 2008 - NASA's Phoenix lander is less than a week from touch down in the frozen northern wastes of Mars, where it will search for signs that, in the planet's recent past, the region may have been habitable.
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 20, 2008 - Welcome to the kick-off entry for the Phoenix entry, descent and landing (EDL) blog from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. I'm Brent Shockley, the Information and Configuration Management Engineer for Phoenix at JPL.
London, UK (SPX) May 19, 2008 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is due to land on Mars this month (May) where it will probe the arctic landscape searching for conditions favourable for past or present life.
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 16, 2008 - New observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that the crust and upper mantle of Mars are stiffer and colder than previously thought.
Silver Spring MD (SPX) May 15, 2008 - Science Channel will broadcast live coverage of mankind's next major step in Mars exploration with MARS LIVE: THE PHOENIX LANDS premiering Sunday, May 25, 2008, from 7-9 PM (ET) and 4-6 PM (PT). Originating LIVE from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. and the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, the program will give viewers a first look at photos sent back from the Mars surface.
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.
Paris, France (ESA) May 15, 2008 - Even in the clearest, bluest sky on Earth, there is still water vapour in our atmosphere. If you could condense all the water vapour out of the atmosphere above you, it would form a layer of water two centimetres deep. On Mars today, there is also water vapour in the atmosphere but it would create a layer just 10 micrometres thick.
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 (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 (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.
