24/7 News Coverage
December 09, 2009
Life On Mars Theory Boosted By New Methane Study
London, UK (SPX) Dec 09, 2009
Scientists have ruled out the possibility that methane is delivered to Mars by meteorites, raising fresh hopes that the gas might be generated by life on the red planet, in research published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Methane has a short lifetime of just a few hundred years on Mars because it is constantly being depleted by a chemical reaction in the planet's atmosphere ... read more

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Spirit remains trapped in Martian sand
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Opportunity Investigates 'Marquette' And 'Islington Bay'
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Spirit's Diagnostic Wheel Tests Continue
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Astrosat All Set To Be Launched Next Year
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Memory Foam Mattress Review & Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison

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Sandtrapped Rover Makes A Big Discovery
Huntsville AL (SPX) Dec 04, 2009
Homer's Iliad tells the story of Troy, a city besieged by the Greeks in the Trojan War. Today, a lone robot sits besieged in the sands of Troy while engineers and scientists plot its escape. Welcome to "Troy" - Mars style. NASA's robotic rover Spirit is bogged down on the Red Planet in a place the rover team named after the ancient city. So why aren't scientists lamenting? "The rover's spinning wheels have broken through a crust, and we've found something supremely interesting in the disturbed soil," says Ray Arvidson of the Washington University in St. Louis. ... more

Mars Meteorite Debate Continues
Houston TX (SPX) Dec 03, 2009
Using more advanced analytical instruments now available, a Johnson Space Center research team has reexamined the 1996 finding that a meteorite contains strong evidence that life may have existed on ancient Mars. The new research focused on investigating alternate proposals for the creation of materials thought to be signs of ancient life found in the meteorite. The new study argues that ... more

Orbiter Puts Itself Into Safe Standby
Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 03, 2009
NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter put itself into a safe standby mode on Saturday, Nov. 28, and the team operating the spacecraft has begun implementing careful steps designed to resume Odyssey's science and relay operations within about a week. Engineers have diagnosed the cause of the Nov. 28 event as the spacecraft's proper response to a memory error with a known source. The likely cause is a ... more

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Opportunity Continues Study Of 'Marquette'


Gullies And Flow Features On Crater Wall


No Wheel Stall In Diagnostic Drive
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Researcher Delighted That LCROSS Confirms Lunar Prospector Findings

Circumlunar Missions: The Missing Link

Lunar Water Probably Came From Comets

NASA announces moon design competition

Japan's 'space beer' sparkles among drinkers

Branson unveils Virgin Galactic spaceliner

The PI's Perspective - Farewell 2009

'Eyes' of Herschel Will Survey Trans-Neptunian Region

Astronomy Question Of The Week: Why Is Pluto No Longer A Planet

Galileo's Jupiter Journey Began Two Decades Ago

Europa's Ocean Contains Enough Oxygen To Support Life

Ganymede's Magnetosphere Makes Big Impression On Jupiter's Aurora

Venus may have been a water world, space congress told

Venus' Atmosphere Observed - SCIAMACHY On Envisat Looks Elsewhere

New Map Hints At Venus' Wet, Volcanic Past

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Team Plans Uplink Of Protective Files To MRO
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2009
The team operating NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter plans to uplink protective files to the spacecraft next week as one step toward resuming the orbiter's research and relay activities. Since the orbiter spontaneously rebooted its computer on Aug. 26, flight team engineers have been examining possible root causes and repercussions of that incident and three similar events this year on ... more

Mars valleys point to rainy red planet
Washington (AFP) Nov 23, 2009
A network of valleys discovered on Mars show that the red planet was likely once covered by a vast ocean that fed a humid, rainy climate, according to research published Monday. Debate has raged for decades over whether Martian valleys resulted from water erosion - caused by humidity and rainfall - or through groundwater-sapping erosion, which can happen in cold and dry conditions. ... more

Third Spirit Extrication Drive Ends With Wheel Stall
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 24, 2009
Spirit experienced a wheel stall with the right-rear wheel during the second step of a two-step drive on Sol 2092 (Saturday, Nov. 21). This is not the same wheel that stalled on Sol 1899 (May 6), the left-middle wheel. On Sol 2092, the right-rear wheel did not experience a hard stall like what was seen on Sol 1899. Instead, it stalled because the wheel's progress fell behind the ... more

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Distal Rampart Of Crater In Chryse Planitia


Spirit's Flash Memory In Use Again


NASA And Microsoft Allow Earthlings To Become Martians
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Guinea junta chief improving, to return soon: spokesman

Guinea foreign minister denounces military 'insubordination'

China, World Bank in drive for African factories: Zoellick

Stronger Chinese auto sales lift luxury German brands

China auto sales and output go over 12 million units

Munich Lab Demonstrates Diesel Truck Engine With Barely Measurable Emissions

Astronomy Question Of The Week: How Is A Black Hole Discovered

Towards An Exquisite Look At Black Holes

LHC Produces First Physics Results

Russia To Launch MIM1 Module To ISS Next Year

Russia Plans To Send 10 Spacecraft To ISS Next Year

SpaceX Begins NASA Astronaut Training For Dragon Spacecraft COTS Program

Shuttle Endeavour readied for a space trip

Space shuttle Atlantis lands back on Earth

Atlantis Ready For Landing Friday

Virgin spaceship to take visitors into suborbital space

Steering The Ares Rockets On A Straight Path

India Hopes To Join Cryogenic Rocket Engine Club January 2010

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Team Prepares To Uplink Commands To Spirit

Opportunity Approaching "Marquette Island"

Taking A Bite Of Antarctic Ice

Can Spirit Be Freed

Dawn Enters Asteroid Belt - For Good

Professor To Predict Weather On Mars

Opportunity Motors South

A Mars Rover Named "Curiosity"

Amnesia-Like Behavior Returns On Spirit

Channels From Hale Crater

Martian Projects Shall Use Nuclear Energy

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Russia Needs More Volunteers For Mars Flight Simulation

DLR Simulates Mars' Atmosphere In Gottingen

Establish One Or More Self-Sustaining, Permanent Space Colonies

Spirit's Antenna Back To Normal Use

Opportunity Examines A Meteorite Called 'Mackinac'

Wanted: Guinea pigs with the Right Stuff

Building An Astrobiology Tool Kit

Team Runs Operational Test To Prepare For Extracting Spirit

China Works For Mars And Moon Missions

Spirit Still In X-Band Fault Mode

New Concept May Enhance Earth-Mars Communication

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