| June 11, 2008 |  |
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NASA Lander Will Sprinkle Martian Soil For Microscope To View
Tucson AZ (SPX) Jun 11, 2008The team operating NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander plans to instruct the spacecraft in the next few days to use its Robotic Arm to sprinkle a spoonful of Martian soil onto a wheel that will rotate the sample into place for viewing by the spacecraft's Optical Microscope. Meanwhile, commands for Phoenix's activities today are to continue a set of atmosphere observations begun during the Martian ... more Aerojet Ships Propulsion System For Mars Science Laboratory Mission 
Sacramento CA (SPX) Jun 11, 2008Aerojet has shipped the rocket engines destined for use on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). When MSL is launched in the fall of 2009 aboard the Atlas V, Aerojet will provide propulsion for every phase of the mission. The Atlas V will be configured with four Aerojet solid motors to provide an additional one million pounds of thrust to the launch vehicle. The Centaur upper stage will us ... more Making Sense Of Mars Methane 
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jun 10, 2008In a quest to understand the source of methane detected in the atmosphere of Mars, NASA scientists are looking at methane bubbling from the ground at an outdoor salt factory on Mexico's Baja Peninsula. By measuring carbon isotopes in the Mexican methane, these scientists hope to help unravel the mystery of the martian methane. In particular, they want to know whether or not the martian met ... more NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Testing Sprinkle Technique 
Tucson AZ (SPX) Jun 10, 2008Engineers operating the Robotic Arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander are testing a revised method for delivering soil samples to laboratory instruments on Phoenix's deck now that researchers appreciate how clumpy the soil is at the landing site. "We're a little surprised at how much this material is clumping together when we dig into it," said Doug Ming a Phoenix science team member from NASA ... more Phoenix Sifts For Samples, Continues Imaging Landing Site 
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 10, 2008On Sunday, Sol 14 of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission, mechanical shakers inside the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer will attempt to loosen clumped soils on the device's screens to allow material to fall into the oven for analysis later in the week. The commands for this shaking action were to be sent to the spacecraft late morning Sunday, Pacific Daylight Time, and results will be repo ... more |
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Tucson AZ (SPX) Jun 06, 2008A microscope on NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander has taken images of dust and sand particles with the greatest resolution ever returned from another planet. The mission's Optical Microscope observed particles that had fallen onto an exposed surface, revealing grains as small as one-tenth the diameter of a human hair. "We have images showing the diversity of mineralogy on Mars at a scale th ... more Simulations Predicted Mars Lander Would Hit Subsurface 
Ann Arbor MI (SPX) Jun 06, 2008University of Michigan simulations correctly predicted that the pulsed jets of the Mars Phoenix lander would strip the soil to the subsurface ice or rock as the craft touched down. Photos of the area beneath the craft on Friday revealed a hard surface that scientists say may be ice. It could also be rock, and researchers won't know until the Phoenix can dig into the dirt. But it's clear th ... more NASA chief backs proposal for European spaceship 
Paris (AFP) June 5, 2008NASA chief Mike Griffin on Thursday threw his weight behind calls for Europe to build its own manned spacecraft. The experience of the US shuttle, to be retired in 2010, highlighted the need for multiple systems to provide backup for the International Space Station (ISS), Griffin told reporters in Paris. Griffin praised a robot European freighter that carried out a maiden automatic docki ... more Third Scoop Is A Keeper For Phoenix Mars Lander
Tucson AZ (SPX) Jun 06, 2008Two practice rounds of digging and dumping the clumpy soil at the Martian arctic site this week gave scientists and engineers gathered at the University of Arizona confidence to begin using Phoenix's Robotic Arm to deliver soil samples to instruments on the lander deck. Those samples will not be collected before Thursday. Following Wednesday's briefing on the mission, the Phoenix tea ... more |
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Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 02, 2008One week after landing on far-northern Mars, NASA Phoenix spacecraft lifted its first scoop of Martian soil as a test of the lander's Robotic Arm. The practice scoop was emptied onto a designated dump area on the ground after the Robotic Arm Camera photographed the soil inside the scoop. The Phoenix team plans to have the arm deliver its next scoopful, later this week, to an instrument tha ... more Five Years Of Mars Express 
Bonn, Germany (SPX) Jun 03, 2008Now more than ever, Mars is the focus of planetary research. A week after the resoundingly successful landing manoeuvre of NASA's Phoenix probe, scientists and engineers are celebrating the five-year anniversary of the launch of Mars Express, the first ever European planetary mission. The mission has already been extended a second time. "Mars Express has shown that Europe can assume a very ... more Phoenix Lander Robotic Camera Sees Possible Ice 
Tucson AZ (SPX) Jun 03, 2008Scientists have discovered what may be ice that was exposed when soil was blown away as NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed on Mars last Sunday, May 25. The possible ice appears in an image the robotic arm camera took underneath the lander, near a footpad. "We could very well be seeing rock, or we could be seeing exposed ice in the retrorocket blast zone," said Ray Arvidson of Washington Univ ... more Mars probe Phoenix flexes robotic arm 
Washington (AFP) May 29, 2008NASA's Phoenix Mars lander flexed its robotic arm Thursday in a successful test of the key element in the probe's mission to investigate the Red Planet's soil for conditions conducive to life, NASA said. "The arm is ready to go," said Matt Robinson of the US space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where the Phoenix mission is managed. "Yesterday we sent commands ... more
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