The new frontier of exploration.

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.

Atmospheric Study Shows Similarities In Solar Effects On Earth And Mars

Laurel MD (SPX) May 30, 2006 - Despite differences in the chemical compositions and densities of Earth's and Mars' atmospheres, we now have a definitive example showing that both planets' atmospheres react similarly to varying levels of solar energy impacting them during the sun's 25-day rotation, says Elsayed Talaat, a space scientist with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md.

May 30, 2006

Two APL-built Instruments Observe Recent Total Solar Eclipse

Laurel MD (SPX) May 30, 2006 - Space scientists from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md., got a first-hand look at what happens to Earth's atmosphere when the sun was abruptly turned off during the March 29, 2006, total solar eclipse.

May 30, 2006

Spirit Continues Studies of Martian Winter Haven

Pasadena CA (JPL) May 30, 2006 - Spirit continued to collect images for the 360-degree panorama, now under construction, of the rover's Winter Haven on Mars. Rover planners anticipated that by the end of the Memorial Day weekend, Spirit would complete 15 of the 27 columns for the final product.

May 30, 2006

Checking Out Cheyenne And Testing Relay For Phoenix

Pasadena CA (SPX) May 26, 2006 - Opportunity Status for sol 818-824 Opportunity is healthy and continuing to make its way toward Victoria Crater. Opportunity made 108 meters (354 feet) of progress in two sols of driving and was approximately 1,000 meters (just over half a mile) from Victoria Crater at the end of Sol 823.

May 26, 2006

Mars Express Spots Lava Tubes On Pavonis Mons

Paris, France (SPX) May 23, 2006 - This image, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board ESA's Mars Express, shows Pavonis Mons, the central volcano of the three shield volcanoes that comprise Tharsis Montes.

May 23, 2006

Spirit Continues Winter Studies Of Soil, Sky And Terrain

Pasadena CA (SPX) May 21, 2006 - Spirit is healthy and making progress on a winter science campaign of experiments in Gusev Crater on Mars. Spirit has completed the first phase of a layer-by-layer soil study by collecting a mosaic of images with the microscopic imager and analyzing composition of undisturbed soil with the Moessbauer and alpha particle X-ray spectrometers.

May 21, 2006

Opportunity Sees Cobbles Between The Ripples

Pasadena CA (SPX) May 21, 2006 - As Opportunity continues to traverse from Erebus Crater toward Victoria Crater, NASA's rover is navigating along exposures of bedrock between large, wind-blown ripples.

May 21, 2006

Spirit Continues To Compile Panoramic Image

Pasadena CA (SPX) May 18, 2006 - The latest report on NASA's Spirit rover shows it continuing to make progress on collecting images as part of its McMurdo panorama, as well as conducting detailed studies of soil targets on its wintering slope using the Mössbauer spectrometer.

May 18, 2006

Opportunity Presses On Toward Victoria

Pasadena CA (SPX) May 18, 2006 - NASA's Opportunity rover has driven about 200 more meters (656 feet) to put itself within about 1,100 meters (two-thirds of a mile) of Victoria Crater, its next destination on the Meridiani Planum. As of Martian sol 822, or 732 sols past its expected operational lifetime, the rover still has shown no major mechanical or technical difficulties.

May 18, 2006

Spirit Takes A Winter Break From Travels But Remains Busy

Pasadena CA (SPX) May 08, 2006 - As Spirit began collecting images for its 360-degree McMurdo panorama last month, the rover captured this view of a dark boulder with an interesting surface texture.

May 8, 2006

Mars Drilling Tests Will Seek Knowledge And Resources

Houston TX (SPX) May 08, 2006 - Geologists, biologists and archaeologists for years have used core samples to look back in time, tunneling through layers of soil and stone to study history. NASA engineers are taking this veteran technique into the future with a design that can bore into other planets using just a light bulb's worth of power.

May 8, 2006

Opportunity Within Sight Of Victoria

Pasadena CA (SPX) May 08, 2006 - NASA engineers have been unsure whether Opportunity would make it as far as Victoria Crater, but mission scientists nevertheless have been hoping for the chance to study such a large Martian feature.

May 8, 2006

Wildblue Helps Advance Mission To Planet Red

Washington DC (SPX) May 02, 2006 - Mars is a dark and cold place named after a god of war. The red planet's hostile surface has yielded tantalizing clues suggesting the presence of life, either now or in some ancient time. As Earthmen plan a possible visit to Mars, they can be certain of one thing: there will not be any DSL or cable modem service.

May 2, 2006

Spirit Looks Back Up Husband Hill

Pasadena CA (SPX) May 02, 2006 - This field of sand ripples now separates Spirit from the slopes of Husband Hill, where NASA's rover will spend the Martin winter. It has been 200 sols, or Martian days, since Spirit started its descent from the top of the peak to its current position on a formation that mission scientists have named Low Ridge.

May 2, 2006

Opportunity Encounters Rolling Ripples

Pasadena CA (SPX) May 02, 2006 - NASA's Mars rover Opportunity continues to cut southward across a plain marked by large sand ripples and a pavement of outcrop rock.

May 2, 2006

Opportunity Passes 800 Sols On Mars

Pasadena CA (SPX) May 1, 2006 - Opportunity has passed 800 sols, or Martian days, of operations on the red planet, meaning the golf-cart-sized rover has functioned continuously nearly nine times longer than its initial mission design.

May 1, 2006