Pasadena CA (SPX) Jan 11, 2007 - NASA has formed an internal review board to look more in-depth into why NASA's Mars Global Surveyor went silent in November 2006 and recommend any processes or procedures that could increase safety for other spacecraft.
Boulder CO (SPX) Jan 10, 2007 - NASA has selected a team led by the University of Colorado at Boulder as one of two finalists for an orbiting space mission slated to launch in 2011 to probe the past climate of Mars, including its potential for harboring life over the eons. The team, led by CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, will receive $2 million from NASA for a nine-month Phase A study for the proposed Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or MAVEN.
Pullman WA (SPX) Jan 10, 2007 - We may already have 'met' Martian organisms, according to a paper presented Sunday (Jan. 7) at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle. Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University and Joop Houtkooper of Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany, argue that even as new missions to Mars seek evidence that the planet might once have supported life, we already have data showing that life exists there now-data from experiments done by the Viking Mars landers in the late 1970s.
Paris, France (SPX) Jan 09, 2007 - Using ESO's Very Large Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory, astronomers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland and the California Institute of Technology, USA, have discovered the first known triplet of quasars. This close trio of supermassive black holes lies about 10.5 billion light-years away towards the Virgo (The Virgin) constellation.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jan 09, 2007 - The dust storm season has apparently arrived at Gusev, causing delays in Spirit's fourth Earth year of exploring the Red Planet. Spirit spent most of the holiday season of 2006 and 2007 keeping an eye on the sky, measuring atmospheric dust that could prevent sunlight from reaching the rover's solar panels.
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 09, 2007 - On Monday, NASA selected for concept study development two proposals for future robotic missions to Mars. These missions would increase understanding of Mars' atmosphere, climate and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before. In addition, NASA also will fund a U.S. scientist to participate in a proposed European Mars mission as well as fund instrument technology studies that could lead to further contributions to future Mars missions.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jan 09, 2007 - Opportunity continued scientific studies of a rock called Santa Catarina on the rim of Victoria Crater. Scientists suspect that Santa Catarina may be a meteorite or a rock blasted out from beneath the surface of Victoria. Opportunity collected extensive measurements to determine the iron content of the rock using the Moessbauer spectrometer and will continue to do so during the coming week.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jan 04, 2007 - A sudden dust storm cut short Spirit's investigation of a volcanic rock and kicked enough dust into the Martian atmosphere to drive solar power levels to an all-time low. Spirit's team of scientists and engineers decided to move the rover to a spot where the solar panels would be tilted toward the sun to increase the amount of electrical power available.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jan 04, 2007 - Opportunity remains healthy after completing a drive to a cobble nicknamed Santa Catarina on the way to the Bay of Toil at Victoria Crater. During the holiday break on Earth, Opportunity completed a campaign of scientific study of a rock target called Rio De Janeiro before driving away on Sol 1039 (Dec. 26, 2006). Opportunity's next activity was to begin the drive around the Bay of Toil toward Cape Desire, the next promontory clockwise around Victoria's rim.
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jan 03, 2007 - Five volunteers have been selected for a simulated Mars mission, expected to be launched in Russia late next year, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency said Friday. The Russian Institute of Medical and Biological Studies has completed the selection of participants for the Mars-500 experiment, Igor Panarin said. There are five of them, all are male, and they come from Russia as well as other countries.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 29, 2006 - NASA's twin Mars rovers, nearing the third anniversary of their landings, are getting smarter as they get older. The unexpected longevity of Spirit and Opportunity is giving the space agency a chance to field-test on Mars some new capabilities useful both to these missions and future rovers. In addition to their continuing scientific observations, they are now testing four new skills that were included in revised flight software uploaded to the rovers' onboard computers.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 27, 2006 - Spirit is healthy and conducting scientific analysis of a rock target known as Palma. During the past week, Spirit tested some new software sequences, including a watch for dust devil command and an automatic placement command. On the rover's 1052nd Martian day, or sol, of exploring Mars (Dec. 18, 2006), Spirit ran part of the dust devil watch, acquiring six images during the process, but did not run the dust-devil detection part of the program. Rover handlers planned to rerun the test on sol 1058 (Dec. 24, 2006).
Paris, France (ESA) Dec 27, 2006 - Scientists are finding an older, craggier face of Mars buried beneath the surface, thanks to pioneering sounding radar co-sponsored by NASA aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft. Observations by the first project to explore a planet by sounding radar strongly suggest that ancient impact craters lie buried beneath the smooth, low plains of Mars' northern hemisphere. The technique uses echoes of waves that have penetrated below the surface.
Paris, France (ESA) Dec 20, 2006 - Early next year in the historic town of Edinburgh, ESA and BNSC are to hold a workshop to kick off the first in a series of consultations with key stakeholders. The aim is to define European long-term strategy for space exploration and set the scene for the decisions to be taken at the ESA Council meeting at ministerial level scheduled for 2008.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 20, 2006 - Opportunity is healthy and driving toward Bottomless Bay to gather data on whether this would be a suitable future entry point into Victoria Crater. The rover will continue traversing the crater rim and collecting images of the cliff walls. On Dec. 6, 2006, corresponding to the 1020th sol, or Martian day, of Opportunity's mission on the surface of Mars, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter entered safe mode, a protective state during which only those systems vital to the orbiter's health continue to operate.
Washnington DC (SPX) Dec 19, 2006 - After Spirit drove on sol 1041 (Dec. 7, 2006), NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter went into safe mode before the rover's could relay data to Earth about results of the drive. (Safe mode is a protective state during which only the systems essential to spacecraft health continue operating. This incident of Odyssey temporarily going into safe mode has been attributed to a burst of solar activity.)
