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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.

NASA Orbiter Reveals New Details Of Mars Both Young And Old

Pasadena CA (SPX) Oct 17, 2006 - During its first week of observations from low orbit, NASA's newest Mars spacecraft is already revealing new clues about both recent and ancient environments on the red planet. Scientists hope the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will answer questions about the history and distribution of Mars' water by combining data from the orbiter's high-resolution camera, imaging spectrometer, context camera, ground-penetrating radar, atmospheric sounder, global color camera, radio and accelerometers.

Oct 17, 2006

Spirit Studies Layers of Volcanic Rock

Spirit is healthy and continues to make progress on a winter science campaign of experiments.

Oct 16, 2006

Human Mars Missions Face Unsolved Technical Challenges

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 10, 2006 - In two new papers published in Mars, The International Journal of Mars Science and Exploration (The Mars Journal), Donald Rapp reviews the current state of our understanding of life support and radiation safety for human missions to Mars.

Oct 10, 2006

Opportunity Set To Clock Up Six Miles On Mars

Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 10, 2006 - NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity reached the rim of Victoria Crater on Sept. 27, 2006, during the 951st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work in the Meridian Planum region of Mars. Opportunity drove 9.28 kilometers (5.77 miles) in the explorations that took it from Eagle Crater, where it landed in January 2004, eastward to Endurance Crater, which it investigated for about half of 2004, then southward to Victoria.

Oct 10, 2006

Galaxy Gardening More Than Hobby For Future Moon And Mars Residents

College Station TX (SPX) Oct 06, 2006 - Long periods of total darkness and poor soil needn't stop an avid gardener - at least not one who's willing to go out of this world to grow plants. Lush lettuce is growing by galactic measure in cylinders designed by Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers to mimic conditions on the moon and Mars.

Oct 6, 2006

NASA Spots Opportunity In Stunning MRO Image Of Victoria Crater

Pasanea CA (JPL) Oct 06, 2006 - NASA's long-lived robotic rover Opportunity is beginning to explore layered rocks in cliffs ringing the massive Victoria crater on Mars. While Opportunity spent its first week at the crater, NASA's newest eye in the Martian sky photographed the rover and its surroundings from above. The level of detail in the photo from the high-resolution camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will help guide the rover's exploration of Victoria.

Oct 6, 2006

NASA Announces Public Meeting For Proposed Mars Mission

Pasadena CA (SPX) Oct 05, 2006 - NASA officials will be available Tuesday, Oct. 10, from 1 to 4 p.m. EDT to exchange information and receive public comments about the recently released Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Mars Science Laboratory mission. The meeting will be at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, Congressional 'A' Conference Room, 400 New Jersey Ave NW, Washington.

Oct 5, 2006

Opportunity’s View At The Rim Of Victoria: ‘Just Breathtaking’

Cornell NY (SPX) Oct 03, 2006 - NASA's Mars rover Opportunity has rolled up to the rim of Victoria crater after a 21-month trek across the vast expanse known as Meridiani Planum. And 250 million miles away on Earth, the view -- according to astronomer, geologist and mission principal investigator Steve Squyres -- is just breathtaking ... the most spectacular thing we've seen.

Oct 3, 2006

APL-Built Mineral-Mapping Imager Begins Mission At Mars

Laurel MD (SPX) Oct 02, 2006 - The most powerful mineral-mapper ever sent to Mars has opened its protective cover and is about to begin its search for hints of past water on the red planet. The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., is one of six science instruments aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Oct 2, 2006

Victoria Crater Marks Giant Cake For 1000 Sols On Mars

Pasadena CA (SPX) Oct 02, 2006 - On Mars, over the next few weeks, two robotic explorers will reach 1000 sols a piece. At a real cost that's now under $350,000 a day, the 2004 Mars Rovers have been an engineering and scientific triumph beyond all expectation. And crowning the success of the missions has been the arrival of Opportunity at the rim of Victoria Crater, and the awakening of Spirit from it's long sebatical during the Martian winter.

Oct 2, 2006

Spirit Powers Up As A Second Summer Beckons

Solar power levels on Spirit are slowly beginning to rise again following a winter low of 275 watt-hours on Martian day, or sol, 933 (Aug.

Oct 2, 2006

NASA Mars Rover Arrives At Dramatic Vista On Red Planet

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 28, 2006 - NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has arrived at the rim of a crater approximately five times wider than a previous stadium-sized one it studied for half a year. Initial images from the rover's first overlook after a 21-month journey to Victoria Crater show rugged walls with layers of exposed rock and a floor blanketed with dunes. The far wall is approximately one-half mile from the rover.

Sep 28, 2006

HiRISE Camera Will Take First Close-Up Pictures Of Mars On Sept 29

Tucson AZ (SPX) Sep 27, 2006 - The most powerful camera ever to orbit Mars will get its first close look at the Red Planet on Friday. The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera flying aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will relay its first low-altitude images to scientists at The University of Arizona beginning Sept. 29.

Sep 27, 2006

Mars Express Successfully Powers Through Eclipse Season

Paris (ESA) Sep 27, 2006 - The Mars Express spacecraft has emerged from an unusually demanding eclipse season introducing a special, ultra-low-power mode nicknamed 'Sumo' - an innovative configuration aimed at saving the power necessary to ensure spacecraft survival. This mode was developed through tight teamwork between ESOC mission controllers, principal investigators, industry and mission management.

Sep 27, 2006

European Planetary Scientists Highlight Sample Return As Key Priority

Paris (SPX) Sep 26, 2006 - Bringing samples back to Earth has been highlighted as a key priority for future planetary missions in discussion meetings held at the first European Planetary Science Congress in Berlin. Prof. Bernard Foing, Project Scientist for the SMART-1 mission, said, Europe has now looked at the Moon, Mars and Venus and we have put our finger on Titan.

Sep 26, 2006

Spirit Activates New Software

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 26, 2006 - Following some dramatic scrambling by rover handlers to command both Mars Exploration Rovers to switch to new flight software during a bit of a traffic jam at the Red Planet, Spirit successfully woke up and began operating with the new software. The X-band frequency for communicating directly with Earth had become unavailable while being used by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during critical events for that mission.

Sep 26, 2006