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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.

Sunning Frozen Soil Could Answer Martian Life Question

Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 24, 2006 - Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 24, 2006 The answer to the question about life on Mars may very well come from analyzing an unsuspecting source - the soil, specifically the icy layer of soil underneath the red planet's surface. By analyzing the properties of Mars frozen layer of soil during NASA's next lander mission, scientists will be able to better understand and theorize about life on Mars.

Jul 24, 2006

Chinese Scientists Conduct Life Support Research For Living On Mars

Beijing, China (XNA) Jul 24, 2006 - Scientists from several nations are conducting a ground-based experiment on life support systems so humans can explore space and one day live outside Earth's biosphere, perhaps on Mars or on the Moon.

Jul 24, 2006

Spirit Clears Away Dust And Loads New Software

Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 24, 2006 - Beginning July 22 in the early hours of its 907th Martian day, or sol, Spirit began knitting together and testing all 200 pieces of new flight software that mission controllers transmitted to the rover in recent weeks.

Jul 24, 2006

Beagle Crater Is Next Stop For Opportunity

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 21, 2006 - Opportunity is healthy and continued driving towards Beagle Crater, which is about 140 meters (459 feet) away as of sol 877 (July 12, 2006). The upload of the flight software files was completed on sol 876, and the flight software build process is currently planned for sols 879-881.

Jul 21, 2006

Spirit to Get New Robotic Capabilities as Martian Winter Turns to Spring

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 21, 2006 - This week Spirit greeted the 900th day, or sol, of exploration on Mars. Spirit is healthy and continues to make science observations despite winter power limitations. One file of a new software upgrade remains to be transmitted to the rover. Rover handlers plan to have Spirit start using the new software sometime in mid-August.

Jul 21, 2006

MIT Team Envisions Exploring Mars With Mini Probes

Cambridge MA (SPX) Jul 21, 2006 - MIT engineers and scientist colleagues have a new vision for the future of Mars exploration: a swarm of probes, each the size of a baseball, spreading out across the planet in every direction.

Jul 21, 2006

Mars Expeditions Pose Bone-Loss Risk

Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Jul 20, 2006 - Astronauts who travel in space are at risk for bone loss in much the same way as cancer patients who receive radiation therapy, and both groups are more likely to develop fractures than the general population.

Jul 20, 2006

NASA To Test Automated DAME

Washington DC (SPX) Jul 20, 2006 - NASA scientists plan to drill someday into the surface of Mars to look for water and signs of possible life. So, scientists are developing an automated, unmanned drill rig that can operate totally on its own, unsupervised for hours at a time.

Jul 20, 2006

NASA Marks 30th Anniversary Of Mars Viking Mission

Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 20, 2006 - Thirty years after the first successful landing on Mars by NASA's Viking spacecraft, the ambitious mission continues to evoke pride and enthusiasm for future space exploration.

Jul 20, 2006

Mars Mission Lasts Well Past Sell-By Date

Ithaca NY (SPX) Jul 18, 2006 - At this very moment, on an alien world millions of miles from Earth, two wheeled robots named Spirit and Opportunity are dutifully exploring Mars. But by all previous accounts, these Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) should have stopped functioning ages ago. After all, their warranty was only good for 90 days

Jul 18, 2006

Mars Opportunity Rover Getting Closer to Victoria Crater

Pasadena (SPX) Jul 13, 2006 - Opportunity is healthy. This week, Opportunity continued uplinking its new flight software load and driving toward Victoria Crater. Opportunity completed three more drives toward the large crater on sols 869 (July 4, 2006), 870 and 871. As of Sol 870, Opportunity is approximately 115 meters (377 feet) from Beagle Crater and about 600 meters (just over one-third of a mile) from Victoria Crater.

Jul 13, 2006

ESA Preparing Its Own Mars Rover

Paris, France (SPX) Jul 12, 2006 - As part of ESA's ambitious, long-term Aurora exploration program, ExoMars will search for traces of life on Mars. The mission requires entirely new technologies for self-controlled robots, built-in autonomy and cutting-edge visual terrain sensors.

Jul 12, 2006

Spirit Wintering But Work Continues

Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 11, 2006 - From its winter outpost at Low Ridge inside Gusev Crater, NASA's Spirit rover took this view of the nearby hilly, sandy terrain that includes two potential iron meteorites. The two light-colored, smooth rocks about two-thirds of the way up from the bottom of the frame have been labeled Zhong Shan and Allan Hills.

Jul 11, 2006

On Mars No One Can Hear You Scream

University Park PA (SPX) Jul 10, 2006 - It may be difficult for two people to have a conversation on Mars, according to a research paper by Amanda Hanford and Lyle Long of the aerospace engineering department at Penn State University.

Jul 10, 2006

Spirit Continues Work As Martian Days Grow Shorter

Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 10, 2006 - Spirit has been busy receiving new flight software upgrades, both directly from Earth via the rover's high-gain antenna and indirectly via relay from NASA's Odyssey spacecraft. Engineers anticipated that all flight software upgrades would be on board the rover by early in the week of July 10, 2006.

Jul 10, 2006

Spirit Copes With Decreasing Solar Energy

Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 07, 2006 - With electrical power from Spirit's solar array down to about 300 watt-hours per Martian day, or sol, the science team is able to plan only one major activity per sol and often needs to devote one sol to recharging the rover's batteries.

Jul 7, 2006