Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 15, 2005 - NASA's Mars rover Opportunity managed to extend its robotic arm Tuesday and touch a rock outcrop in the Erebus Crater location with one of its scientific instruments, overcoming a shoulder joint motor problem that had prevented use of the arm since November 25.
Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Dec 14, 2005 - The European Space Agency announced Monday support of a new program that will include development of an instrument for testing deep soil samples on Mars in a European mission called ExoMars. A researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara will direct the development of the instrument.
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 14, 2005 - The Mars Journal, a new peer-reviewed online open-access scholarly journal, has published its first two papers. The first paper is a 4-page editorial entitled The Mars Journal by David A. Paige of the Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences, UCLA, and Chief Editor of The Mars Journal.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 14, 2005 - This week Spirit drove to an outcrop area informally named Algonquin. On sol 685, Spirit successfully drove for 15 meters (49 feet) and prepared for a series of robotic-arm activities planned for sol 687 to 690 at Algonquin. Plans are to proceed downhill to Comanche after that.
Pasadena CA (JPL) dDec 14, 2005 - Seemingly touched with a load of luck from the giddy-up, Opportunity has been galloping since she strutted off of her lander, some 670 sols ago. A mission planned for 90 days has turned into an adventure that's lasted nearly two Earth years!
Ithica NY (SPX) Dec 13, 2005 - It's been so long since I've written one of these that even my father is starting to complain... so Dad, this one's for you. :)
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 13, 2005 - Opportunity is currently parked at Erebus Crater, where it has continued remote-sensing science while the team made progress in diagnosing why a motor in the robotic arm stalled on sol 654.
Berkeley CA (SPX) Dec 13, 2005 - Auroras similar to Earth's Northern Lights appear to be common on Mars, according to physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, who have analyzed six years' worth of data from the Mars Global Surveyor.
Tempe AZ (SPX) Dec 13, 2005 - On January 24, 2004 - one Mars year ago - NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity arrived at Mars. After a tense, high-speed entry and descent, the rover, tightly cocooned in airbags, bounced and rolled to a stop inside tiny Eagle Crater on Mars' Meridiani Planum. The landing, which made an interplanetary hole-in-one, was flawless.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 12, 2005 - Blood red and notoriously treacherous, the planet Mars is tantalizingly close to Earth yet infamously difficult to explore. Historically, only one in three missions to Mars has managed to reach the planet. For decades, the poor odds of successfully exploring Mars severely limited our ability to learn about our nearest planetary neighbor.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 09, 2005 - This chart illustrates the variation in available solar power for each of NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers over the course of approximately two Mars years. Two factors affect the amount of available power: the tilt of Mars' axis and the eccentricity of the Mars' orbit about the sun.
Noordwijk, Netherlands (ESA) Dec 09, 2005 - When the first female astronauts set foot on Mars, they may spare a thought for the 24 women who paved the way for lengthy space trips by giving three months of their lives to space science, two months of which involved staying in bed.
Swindon UK (SPX) Dec 07, 2005 - UK scientists are returning to Mars with the news that the UK is to be a major player in the first phase of the European Space Agency's robotic space exploration programme Aurora, which will set the agenda for Europe's robotic exploration of space for the next 10 years.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 07, 2005 - NASA's Opportunity has developed a bad shoulder, and is currently unable to deploy and extend its vital robotic arm, that carries four of the rover's six scientific instruments.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 06, 2005 - NASA's durable twin Mars rovers have successfully explored the surface of the mysterious red planet for a full Martian year (687 Earth days). Opportunity starts its second Martian year Dec. 11; Spirit started a new year three weeks ago. The rovers' original mission was scheduled for only three months.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 06, 2005 - Life may have had a tough time getting started in the ancient environment that left its mark in the Martian rock layers examined by NASA's Opportunity rover. The most thorough analysis yet of the rover's discoveries reveals the challenges life may have faced in the harsh Martian environment.
