Washington - Mar 13, 2002 - Scientists have provided new evidence that liquid carbon dioxide, not running water, may have been the primary cause of erosional features such as gullies, valley networks, and channels that cover the surface of Mars.
Hanksville - Mar 13, 2002 - The third crew rotation of the Mars Desert Research Station has begun. The rotation, which started March 10, will run through March 24. During this time, the crew will continue the MDRS's program of sustained field exploration of the Utah desert while operating under many of the same constraints that a human crew would in an expedition to Mars. The purpose of this work is to learn how to explore on the Red Planet.
Sudbury - Mar 7, 2002 - The Northern Centre for Advanced Technology Inc. (NORCAT) today demonstrated Canadian drilling technology that could be used in a future mission to collect samples on Mars.
Hanksville - Mar 6, 2002 - The tour of duty for the second crew of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is coming to a close, formally ending on March 7th, 2002. The past two weeks of activities has marked an exciting, stimulating, and at times challenging environment for everyone here.
Los Alamos - March 1, 2002 - Scientists today unveiled maps that detail the location of hydrogen, that may indicate water-ice, just below Mars' surface. The maps are based on data from a neutron spectrometer built at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory and flown aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey now in orbit around the Red planet. The data are supported by simultaneous measurements made using the Mars Odyssey's gamma-ray spectrometer.
Hanksville - Feb 25, 2002 - The first operational crew rotation of the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) has been successfully completed. The MDRS went operational on Feb 7 with a crew of 6. For the past two weeks, the station's crew has been conducting a systematic program of exploration of the surrounding desert, while operating under many of the same constraints as an actual Mars crew.
Tucson - Feb 20, 2002 - Not only lava, but water has recently flooded from fissures near Mars' equator, University of Arizona scientists have discovered. And they're not talking about a trickle. They're talking possibly 600 cubic kilometers of water. That's one and a quarter times as much water as in Lake Erie, four times as much water as in Lake Tahoe, and 65 times as much water as in California's Salton Sea.
Pasadena - Feb 19, 2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has begun its science mapping mission. The spacecraft turned its science instruments toward Mars on Monday, February 18. Flight controllers report that the thermal emission imaging system was turned on this morning. The camera system, which takes both visible and infrared images, will go through a period of calibration before the first science images are taken during the next few days. The first images will be released at a news conference on March 1.
Hanksville - Feb 8, 2002 - The Mars Desert Research Station went operational February 7, 2002 with the first operational crew being led by Mars Society President Robert Zubrin from Feb 7 to Feb 14, after which the hab will be commanded by Mars Society Mission Support Director Tony Muscatello from Feb 14 to Feb 21.
San Diego - Feb 6, 2002 - In 1979, NASA published Atlas Of Mars, edited by R.M. Batson, P.M. Bridges, and J.L. Inge, of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona. This was a compendium of airbrushed shaded relief maps, controlled photomosaics, and in a few cases albedo (shading) maps, mostly assembled from Mariner 9 survey images, with some gaps filled by Viking orbiter images.
Pasadena (JPL) Feb 6, 2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft deployed its high-gain communications antenna last night, marking a major technical milestone prior to the beginning of the science mapping mission.
Fayetteville - Jan 29, 2002 - An experiment designed by the Arkansas-Oklahoma Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, now in place on the polar plateau of Antarctica, may help interpret the recent history of Mars.
Pasadena (JPL) Jan 21, 2002 - No banks, stock exchanges or other financial institutions are known to exist on Mars. So how does a business and economics graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara end up in a key role on a mission to the red planet?
Pasadena - January 17, 2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft completed two maneuvers this week, fine-tuning its orbit in preparation for the science mapping mission that will begin in late February.
Pasadena (JPL) Jan 15, 2002 - NASA researchers have successfully demonstrated the first use of multiple rovers that work tightly in sync to perform tasks such as coordinated grasping, lifting and moving of an extended payload, while navigating through obstacles on natural terrain.
Tucson - Jan 14, 2002 - Canadian and New Zealand scientists have found living microbes buried deeper than perhaps ever before in Antarctica's ice-free Dry Valleys. They and collaborating planetary scientists at the University of Arizona say new research opens up the possibility of life on Mars and the possible positions within a soil where it might be found.
