Moffett Field - Mar 12, 2004 - Since their arrivals on Mars, our two robotic wanderers have sent us incredible images and data from one of our nearest neighbors in the Solar System. The primary science objective of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) is to determine to what degree the past action of liquid water on Mars has influenced the Red Planet's environment over time.
Moffett Field - Mar 12, 2004 - Locally, Earth has its habitable extremes: Antarctica, the Sahara desert, the Dead Sea, Mount Etna. Globally, our blue planet is positioned in the solar system's habitable zone, or 'Goldilocks' region where the temperature and pressure are just right to support liquid water and life. Across the borders from this goldilocks zone orbit our two neighbors: the runaway greenhouse planet, Venus--which in goldilocks' terms is 'too hot'--and the frigid red planet, Mars, which is 'too cold'.
Pasadena (JPL) Mar 11, 2004 - NASA's Spirit has begun looking down into a crater it has been approaching for several weeks, providing a view of what's below the surrounding surface.
Pasadena (JPL) Mar 10, 2004 - On February 9, the wake up song for Opportunity was 'Slip Sliding Away' by Simon and Garfunkel in honor of the experience the prior day when Opportunity first tried to scoot up the crater slope at Meridiani Planum. The ambitious rover aimed for its target and willingly went forth up the slope; nevertheless, Opportunity slipped and slid in the sand, making it only half way to its target.
Moffett Field - Mar 10, 2004 - One milestone that humans are not liable to achieve in the near future is to smell another planet. It is a basic human curiousity to imagine what another world might smell like. Some senses are noticeably absent for today's space travelers, since harsh environments are unlikely to reveal themselves in sensaround. A spacesuit is a bubble with its own isolated sense experiences, much akin to a sensory isolation tank.
Palo Alto - Mar 10, 2004 - Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced that General Dynamics C4 Systems selected its system-development software to test communication equipment used in the Mars Exploration Rovers.
Pasadena - Mar 09, 2004 - Though the Viking Landers in the 1970s observed the shadow of one Mars' two moons, Phobos, moving across the landscape, and Mars Pathfinder in 1997 observed Phobos emerge at night from the shadow of Mars, no previous mission has ever directly observed a moon pass in front of the sun from the surface of another world.
Moffett Field - Mar 09, 2004 - On the heels of the announcement that the Opportunity site on Mars was 'soaked' in water some time in its distant past, the rover teams have identified candidates for trace water at the Gusev crater site.
Pasadena - Mar 08, 2004 - Like a rabbit in a hat, the identity of an oddity that looks like bunny ears in a picture from Mars has eluded the science and engineering teams. The public, also fascinated with the mysterious object, has asked in a slew of e-mails: What is it?
Pasadena - Mar 05, 2004 - NASA's Spirit has found hints of a water history in a rock at Mars' Gusev Crater, but it is a very different type of rock than those in which NASA's Opportunity found clues to a wet past on the opposite side of the planet.
Moffett Field - Mar 03, 2004 - NASA's Opportunity rover has found convincing evidence that large quantities of water were once present in at least one location on Mars. The rocks here were once soaked in liquid water, said Steve Squyres, principle investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, referring to the bedrock outcrop near the rover's landing site in Meridiani Planum.
Washington (AFP) Mar 2, 2004 - Water once drenched parts of the planet Mars and conditions may have existed for life as we know it, the US space agency announced Tuesday. NASA associate administrator Ed Weiler told reporters the robotic probe Opportunity has landed in an area of Mars where liquid water once drenched the surface. Moreover, this area would have been a good habitable environment for some period of time.
Washington (UPI) Mar 02, 2004 - NASA's $820 million investment in Mars rovers paid off Tuesday as scientists reported the latest data from the Opportunity rover shows liquid water once drenched the surface of the red planet.
Washington - Mar 02, 2004 - Scientists have concluded the part of Mars that NASA's Opportunity rover is exploring was soaking wet in the past. Evidence the rover found in a rock outcrop led scientists to the conclusion. Clues from the rocks' composition, such as the presence of sulfates, and the rocks' physical appearance, such as niches where crystals grew, helped make the case for a watery history.
Pasadena - Mar 01, 2004 - Even before Spirit set foot on martian soil, she was returning stunning images of her new surroundings. And, with her first triumphant roll off the lander, she set out to accomplish lofty science goals. What she left in her wake makes for great bonus science too.
Paris (ESA) Mar 01, 2004 - It is the start of eclipse season for Mars Express. That means unavoidable passages of the spacecraft through the shadow of Mars, cutting it off from the sunlight that is converted into electrical power by the orbiter's solar arrays.
