Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 19, 2006 - Spirit is healthy and is driving as efficiently as possible toward Home Plate. On the way to Home Plate, Spirit stopped to look at Arad, where scientists encountered a cluster of white, powdery soil. Researchers decided to stop for a few days and use the robotic arm to conduct some measurements on it. Results are expected soon.
Ithaca NY (SPX) Jan 16, 2006 - Good stuff is happening on both sides of the planet. At Meridiani, the main source of excitement continues to be the festoons. The low-light imaging we've been doing is great for bringing this stuff out, and we've come to realize that it's present in a whole lot of the rocks around us.
Moffett Field - Feb. 26, 2001 - An international team of researchers has discovered compelling evidence that the magnetite crystals in the martian meteorite ALH84001 are of biological origin.
Melbourne - Oct. 19, 2000 - A few paradoxes remain about this new Mars. Chief amongst these is the Carbonate Paradox. Basic chemistry requires that if Mars had liquid water at surface for any reasonable period of time, then rapid chemical reactions between the atmospheric CO2 dissolved in the water, and the rocks of Mars, would produce copious quantities of carbonate rock. The process should be so efficient that almost no CO2 should remain, and thick deposits of carbonates should fill all the lake and ocean beds of Mars.
Cameron Park - Sept. 19, 2000 - As outlined in the first two parts of this series, there is now a general consensus among Mars researchers that the U.S. Mars program must be redesigned to emphasize careful scientific reconnaissance of the planet in order to find the best possible sites on (or under) its surface to look for evidence of either fossil or extant (present-day) life.
Pasadena (PAO) August 17, 2001 - One answer to roving across the surface of Mars may be blowing in the wind. Literally.
Moffett Field - Jan. 8, 2001 - Mars may once have been a very wet place. A host of clues remain from an earlier era, billions of years ago, hinting that the Red Planet was host to great rivers, lakes and perhaps even an ocean. But some of the clues are contradictory -- they don't all fit together in a coherent whole. Little wonder, then, that the fate of water on Mars is such a hotly debated topic.
Pasadena - Sol 6-A, 2004 - Although it will be several more days, perhaps as much as a week, before Spirit engineers certify that the rover is ready to leave the safety of its landing platform and go exploring, scientists have already begun to make a list of places they'd like to visit. A cluster of distant hills to the east are high on their list.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 9, 2006 - This image (shown) from the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the best examples yet seen in Meridiani Planum outcrop rocks of well-preserved, fine-scale layering and what geologists call cross-lamination.
Fayetteville - Dec. 12, 2000 - University of Arkansas School of Architecture researchers and students, in cooperation with NASA, have developed concepts for long-term habitation of Mars in response to the Mars Reference Mission, developed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Houston - Feb. 26, 2001 - Researchers who stunned the world in 1996 with the announcement that a Martian meteorite contained evidence of ancient life on the red planet have released new evidence that strengthens their original hypothesis and allays many of the criticisms leveled at the first paper.
by Astrobiology Magazine - Why do we have such a longstanding fascination with Mars? Very simply put, it's about life. The search for life elsewhere in our solar system has been a major driver for exploring Mars, pretty much since we began seriously looking at that planet.
Paris (ESA) Jul 18, 2003 - A unique view of our home planet and its natural satellite -- the Moon -- is one of the first data sets coming from ESA's Mars Express. It is very good news for the mission, says ESA's Mars Express Project Scientist, Agustin Chicarro. These and other data, such as those recording the major constituents of Earth as seen from space, are the actual proof that the instruments on board Mars Express, launched 2 June 2003, are working perfectly.
by Jennifer Laing - Mars Society Australia announced today that an Australian scientific team will travel to outback South Australia and the Northern Territory on October 27 to examine suitable sites for a Mars analogue research facility.
The vibrating eyes of jumping spiders have inspired a new breed of vision sensors that could give the next generation of Mars rovers sharper eyesight, say researchers in California.
Los Angeles - Sept. 19, 2000 - Since March 1999 the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter aboard the MGS spacecraft has been sending back data on the topology of Mars. NASA kindly made the data available and in March of this year I started downloading it to create my own 3D model of Mars.
