Moscow (RIA Novosti) Nov 12, 2007 - Despite the numerous technical and medical-biological problems it would face, a manned mission to Mars is being spoken about with more and more certainty. Yet it is unclear why we should take such great risks to land astronauts on the Red Planet. Nor do we know whether the huge costs of such an expedition would ever be recouped.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 08, 2007 - A promontory nicknamed Cape Verde can be seen jutting out from the walls of Victoria Crater in this approximate true-color picture taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The rover took this picture on martian day, or sol, 1329 (Oct. 20, 2007), more than a month after it began descending down the crater walls - and just 9 sols shy of its second Martian birthday on sol 1338 (Oct. 29, 2007).
Paris, France (ESA) Nov 05, 2007 - The radar system on ESA's Mars Express has uncovered new details about some of the most mysterious deposits on Mars: The Medusae Fossae Formation. It has given the first direct measurement of the depth and electrical properties of these materials, providing new clues about their origin.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 05, 2007 - With Martian winter approaching, the science and engineering teams have been hard pressed to select a site where Spirit can spend the winter. After previously narrowing the list of candidates to two sites, Spirit's handlers decided to send the rover to the northern edge of the elevated plateau known as Home Plate, which Spirit has been exploring for many months now.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 05, 2007 - Opportunity is healthy, with energy levels ranging from about 450 watt-hours to 475 watt-hours (100 watt-hours is the amount of electricity needed to light a 100-watt bulb for one hour). Recently, Opportunity was temporarily unable to send scientific data to Earth because the Odyssey orbiter experienced a computer crash and went into safing mode.
The radar system on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter has uncovered new details about some of the most mysterious deposits on Mars: the Medusae Fossae Formation.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Oct 31, 2007 - Spirit is healthy and continues to investigate Home Plate. After completing extensive studies of Site 3 using the Moessbauer spectrometer and other instruments, the rover proceeded toward Site 4. Meanwhile, it's already time for Spirit to start thinking about winter again. Over the coming weekend, the rover was scheduled to acquire long-baseline stereo images of Home Plate and surrounding areas in search of a safe winter haven.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Oct 31, 2007 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, launched on Aug. 4 and headed to Mars, fired its four trajectory correction thrusters Wednesday for only the second time. The 45.9-second burn nudged the spacecraft just the right amount to put it on a course to arrive at the red planet seven months from today.
Boulder, CO (SPX) Oct 28, 2007 - Mars, like Earth, is a climate-fickle water planet. The main difference, of course, is that water on the frigid Red Planet is rarely liquid, preferring to spend almost all of its time traveling the world as a gas or churning up the surface as ice. That's the global picture literally and figuratively coming into much sharper focus as various Mars-orbiting cameras send back tomes of unprecedented super high-resolution imagery of ever vaster tracts of the planet's surface.
Tuscon AZ (SPX) Oct 22, 2007 - The University of Arizona will open the new UA Mars Lounge, dedicated to its Phoenix Mars Mission, and unveil a large landing clock on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Student Union Memorial Center. The mission's principal investigator, Peter Smith, will unveil the clock in the Student Union rotunda. The lounge was designed to give students, faculty, staff and visitors a glimpse into what UA scientists have contributed to this first mission of NASA's Scout Mission Program through a collection of images and multimedia presentations.
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 18, 2007 - Is Mars dead, or is it only sleeping? The surface of Mars is completely hostile to life as we know it. Martian deserts are blasted by radiation from the sun and space. The air is so thin, cold, and dry, if liquid water were present on the surface, it would freeze and boil at the same time. But there is evidence, like vast, dried up riverbeds, that Mars once was a warm and wet world that could have supported life. Are the best times over, at least for life, on Mars?
Paris, France (ESA) Oct 17, 2007 - The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA's Mars Express orbiter has obtained pictures of the Noachis Terra region on Mars, in particular, the striking Maunder crater. The images were taken in orbits 2412 and 2467 on 29 November and 14 December 2005 respectively, with a ground resolution of approximately 15 metres per pixel. Maunder crater lies at 50 South and 2 East, approximately in the center of Noachis Terra. The sun illuminates the scene from the north-east (top left in the image).
Washington (AFP) Oct 16, 2007 - NASA Tuesday announced it was extending for the fifth time the mission of Mars space probes Spirit and Opportunity, in their indefatigable exploration of the Red planet.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Oct 12, 2007 - NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity finished the last step of a test in-and-out maneuver checking wheel slippage at the rim of Victoria Crater today. Then the rover immediately drove back into the crater as the start of a multi-week investigation on the big bowl's inner slope.
Tempe AZ (SPX) Oct 11, 2007 - The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has added a new dimension to its views of Mars. The dimension is color. The University of Arizona-based HiRISE team today released 143 color images valuable to researchers studying possible landing sites for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, a mission to deploy a long-distance rover carrying a deck of sophisticated science instruments on Mars in 2010.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 01, 2007 - Image taken by the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity reveal a stunning view of Victoria Crater below the deck at Duck Bay. Opportunity reached Victoria Crater on Sol 951 (September 27, 2006) after traversing 9.28 kilometers (5.77 miles) since her landing site at Eagle Crater. Victoria Crater is roughly 800 meters (one-half mile) wide -- about five times wider than Endurance Crater, and 40 times as wide as Eagle crater.
