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Editorial Team

Mars Daily Editorial Team

Editorial Team

The Mars Daily Editorial Team produces Mars Daily's coverage of Mars exploration and science. We report on rovers and orbiters, sample-return and human-Mars planning, and the geology, atmosphere and astrobiology of the Red Planet. Articles reflect our team's collective editorial process, source verification, drafting, technical review, and editing, rather than a single writer's work. Mars Daily takes editorial responsibility for content under this byline. For more on how we work, see our editorial policy.

More Trouble For Opportunity’s Robotic Arm

Pasadena CA (SPX) Apr 25, 2008 - A small motor in the robotic arm of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity that began stalling occasionally more than two years ago has become more troublesome recently. Rover engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are diagnosing why the motor, one of five in the robotic arm, stalled on April 14 after much less motion that day than in the case of several earlier stalls.

Apr 25, 2008

Driving on Mars Is Hard

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 23, 2008 - This week Opportunity demonstrated the challenges of operating a vehicle on the surface of another planet. The rover is en route to Cape Verde to acquire high-resolution images of the layering in the rocks. To get there, Opportunity must cross some sandy stretches. Before entering the sandy areas, Opportunity will need to stop and take a toe dip'' -- that is, drive forward a short distance and back out again -- to characterize the terrain.

Apr 23, 2008

Spirit Still Sitting Pretty For This Time Of Year

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 23, 2008 - Despite a slight increase in atmospheric opacity caused by dust, Spirit is still enjoying higher-than-expected energy levels for this time of year. Solar array input has been approximately 240 watt-hours per Martian day, or sol (100 watt-hours is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for one hour).

Apr 23, 2008

Mars Radar Opens Up A Planet’s Third Dimension

Paris, France (SPX) Apr 18, 2008 - ESA's Mars Express radar sounder, MARSIS, has looked beneath the martian surface and opened up the third dimension for planetary exploration. The technique's success is prompting scientists to think of all the other places in the Solar System where they would like to use radar sounders.

Apr 18, 2008

Russia Continues Flight Simulation Experiments For Mars-500

Moscow (RIA Novosti) Apr 16, 2008 - Four volunteers will spend ten days in a compression chamber with a reduced oxygen level as preparation for Mars-500, a Russian ground-based experiment to simulate a flight to Mars. A spokesman for the Moscow-based Russian Institute of Medical and Biological Issues, which runs the project, said that four healthy men will be held in a chamber with the pressure equivalent to being five meters underwater.

Apr 16, 2008

Missions To Mars

Paris, France (SPX) Apr 15, 2008 - The European Space Agency (ESA) has chosen the GSI accelerator facility to assess radiation risks that astronauts will be exposed to on a Mars mission. GSI was selected because its accelerator is the only one in Europe able to create ion beams similar to those found in space. To determine possible health risks of manned space flights, scientists from all over Europe have been asked to investigate the effects of ion beams in human cells and organs.

Apr 15, 2008

Opportunity Continues Reading The Story In The Rocks

Pasadena CA (SPX) Apr 14, 2008 - Opportunity has finished grinding into the surface and acquiring microscopic images of a rock target informally named Gilbert, at the bottom of the alcove inside Victoria Crater known as Duck Bay. The rover is in the middle of a campaign to study the composition of the exposed interior of the rock using both the Mossbauer and alpha-particle X-ray spectrometers.

Apr 14, 2008

NASA Spacecraft Fine Tunes Course For Mars Landing

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 11, 2008 - NASA engineers have adjusted the flight path of the Phoenix Mars Lander, setting the spacecraft on course for its May 25th landing on the Red Planet.

Apr 11, 2008

Spirit Advances Toward Midwinter

Pasadena CA (SPX) Apr 10, 2008 - Seasons are about twice as long on Mars as on Earth and are offset relative to Earth because Mars takes about twice as long to complete one orbit around the Sun. At Spirit's location, the fall equinox -- the start of fall, when night and day are equal in length -- arrived Dec. 12, 2007. The winter solstice -- the time of year with the shortest day -- will arrive June 25, 2008.

Apr 10, 2008

NASA Spacecraft Images Mars Moon In Color And In 3D

Pasadena CA (SPX) Apr 10, 2008 - A new stereo view of Phobos, the larger and inner of Mars' two tiny moons, has been captured by a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took two images of Phobos 10 minutes apart on March 23. Scientists combined the images for a stereo view.

Apr 10, 2008

Visting Mars, Again And Again

Mpffett Field CA (SPX) Apr 08, 2008 - Mars is preparing for an invasion from Earth. The rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still traveling across the surface of the Red Planet, but NASA and the European Space Agency are planning to send more missions over the next few years. First up is the Mars Phoenix lander. Launched last year, this mission is due to arrive near the Martian north pole on May 25.

Apr 8, 2008

No Speed Limit On Mars

Pasadena CA (SPX) Apr 07, 2008 - It's a good thing there's no speed limit on Mars, because the next parachute to fly to the red planet will deploy faster than you can legally drive on a California freeway! The chute is designed to slow the Mars Science Laboratory as it rockets through the Martian atmosphere at more than twice the speed of sound and places a car-size rover on the surface.

Apr 7, 2008

Spirit Phones Home To Reset Clock As Energy Levels Plummet For Mars Rover

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 05, 2008 - Spirit is feeling the strain of juggling activities on Mars in the face of declining power levels as the winter Sun sinks lower on the horizon. After acquiring compositional data from a rock target informally named Wendell Pruitt, Spirit had to wait a few sols (Martian days) to have enough energy to conduct atmospheric studies and move the robotic arm out of the way for a panoramic-camera portrait of a rock target known as Freeman.

Apr 5, 2008

Mars Rover Opportunity Completes Dental Checkup At Victoria Crater’s Duck Bay

Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 05, 2008 - Opportunity is wrapping up its scientific investigation of the outcrop exposure known as Gilbert_A at the bottom of the alcove known as Duck Bay, the lowest traversable portion of the crater's interior. Duck Bay is a recess in the walls of Victoria Crater.

Apr 5, 2008

For The Paper Trail Of Life On Mars Or Other Planets, Find Cellulose

Chapel Hill NC (SPX) Apr 01, 2008 - Looking for evidence of life on Mars or other planets? Finding cellulose microfibers would be the next best thing to a close encounter, according to new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The cover story for the April issue of the journal Astrobiology, the new research also pushes back the earliest direct evidence of biological material on Earth by about 200 million years.

Apr 1, 2008

Spirit Begins Preparing For Another Winter Hibernation

Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 28, 2008 - Spirit has reached its final position for the coming Martian winter and has no plans to move before the next Martian spring. During the next few months, the rover will increasingly go into a hibernate mode as the sun continues to dim.

Mar 28, 2008