July 18, 2007 | our time will build eternity |
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Hunt For Life On Mars Goes Underground In New NASA Mission Washington (AFP) Jul 17, 2007 The hunt for evidence of life on Mars will go underground next year when a NASA probe digs beneath the surface of the red planet's arctic northern plains, US scientists revealed Monday. In a departure from previous missions -- which have seen robotic vehicles explore the planet's hills and craters -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will instead dig into Martian soil for conditions favorable to past o ... more Opportunity Waiting For Dust To Settle Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 17, 2007 Due to extensive dust storms in Mars' southern hemisphere causing record atmospheric opacity levels, Opportunity is currently experiencing its lowest power levels to date. The tau measurement as of sol 1225 is 4.12, resulting in a mere 280 watt-hours of array energy. A tau measurement of 5.0 would result in approximately 150 watt-hours. If tau begins to approach 5.0, the team will have to begin ... more The Origin Of Perennial Water-Ice At The South Pole Of Mars Paris, France (ESA) Jul 16, 2007 Thanks to data from ESA's Mars Express mission, combined with models of the Martian climate, scientists can now suggest how the orbit of Mars around the Sun affects the deposition of water ice at the Martian South Pole. Early during the mission, the OMEGA instrument (Visible and Infrared Mineralogical Mapping Spectrometer) on board Mars Express had already found previously undetected perennial d ... more Arizona State Scientists Keep An Eye On Martian Dust Storm Tempe AZ (SPX) Jul 13, 2007 Scientists at Arizona State University's Mars Space Flight Center are using the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter to monitor a large dust storm on the Red Planet. The instrument, a multi-wavelength camera sensitive to five visible wavelengths and 10 infrared ones, is providing Mars scientists and spacecraft controllers with global maps that track how much at ... more NASA Readies Mars Lander For August Launch To Icy Site Washington DC (SPX) Jul 10, 2007 NASA's next Mars mission will look beneath a frigid arctic landscape for conditions favorable to past or present life. Instead of roving to hills or craters, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will claw down into the icy soil of the Red Planet's northern plains. The robot will investigate whether frozen water near the Martian surface might periodically melt enough to sustain a livable environment for mi ... more |
asteroid
asteroid mars-mers |
Oxford UK (SPX) Jul 06, 2007 Research comparing silicon samples from Earth, meteorites and planetary materials, published in Nature (28th June 2007), provides new evidence that the Earth's core formed under very different conditions from those that existed on Mars. It also shows that the Earth and the Moon have the same silicon isotopic composition supporting the theory that atoms from the two mixed in the early stages of t ... more One Image Planned During Descent Of Phoenix Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 06, 2007 Extensive testing of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander in preparation for an August launch has uncovered a potential data-handling problem in time to modify plans for use of a camera during the final minutes of arrival at Mars. The testing results led to a decision to take just one photograph with the spacecraft's Mars Descent Imager. The mission will still be capable of accomplishing all of its scien ... more Spirit Solar Power Levels Continue To Rise Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 06, 2007 Spring cleaning continued on NASA's Spirit rover, as atmospheric turbulence on Mars cleared away more dust from the solar panels on the rover's 1,233rd sol, or Martian day, of exploration (June 22, 2007). As a result of this most recent dust-clearing event, Spirit out-produced the electrical energy of Spirit's twin, the Opportunity rover on the opposite side of Mars, by about 50 watt-hours. (Th ... more An Opportunity For A One-Way Trip To The Bottom Of Crater Victoria Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 06, 2007 NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is scheduled to begin a descent down a rock-paved slope into the Red Planet's massive Victoria Crater. This latest trek carries real risk for the long-lived robotic explorer, but NASA and the Mars Rover science team expect it to provide valuable science. Opportunity already has been exploring layered rocks in cliffs around Victoria Crater. The team has planned the d ... more |
mars-general
marsexpress mars-mers |
Princeton NJ (SPX) Jul 06, 2007 David Smith always wondered whether other planets might harbor life, so when he actually got the opportunity to investigate, he jumped at it. His decision launched him on a year-long mission, leading him to the Kennedy Space Center and back. Now, after months exploring whether Earth bacteria can survive on the surface of Mars, he has returned with findings that could help NASA plan better missio ... more NASA Mars Rover Ready For Descent Into Crater Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 29, 2007 NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is scheduled to begin a descent down a rock-paved slope into the Red Planet's massive Victoria Crater. This latest trek carries real risk for the long-lived robotic explorer, but NASA and the Mars Rover science team expect it to provide valuable science. Opportunity already has been exploring layered rocks in cliffs around Victoria Crater. The team has planned ... more UCLA Professor Leads NASA Dawn Mission Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 27, 2007 Christopher T. Russell, UCLA professor of geophysics and space physics, has spent 15 years working on NASA's Dawn mission to the doughnut-shaped asteroid belt. As the scheduled July 7 launch from Cape Canaveral nears, Russell is ready, and so is Dawn. "The spacecraft will spend much less time in space than we put in preparing for the mission," said Russell, the mission's principal investigator. "I want to get this spacecraft up in space, where it belongs." ... more Mars Rover Laser Tool Ready For Testing Los Alamos NM (SPX) Jun 22, 2007 Mars mission Job One: Get there. Job Two: Find rocks and zap them with your laser tool. Now learn the nature of the debris by spectrographically analyzing the ensuing dust and fragments. It's every kid's dream, vaporizing pebbles on other planets, and thanks to a team at Los Alamos National Laboratory, it's going to happen. When the JPL-NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover launches in 2009, ... more |
bruce-moomaw
bruce-moomaw mars-base |
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