Mars News from MarsDaily.com 09-FEB-10 en-us Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 04, 2010 - Sol 2151-2158 : Spirit is still embedded in the area called "Troy" on the west side of Home Plate. Energy levels for Spirit have been decreasing rapidly as winter approaches. To prepare for winter, the project is taking actions to improve northerly tilt of the rover to maximize solar illumination.]]> Bonn, Germany (SPX) Feb 04, 2010 - The High Resolution Stereo Camera, operated by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) on board the Mars Express orbiter has imaged craters, both young and old, in this view of the Southern Highlands of Mars.]]> Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jan 28, 2010 - Spirit is staying put. NASA has designated the once-roving scientific explorer a "stationary science platform" after months of unsuccessful attempts to free it from a sand trap.]]> Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 26, 2010 - After six years of unprecedented exploration of the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit no longer will be a fully mobile robot. NASA has designated the once-roving scientific explorer a stationary science platform after efforts during the past several months to free it from a sand trap have been unsuccessful.]]> Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 27, 2010 - It rises in the east at sunset, pumpkin-orange and brighter than a first magnitude star. You stare at it, unblinking. Unblinking, it stares right back. It is Mars.]]> Washington (AFP) Jan 26, 2010 - NASA admitted defeat Tuesday saying efforts to free the Spirit rover bogged down by Martian sand were over and instead the plucky robot was hunkering down to brave the harsh Mars winter.]]> Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jan 26, 2010 - NASA's IceBite project will spend three austral summers in Antarctica testing ice-penetrating drills for a future mission to Mars. A team of seven scientists recently returned from the first field season, installing scientific probes in the ice and frozen ground, and scouting for sites where the drills will be tested the following year.]]> Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jan 26, 2010 - NASA's Mars exploration rover Opportunity is allowing scientists to get a glimpse deep inside Mars. Perched on a rippled Martian plain, a dark rock not much bigger than a basketball was the target of interest for Opportunity during the past two months. Dubbed "Marquette Island," the rock is providing a better understanding of the mineral and chemical makeup of the Martian interior.]]> Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 25, 2010 - NASA's Mars exploration rover Opportunity is allowing scientists to get a glimpse deep inside Mars.]]> Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 22, 2010 - NASA's Mars exploration rover Opportunity is allowing scientists to get a glimpse deep inside Mars. Perched on a rippled Martian plain, a dark rock not much bigger than a basketball was the target of interest for Opportunity during the past two months. Dubbed "Marquette Island," the rock is providing a better understanding of the mineral and chemical makeup of the Martian interior.]]>