Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 04, 2007 - In typical unflagging fashion, Spirit has managed to break free of piles of soil built up around the wheels in a low, sandy area that the rover's handlers have nicknamed Tartarus, after a deep, underworld dungeon in Greek mythology. Team members are pulling out all the stops to get Spirit to a winter location where, based on solar power projections, the rover has a chance at survival.
Paris, France (ESA) Dec 03, 2007 - These images taken by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), onboard ESA's Mars Express imaged the Noctis Labyrinthus region, the 'labyrinth of the night' on Mars. The HRSC took these pictures on 25 June 2006 in orbit 3155, with a ground resolution of approximately 16 m/pixel. Noctis Labyrinthus lies at approximately 6.5 south and 260 east. The Sun illuminates the scene from the north-west, top right in the image above.
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Nov 30, 2007 - Russian scientists have completed the first stage of preparations for an experimental Mars mission simulation, Mars-500, a medical research institute announced on Thursday. The purpose of the main experiment, expected to begin in late 2008, is to simulate a space flight to Mars taking into account all ramifications, including a 250-day trip to the Red Planet, a 30-day period on its surface, and a 240-day return flight.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 30, 2007 - Opportunity spent much of the week conducting ongoing studies of a layer of rock known as Smith, part of a bathtub ring of rocks that circumvent Victoria Crater beneath the rim. Opportunity acquired images and studied the composition and abundance of iron-bearing minerals in the rock. During tests of the rock abrasion tool on the Earthbound engineering rover similar to the rover on Mars, engineers discovered that unbending the brush on Opportunity's rock abrasion tool may not be possible.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 29, 2007 - On the way to Winter Haven 3, the spot on the north face of Home Plate where NASA's Spirit rover is headed, the rover has driven into an area below a hummock (elevated area). Spirit has tried unsuccessfully during the past week to climb onto the hummock and make progress toward Winter Haven 3. Because it is critical to reach the north face while enough solar energy is available to get there, Spirit spends every available day driving. In-between drives, Spirit recharges the batteries and conducts very light remote sensing.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 28, 2007 - The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken a new color image of the feature dubbed Home Plate in Gusev Crater on Mars. The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows up inside the perimeter of Home Plate, where it was when HiRISE took the image on Sept. 27, 2007, at 2:19 pm local Mars time, HiRISE team member Ken Herkenhoff of the U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, said.
Laurel MD (SPX) Nov 28, 2007 - These two images taken by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) show Mars' two small moons, Phobos and Deimos, as seen from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's low orbit around Mars. Both images were taken while the spacecraft was over Mars' night side, with the spacecraft turned off its normal nadir-viewing geometry to glimpse the moons. The image of Phobos, shown at the top, was taken at 0119 UTC on October 23 (9:19 p.m. EDT on Oct. 22), and shows features as small as 400 meters (1,320 feet) across.
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Nov 27, 2007 - Mars is often suggested as a good location to search for alien life. Despite many missions to the red planet, it's still a mystery whether life existed there in the distant past or if it is thriving there today. Attempting to answer this question was an aim of the Viking missions of 1976, but the results of those experiments were frustratingly ambiguous.
On 25 December 2003, Europe's first Mars explorer arrived at the Red Planet.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2007 - Opportunity remains parked at the rock layer known as Smith -- part of the bathtub ring of rock layers beneath the edge of Victoria Crater - - at Duck Bay, the alcove where the rover entered the crater. During a test of the wire brush on the rock abrasion tool in a new mode of operation developed to work around recent encoder failures, Opportunity was mistakenly commanded to rotate the brush in the wrong direction.
Houston TX (SPX) Nov 22, 2007 - Mars was covered in an ocean of molten rock for about 100 million years after the planet formed, researchers from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, UC Davis, and NASA's Johnson Space Center have found. The work is published in the journal Nature on Nov. 22. The formation of the solar system can be dated quite accurately to 4,567,000,000 years ago, said Qing-Zhu Yin, assistant professor of geology at UC Davis and an author on the paper.
Paris, France (SPX) Nov 22, 2007 - The European Mars Science and Exploration Conference: Mars Express and ExoMars concluded on November 16 at ESA's Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. The conference covered a range of topics concerning Mars exploration, including results from the Mars Express satellite after almost four years in orbit and preparations for Europe's upcoming ExoMars mission. Here we present interviews with selected experts on some hot topics concerning Mars.
Paris, France (ESA) Nov 19, 2007 - With ESA's Mars Express, scientists continue to gain new insight into the mysterious Martian environment. Some of the most exciting results are being sent back by the MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding) experiment. MARSIS transmits low frequency radio waves towards the planet's surface and records the echoes of the different layers.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 15, 2007 - Opportunity is still parked in front of the rock layer known as Smith inside Victoria Crater. The rover has now lost two encoders that operate motors on the rock abrasion tool during the grinding and brushing of surfaces. Science team members and engineers have been working in test beds and computer sequencing rooms to devise creative ways of using the rock abrasion tool without the grind and revolve encoders.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 14, 2007 - Spirit has been gradually losing power, with energy levels dropping to 320 watt-hours per Martian day (100 watt-hours is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for one hour). Measurements of atmospheric dust, known as Tau, have been averaging 0.65. That dust level is typical of levels measuring throughout most of the mission, but power levels are lower than in previous years because of higher dust accumulation on the solar panels.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 14, 2007 - During the past week, Opportunity continued to investigate the rock layer known as Smith, the second of three bathtub-ring layers of rock inside Victoria Crater. The vehicle is mostly healthy, except for a recent anomaly involving the rock abrasion tool.
