Pasadena (JPL) Feb 06, 2004 - NASA's Spirit has returned to full health and resumed doing things never attempted on Mars before. Our patient is healed, and we're very excited about that, said Jennifer Trosper of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., mission manager for Spirit.
Pasadena - Jan 29, 2004 - The first impression of the Opportunity landing site in color is the light, exposed area about ten meters from the rover's location inside a crater. The region has by now accumulated a plethora of adjectives and names: bizarre, alien, hummocky, layered, crater-rim, outcrop, stratigraphic slice, tabular, segmented, slabby.
Pasadena - Jan 29, 2004 - The current generation of Mars missions has adopted the theme, Follow the Water, as a quest to understand the complex geological history of a planet that may have had significant reserves once. For that much warmer and wetter Mars, this motto also requires other ingredients for microbial life, including primordial fire in the form of biological temperature ranges.
"Opportunity has now sent us the most striking image yet obtained by the Mars Exploration Rover mission," said Steve Squyres today.
Pasadena - Jan 27, 2004 - On January 14, President George Bush gave a speech at NASA headquarters outlining a new strategic orientation for the American space agency. While some of the initial ideas for implementing the new space policy can and should be substantially improved upon, the policy overall clearly represents a significant and long-overdue step in the right direction for the American space program. The Steering Committee of the Mars Society therefore welcomes the new policy as presented in Presidential Directive entitled A Renewed Spirit of Discovery, and strongly urges Congress to provide the funds requested for the initial steps requested for the program over the next fiscal year.
Pasadena (JPL) Jan 27, 2004 - During the second day on Mars for NASA's Opportunity rover, key science instruments passed health tests and the rover made important steps in communicating directly with Earth.
Woodland Hills - Jan 27, 2004 - The successful landing of two NASA Mars Exploration Rovers this month was supported by a key navigational component produced by Northrop Grumman Corporation's Navigation Systems Division.
Pasadena (JPL) Jan 27, 2004 - Believe it or not, some of the scientists on the Mars Exploration Rover Science team don't really care too much about rocks - or for that matter anything on the surface of Mars. They have higher ambitions. Their passion lies in the skies - the martian skies - and, from the hazy glow of the atmosphere, they pull precious pieces of information.
Pasadena (JPL) Jan 27, 2004 - Busy as she has been with work, JPL's Dr. Joy Crisp, project scientist for the Mars Exploration Rover Project, found time a few weeks ago to do a little shopping. The new necklace she bought is a simple string of dark grey beads and wasn't expensive. What makes it significant is that it is made of specular hematite, which for Mars scientists like Crisp may prove to be more special than diamonds.
Pasadena (AFP) Jan 26, 2004 - Thrilled NASA scientists received the first color pictures of the Martian surface from the rover Opportunity on Monday, as engineers worked feverishly to bring its ailing twin Spirit back to health.
Pasadena (AFP) Jan 25, 2004 - Opportunity, the second of two roving US Mars probes, transmitted its first images of the Martian surface Sunday as NASA scientists tried to resurrect its crippled twin.
Pasadena (AFP) Jan 25, 2004 - Opportunity, the second of two NASA rovers, is scheduled to land on Mars early Sunday as its troubled but recovering twin, Spirit, was upgraded by NASA from critical to serious.
Washington - Jan 23, 2004 - The US space agency NASA received a transmission on Friday from the troubled Mars rover Spirit, the first in two days, but the spacecraft is in a critical state and may not recover fully, officials said.
Moffett Field - Jan 21, 2004 - With Spirit on the ground and Opportunity speeding toward Mars, more than three hundred scientists and engineers here on Earth are learning on the job how to act in unison and master the art of commanding two very complex robots to do science on another world.
Pasadena - Jan 21, 2004 - There was nothing unlucky about the thirteenth day on Mars. Rover scientists got their first chance to stretch Spirit's tool-carrying arm, while taking the highest resolution image ever on another planet.
Pasadena - Jan 21, 2004 - I started my career [studying] lunar samples, said Dr. Dave Des Marais, who is from NASA's Ames Research Center and lead scientist for the Spirit rover's long-range planning group. So this is a repeat of that rewarding experience...Beyond the challenge of adjusting in the first week, the big challenges are in dealing with the outside world, being careful when calling people. We all wear two watches on our wrist--one for Mars' time, the other for Earth. [For science, the challenge] is not to be hostage to having learned geology on Earth.
