Moffett Field CA (SPX) Aug 09, 2005 - The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, set to launch on August 10, will search for evidence that liquid water once persisted on the surface of Mars. This orbiter also will provide detailed surveys of the planet, identifying any obstacles that could jeopardize the safety of future landers and rovers.
Huntsville AL (SPX) Aug 08, 2005 - Anxiety can be a good thing. It alerts you that something may be wrong, that danger may be close. It helps initiate signals that get you ready to act. But, while an occasional bit of anxiety can save your life, constant anxiety causes great harm.
It'll have to be a quick one this week. Spirit is just wrapping up work in the Voltaire region.
Paris (ESA) Aug 08, 2005 - Marsis, the sounding radar onboard ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, is collecting the first data about the surface and ionosphere of Mars.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 03, 2005 - A lot of the action was here on Earth last week. The science team for this mission has been together for about a decade, and during the first eight months after we landed we were all living and working together in Pasadena.
Mars (SPX) Aug 02, 2005 - Opportunity continued its trek south toward Erebus Crater, making 61 meters (200 feet) of progress over two sols of driving. The rover is approaching greater quantities of outcrop as it heads south, and the team is excited at the possibility of using the robotic arm before reaching Erebus.
Paris, France (ESA) Jul 29, 2005 - These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA¿s Mars Express spacecraft, show a patch of water ice sitting on the floor of an unnamed crater near the Martian north pole.
Sydney (AFP) Jul 28, 2005 - Australian scientists are planning to build a space station in the remote outback to simulate the conditions future human explorers could face on Mars. Mars Society Australia says the station will be the final step in a worldwide experiment which has seen similar projects set up in the Canadian Arctic, the Utah desert and Iceland.
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jul 26, 2005 - In trying to understand the Mars-shaking news about methane on the Red Planet, astrobiologists look, as usual, to the home planet for instruction. The 1700 parts per billion (ppb) of methane in Earth's atmosphere is almost entirely produced by biology. Less than 1 percent comes from non-biological (abiogenic) processes, such as volcanism.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 26, 2005 - The Opportunity team's current strategy for driving alternates segments of using visual odometry to check for slippage with segments of blind driving for less than 5 meters (16 feet). The strategy and hard work designing and commanding drives through troughs between ripples contributed to the rover making 89 meters (292 feet) of progress over three drive plans.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 22, 2005 - Spirit has had a pretty remarkable week. Back when we were climbing the lower reaches of Husband Hill, getting anywhere was a real struggle. The terrain wasn't all that steep, but the soil was very loose and slippery. Five meters of forward progress was a good day, and some days it was less than that as we slipped and slid and clawed our way up the slope.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 21, 2005 - NASA's next mission to Mars will examine it in unprecedented detail from low orbit. It will provide more data about that intriguing planet than all previous missions combined. Launch opportunities begin Aug. 10 for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The orbiter and its launch vehicle are nearing final stages of preparation at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jul 21, 2005 - Mars is the planet that refuses to say die. In 1996, after centuries of speculation about canals, icecaps and vegetation, NASA's David McKay reported seeing traces of ancient bacteria in a meteorite from Mars. Scientists have debated this finding ever since, and many now believe that the intriguing traces are probably not of biological origin.
Paris (ESA) Jul 19, 2005 - Germany has joined the Preparatory Phase of the European Space Exploration Programme Aurora. It thus becomes the twelfth country participating in the programme (*), which allows scientists and industrial companies from Germany to participate in the Aurora Programme.
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 19, 2005 - The current mean temperature on the equator of Mars is a blustery 69 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Scientists have long thought that the Red Planet was once temperate enough for water to have existed on the surface, and for life to possibly have evolved. But a new study by Caltech and MIT scientists gives this idea the cold shoulder.
Paris, France (ESA) Jul 18, 2005 - These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, show Nicholson Crater, located at the southern edge of Amazonis Planitia on Mars.
