Phoenix AZ (SPX) Sep 04, 2007 - Phoenix is on its way to Mars. The latest spacecraft in NASA's program of Mars exploration launched from Cape Canaveral on August 4 of this year, and is scheduled to land in the planet's northern polar region on May 25, 2008. Its findings will help scientists answer a critical question about the Red Planet: was it ever habitable?
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 31, 2007 - After six weeks of hunkering down during raging dust storms that limited solar power, both of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have resumed driving. Now the rovers are set to continue their mission, searching for signs of past water on Mars. Liquid water is essential for life as we know it, and therefore the history of water on Mars is vital in determining whether or not the planet could have supported life at some point in its history.
Tuscon AZ (SPX) Aug 30, 2007 - The High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) has confirmed that a dark pit seen on Mars in an earlier HiRISE image really is a vertical shaft that cuts through lava flow on the flank of the Arsia Mons volcano. Such pits form on similar volcanoes in Hawaii and are called pit craters.
Pasadean CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2007 - The mighty Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity continue to persevere in brutal conditions, as revealed in images of the sun they are sending home. The images show how opaque the Martian atmosphere has been in the face of a raging, two-month dust storm. To understand the gravity of the storm, engineers and astronomers monitor the situation by examining the images of the sun and measuring the amount of dust or the opacity of the atmosphere.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2007 - Mars rover scientists have launched a new long-term study on the Martian atmosphere with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, an instrument that was originally developed at the University of Chicago.
Giessen, Germany (SPX) Aug 29, 2007 - A new interpretation of data from NASA's Viking landers indicates that 0.1% of the Martian soil tested could have a biological origin. This new interpretation of results from NASA's 1976 Viking missions could have important implications for the search for life in our Solar System.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Aug 27, 2007 - Opportunity is healthy and remains perched near the rim of Victoria Crater. The rover was on a low-power schedule that alternated between a 3-sol plan and a 4-sol plan. Tau (atmospheric opacity) has begun to stabilize this week at around 3.7, resulting in solar array energy between 230-240 watt hours. Therefore in the upcoming week, the team will return to nominal planning.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 24, 2007 - After six weeks of hunkering down during raging dust storms that limited solar power, both of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have resumed driving. Opportunity advanced 13.38 meters (44 feet) toward the edge of Victoria Crater on Aug. 21. Mission controllers were taking advantage of gradual clearing of dust from the sky while also taking precautions against buildup of dust settling onto the rover.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 24, 2007 - Diagnostic tests and months of stable, successful operation have resolved concerns raised early this year about long-term prospects for the powerful telescopic camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the orbiter has now taken more than 3,000 images of Mars, resolving features as small as a desk in targeted areas covering thousands of square miles of the Martian surface.
Zhukovsky, Russia (RIA Novosti) Aug 23, 2007 - A simulated Mars mission, expected to be launched in Russia later this year, could be extended from 500 to 700 days, the head of the Russian Space Agency said Wednesday. Speaking at the MAKS-2007 air show outside Moscow, Anatoly Perminov said: There are proposals to extend the Mars-500 experiment at the Russian Institute of Medical and Biological Studies...probably to 700 days.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 22, 2007 - Even though the Martian sky above Gusev Crater continued to clear, solar power levels on NASA's Spirit rover remained fairly constant as dust settling from the atmosphere accumulated on top of the solar panels. Activities remained restricted. Measurements of atmospheric opacity, known as Tau, dropped from 3.6 on Martian day, or sol, 1283 (Aug. 12, 2007) to 3.3 on sol 1286 (Aug. 16, 2007), generating power levels of 301 watt-hours (100 watt-hours is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for one hour).
Huntsville AL (MSFC) Aug 22, 2007 - Earth and Mars are converging, and right now the distance between the two planets is shrinking at a rate of 22,000 mph--or about 25 miles per sentence. Ultimately, this will lead to a close approach in late December 2007 when Mars will outshine every star in the night sky. Of a similar encounter in the 19th century, astronomer Percival Lowell wrote the following: [Mars] blazes forth against the dark background of space with a splendor that outshines Sirius and rivals the giant Jupiter himself.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 17, 2007 - Spirit is healthy as the amount of dust hoisted into the atmosphere by recent wind storms has leveled off and solar energy levels have held steady at about 280 to 300 watt-hours of energy (100 watt-hours is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for one hour). Since the rover's 1,271st Martian day, or sol, of exploration (July 31, 2007), atmospheric opacity, a measurement known as Tau, has stabilized at about
Paris, France (ESF) Aug 12, 2007 - Earth's surface is a very active place; its plates are forever jiggling around, rearranging themselves into new configurations. Continents collide and mountains arise, oceans slide beneath continents and volcanoes spew. As far as we know Earth's restless surface is unique to the planets in our solar system. So what is it that keeps Earth's plates oiled and on the move?
Pasadena (SPX) Aug 12, 2007 - NASA has commanded the Phoenix Mars Lander to make the first and largest of six course corrections planned during the spacecraft's flight from Earth to Mars. Phoenix left Earth Aug. 4, bound for a challenging touchdown on May 25, 2008, at a site farther north than any previous Mars landing. It will robotically dig to underground ice and run laboratory tests assessing whether the site could ever have been hospitable to microbial life.
Tucson AZ (SPX) Aug 10, 2007 - The Phoenix Mars Lander launched on Saturday, August 4, beginning a journey to never-explored regions of the Red Planet to search for frozen water beneath the Martian surface. What it discovers will help scientists determine if Mars could support life. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. are working together with the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin Space Systems on Phoenix, the first project in NASA's Mars Scout Missions program.
