| July 15, 2008 |  |
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Martian Spirit In A Better Mood As Battery Power Rises
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 15, 2008Spirit's battery is recharging nicely now that rover planners have reduced the frequency of communications to and from the rover during the darkest days of Martian winter. Most measures of battery health are showing an increase of about 2 amp-hours in the battery state of charge (an amp-hour is equivalent to the amount of charge flowing for one hour from a current of 1 amp). The minimum st ... more A Happy Winter Solstice For Mars Rover Opportunity 
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 15, 2008Opportunity has begun work on the much anticipated panorama of the layered promontory known as "Cape Verde" inside "Victoria Crater." The panorama will take several Martian days, or sols, to complete and will be made up of a mosaic of panoramic-camera images. The Cape Verde panorama is expected to be spectacular, "one for the textbooks." With each move closer to Cape Verde, power to Opport ... more Rover Takes Photos Of Scenic View 
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2008Opportunity has completed work on the stand-off portion of the full-color panorama of the layered cliff known as "Cape Verde." It may take a couple of weeks for the entire panorama to arrive on Earth, depending on the volume of data the rover is able to transmit during communications links. Next, Opportunity will move closer to Cape Verde to take a high-resolution image of a smaller area ... more Spirit Biding Time 
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2008Spirit continues to ride out the Martian winter by doing minimal activities to conserve power. The rover conducts very light science activities every three to four Martian days, or sols, and relays data to NASA's Odyssey orbiter for transmission to Earth every 4 sols. The rest of the time, Spirit mostly sleeps. As it has been some time since Spirit's operators were able to synchronize th ... more Unlocking Martian Rocks 
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jul 11, 2008Signs of life on Mars may be hiding under its rocks, or perhaps hiding inside those rocks. A new study offers a simplified technique for detecting biological and pre-biotic molecules that become trapped inside minerals. Studying seven samples of the mineral jarosite collected from various places on Earth, a group of researchers was able to identify amino acids, the basic components of ... more |
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Paris (AFP) July 9, 2008Space experts on Wednesday set a date of 2018 for launching the Mars Sample Return mission, billed as the most complex and costliest exploration of the Red Planet ever planned. The unmanned mission aims to pick up soil and rocks from Mars and bring them back to Earth, where big labs can wring far more data from them than by remote control using small instruments on a scout vehicle. ... more Orbiting HiRISE Camera Saw Phoenix Heat Shield In Freefall 
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 10, 2008Scientists running the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, known as HiRISE, on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have processed more details in an amazing image their camera captured as the Phoenix spacecraft descended through Mars' atmosphere during its landing on May 25, 2008. New analysis has turned up what likely is Phoenix's heat shield falling toward Mars' surface, they ... more Phoenix Mars Lander Continues Sample-Collection Tests 
Tucson, AZ (SPX) Jul 09, 2008NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's science and engineering teams are testing methods to get an icy sample into the Robotic Arm scoop for delivery to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA). Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, Phoenix's "dig czar," said the hard Martian surface that Phoenix has reached proved to be a difficult target, comparing the process to scraping a sidewalk. ... more NASA shuttle to take last flight in May 2010 
Washington (AFP) July 8, 2008Following a detailed, integrated assessment, NASA selected target launch dates for the remaining eight space shuttle missions on the current manifest in 2009 and 2010. The manifest includes one flight to the Hubble Space Telescope, seven assembly flights to the International Space Station, and two station contingency flights, planned to be completed before the end of fiscal year 2010. The ... more |
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Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 03, 2008The next sample delivered to NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) will be ice-rich. A team of engineers and scientists assembled to assess TEGA after a short circuit was discovered in the instrument has concluded that another short circuit could occur when the oven is used again. "Since there is no way to assess the probability of another short circuit ... more Rain Showers On Mars 
Berkeley CA (SPX) Jul 03, 2008A new analysis of martian soil data led by University of California, Berkeley, geoscientists suggests that there was once enough water in the planet's atmosphere for a light drizzle or dew to hit the ground, leaving tell-tale signs of its interaction with the planet's surface. The study's conclusion breaks from the more dominant view that the liquid water that once existed during the red ... more Planets Align For The Fourth Of July 
Huntsville AL (SPX) Jul 02, 2008On 4th of July weekend, NASA forecasts lights in the sky. No, not those lights. Look beyond the fireworks. Almost halfway up the western sky, just above the twilight glow of sunset, a trio of worlds is gathering: Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon. The show gets going on Friday, July 4th. Red Mars and ringed Saturn converge just to the left of the bright star Regulus. The three lights make ... more Phoenix Scrapes Almost Perfect Icy Soil For Analysis
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 02, 2008NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander enlarged the "Snow White" trench and scraped up little piles of icy soil on Saturday, June 28, the 33rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Scientists say that the scrapings are ideal for the lander's analytical instruments. The robotic arm on Phoenix used the blade on its scoop to make 50 scrapes in the icy layer buried under subsurface soil. The robotic arm ... more
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