Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 14, 2005 - Opportunity is in good health after more than a year on the martian surface. The rover completed its investigation of a trench and soil materials on sol 373 and is ready for a software patch, which will be uploaded over next few sols.
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Feb 14, 2005 - The National Research Council was tasked with evaluating the risks of landing humans safely to work on Mars. Their report highlights a number of unique aspects in transit to the red planet, as well as once humans step out onto the surface.
The European Space Agency has given the green light for the MARSIS radar on board its Mars Express spacecraft to be deployed during the first week of May.
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Feb 09, 2005 - The National Research Council was tasked with evaluating the risks of landing humans safely to work on Mars. Their report highlights a number of unique aspects in transit to the red planet, as well as once humans step out onto the surface.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 09, 2005 - Spirit has completed examination of a rock target called Alligator, using every tool on the instrument deployment device (robotic arm). With Spirit's batteries recharged and atmospheric dust stable again, the rover is in excellent health and ready to approach Cumberland Ridge, a crest on Husband Hill.
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Feb 08, 2005 - Mars is often enveloped by planet-wide dust storms - their biting winds choke the air and scour the arid surface. Tornado-like dust devils dance across the planet so frequently that their numerous tracks crisscross each other, tracing convoluted designs in the red soil.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 07, 2005 - Opportunity continues to be active and healthy, making good progress south across the Meridiani plains with a few hiccups along the way. Despite the early end of one autonomous traverse and a Deep Space Network problem that precluded sending commands on sol 364, the rover covered more than 300 meters (984 feet) in the past week, breaking its own one-sol distance records twice! Having scuffed and trenched in the sands of the plain, Opportunity is now examining the trench and nearby soil targets.
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Feb 04, 2005 - Injecting synthetic super greenhouse gases into the Martian atmosphere could raise the planet's temperature enough to melt its polar ice caps and create conditions suitable for sustaining biological life.
London (UPI) Feb 03, 2005 - Investigators have concluded the Beagle 2 Mars probe should never have been given the go-ahead by the European Space Agency, BBC News Online reported Thursday.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 03, 2005 - Spirit had another productive week in the locale of a target called Peace. Because of strong interest in the unusual character of Peace, the team decided to throw the full science instrument payload at the rock.
Imagine this scenario. The year is 2030 or thereabouts. After voyaging six months from Earth, you and several other astronauts are the first humans on Mars.
Paris (ESA) Feb 01, 2005 - We detected light emissions in the nightside Martian atmosphere with the SPICAM ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer on board Mars Express. The UV spectrum of this nightglow is composed of hydrogen Lyman a emission (121.6 nanometres) and the g and d bands of nitric oxide (NO) (190 to 270 nanometres) produced when N and O atoms combine to produce the NO molecule.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 01, 2005 - Since landing on Mars a year ago, NASA's pair of six-wheeled geologists have been constantly exposed to martian winds and dust. Because the rovers use solar power and sunlight is currently limited on Mars, the rovers can only cover from 50 to 100 feet on a good day.
Moffet Field CA (SPX) Jan 31, 2005 - Jean-Loup Bertaux, of the Service d'Aeronomie du CNRS in France, is Principal Investigator for the spectrometer instrument onboard the ESA's Mars Express orbiter. His SPICAM instrument team detected a night glow on Mars, and they have now published their discovery in the January 28th edition of the journal Science. He sat down with Astrobiology Magazine editor Leslie Mullen to discuss this new finding, and describe how it could aid future missions to Mars.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 31, 2005 - After spending 25 sols at the heat shield and nearby meteorite, Opportunity has completed its investigation of both and has started a long migration south. The rover is currently heading for a small crater called Argo.
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 26, 2005 - Every 26 months, the Solar System's planetary dance brings Mars and Earth closer than usual, providing an ideal chance to launch a mission to the Red Planet. In 2001, NASA's Mars Odyssey launched to study its climate. Two years later, twin Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity began a mission that confirmed water once existed on Mars.
