September 30, 2008 | ![]() |
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The Ancient Rains Of Mars![]() About four billion years ago, there were lakes on Mars which may have been fed by short-lived rivers that were, in turn, fed by precipitation. These lakes filled craters that were formed by the impact of meteorites. Water accumulated in places where rivers broke through the crater rims. Deltas were formed at the mouths of the rivers, similar to how they are formed where rivers flow into ... more Opportunity Slipping Like A Dune Buggy ![]() During the past week, Opportunity has been trying to reach a patch of dust between two crests of the ridge surrounding "Victoria Crater." The rover approached the ridge from the west, driving on flat ground, on Martian days, or sols, 1648 and 1650 (Sept. 12 and Sept. 14, 2008). Then, after reaching a staging position, Opportunity began to climb the ridge. That's when the rover's wheels beg ... more Mars Rover To Head Toward Bigger Crater ![]() NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is setting its sights on a crater more than 20 times larger than its home for the past two years. To reach the crater the rover team calls Endeavour, Opportunity would need to drive approximately 12 kilometers (7 miles) to the southeast, matching the total distance it has traveled since landing on Mars in early 2004. The rover climbed out of Victoria Crater earlier ... more MRO Reveals Rock Fracture Plumbing On Mars ![]() NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed hundreds of small fractures exposed on the Martian surface that billions of years ago directed flows of water through underground Martian sandstone. Researchers used images from the spacecraft's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera. Images of layered rock deposits at equatorial Martian sites show the clusters of ... more Reaching for the stars: a space travel timeline ![]() Milestones in the history of manned space flight: -- 1st century AD: A simple explosive substance appears in China. To create a festive effect, containers filled with it are believed to have been thrown onto fires, whereupon they sometimes flew up into the air. -- 1232: The first documented use of "fire-sticks" as weapons -- by Chinese forces repelling a Mongol invasion. ... more |
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![]() ![]() The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has the world's largest budget for space exploration with some 17 billion dollars on hand each year for space missions and robotic research. It was created by the US Congress in July 1958 to challenge the former Soviet Union's rise in the space race, a year after the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into space. ... more After Olympics, China eyes space conquest ![]() Flushed with success after a widely applauded Beijing Olympics, China will seek this week to further burnish its image with a new chapter in its quest to conquer space. Long-time Communist Party member Zhai Zhigang is slated to become the nation's first "taikonaut" to walk in space during the Shenzhou VII mission, China's third manned space flight, which is slated to blast off Thursday night ... more US astronomers discover inter-planetary collision ![]() Two planets about 300 light years from Earth slammed into each other recently, US astronomers said Tuesday, the first time evidence of such a catastrophic collision has been seen by scientists. Astronomers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) said the crash involved two planets orbiting a star in the Aries constellation. ... more Spirit's Warming Up On Mars ![]() With Martian winter on the wane, Spirit is using significantly less energy to stay warm. During the winter solstice, Spirit needed 90 watt-hours to run the heater. Now, the rover uses between 30 and 40 watt-hours. The reduced demand for power, more than the slow increase in solar-array input, has freed up energy for other things. In particular, Spirit has added more images to the ... more |
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![]() ![]() This image from the Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows morning frost inside the "Snow White" trench dug by the lander, in addition to subsurface ice exposed by use of a rasp on the floor of the trench. The camera took this image at about 9 a.m. local solar time during the 113th Martian day of the mission (Sept. 18, 2008). Bright material near and below the ... more NASA's Phoenix Lander Might Peek Under A Rock ![]() If the robotic arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander can nudge a rock aside, scientists on the Phoenix team would like to see what's underneath. Engineers who develop commands for the robotic arm have prepared a plan to try displacing a rock on the north side of the lander. This rock, roughly the size and shape of a VHS videotape, is informally named "Headless." "We don't know whether we ... more Spirit On Light Duties For Now ![]() Spirit continues to conserve solar power while performing light science activities during the Martian winter. During the past week, Spirit studied the atmosphere and acquired two frames of the full-color image mosaic known as the "Bonestell panorama." Spirit is healthy and all subsystems are performing as expected as of the relay of information from NASA's Odyssey orbiter on sol 1666 ... more NASA's Mars Rover To Head Toward Bigger Crater ![]() NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is setting its sights on a crater more than 20 times larger than its home for the past two years. To reach the crater the rover team calls Endeavour, Opportunity would need to drive approximately 12 kilometers (7 miles) to the southeast, matching the total distance it has traveled since landing on Mars in early 2004. The rover climbed out of Victoria Crater ... more
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