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November 15, 2012

Rover's 'SAM' Lab Instrument Suite Tastes Soil
Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 15, 2012
A pinch of fine sand and dust became the first solid Martian sample deposited into the biggest instrument on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity: the Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM. Located inside the rover, SAM examines the chemistry of samples it ingests, checking particularly for chemistry relevant to whether an environment can support life. Curiosity's robotic arm delivered SAM's first taste of Martian soil to an inlet port on the rover deck on Nov. 9. During the following two days, SAM used mass spe ... read more

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Mars orbiter back online after system swap NASA says its Mars Odyssey orbiter has resumed duty after switching to a set of redundant equipment not used since before the spacecraft's 2001 launch. ... more		What Arctic Rocks Say About Mars: An Interview with Hans Amundsen In 1996, a research group led by Dave McKay of NASA's Johnson Space Center claimed to have found evidence of fossilized life in a Mars meteorite. Not only did the shapes look like bacteria, but a fo ... more		Obama Win Keeps NASA's Space Plans on Course The reelection of US president Barack Obama could mean one small step back to the moon and a giant leap to landing astronauts on Mars and asteroids. In 2010, the Obama administration set a goa ... more
				More Driving And Imaging At 'Matijevic Hill' Opportunity is continuing the local area survey around the location called Matijevic Hill (named in honor of Jake Matijevic) at the inboard edge of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater. Th ... more		Curiosity Team Switches Back to Earth Time After three months working on "Mars time," the team operating NASA Mars rover Curiosity has switched to more regular hours, as planned. A Martian day, called a sol, is about 40 minutes longer ... more

Survey of 'Matijevic Hill' Continues Opportunity has completed approximately half of the local area survey around the location called Matijevic Hill (named in honor of Jake Matijevic) at the inboard edge of Cape York on the rim of Ende ... more		NASA Rover Finds Clues to Changes in Mars' Atmosphere NASA's car-sized rover, Curiosity, has taken significant steps toward understanding how Mars may have lost much of its original atmosphere. Learning what happened to the Martian atmosphere wil ... more		Obama to call for nuclear cuts in Berlin speech S.Korea to buy European missiles Outside View: America strikes out Time running out for Mideast peace: Blair Ban calls for end to Saddam-era sanctions against Iraq Iran's Rowhani offers softer tone, same policies Russia urges softening of Iran sanctions amid nuclear hope		Mars Longevity Champ Switching Computers NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, already the longest-working spacecraft ever sent to Mars, will switch to some fresh, redundant equipment next week that has not been used since before launch in 2001. ... more
				Nereidum Montes helps unlock Mars' glacial past On 6 June, the high-resolution stereo camera on ESA's Mars Express revisited the Argyre basin as featured in our October release, but this time aiming at Nereidum Montes, some 380 km northeast of Ho ... more		Preliminary Self-Portrait of Curiosity by Rover's Arm Camera On Sol 84 (Oct. 31, 2012), the Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture the set of thumbnail images stitched together to create this full-color self-portrait. This sel ... more

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Curious About Life: Interview with Jennifer Stern The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover has 10 science instruments, and each will be used in the coming weeks and months to help characterize the environment of Mars and determine if the planet ... more		Survey Of Matijevic Hill Continues Opportunity has completed approximately half of the local area survey around the location called Matijevic Hill (named in honor of Jake Matijevic) at the inboard edge of Cape York on the rim of Ende ... more		Britain 'faces decade of bad weather' WIN-T Increment 1 Enables National Guard to Restore Vital Network Communications Following a Disaster Pesticides significantly reduce biodiversity in aquatic environments NOAA, partners predict possible record-setting deadzone for Gulf of Mexico Jet stream changes cause climatically exceptional Greenland Ice Sheet melt Computer modeling technique goes viral Submarine springs reveal how coral reefs respond to ocean acidification		Curiosity's Tastes of Martian Soil Offer Insights on Mineral Composition NASA's Curiosity rover has taken its first bites out of the Martian surface and used the materials scooped up, sieved and portioned to cleanse the palate of the rover's sample collection system of a ... more
				Continuing Work With Scoops at 'Rocknest' NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity on Sol 82 (Oct. 29, 2012) used its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to photograph the diverse rocks in the "Rocknest" area and prepared for an overnight analysis of a soil s ... more		Curiosity on Mars sits on rocks similar to those found in marshes in Mexico Millions of years ago fire and water forged the gypsum rocks locked in at Cuatro Cienegas, a Mexican valley similar to the Martian crater where NASA's Rover Curiosity roams. A team of researchers ha ... more

China's Chang'e-3 to land on moon next year

Moon crater yields impact clues

Study: Moon basin formed by giant impact

Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

China to launch manned spacecraft

Russia loses contact with satellites, space station

Cut in Russian link to space station not serious: NASA

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... the Space Station

Keck Observations Bring Weather Of Uranus Into Sharp Focus

At Pluto, Moons and Debris May Be Hazardous to New Horizons Spacecraft During Flyby

Sharpest-ever Ground-based Images of Pluto and Charon: Proves a Powerful Tool for Exoplanet Discoveries

	NASA Rover's First Soil Studies Help Fingerprint Martian Minerals NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has completed initial experiments showing the mineralogy of Martian soil is similar to weathered basaltic soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii. The minerals were iden ... more		Baumgartner: Mars travel a waste of money Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner says he believes NASA's Mars mission is a waste of money that could be used for "saving our planet." ... more		Curious About Life: Interview with Felipe Gomez The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover has 10 science instruments, and each will be used in the coming weeks and months to help characterize the environment of Mars and determine if the planet ... more		Assessing Drop-Off to Mars Rover's Observation Tray NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) during the mission's 78th sol (Oct. 24, 2012) to view soil material on the rover's observation tray. The observations will help asses ... more

Polymer-coated catalyst protects "artificial leaf"

Printing Tiny Batteries

An innovative material for the green Earth

Working backward: Computer-aided design of zeolite templates

Qatar comes to rescue of Germany's Solarworld

Intelligent glasses designed for professors

India's Energy Ties with Iran Unsettle Washington

Opportunity Undertakes Survey Drives Of Local Area		How Space Station Can Help Humans Follow Curiosity to Mars and Beyond		Curiosity Rover Collects Fourth Scoop of Martian Soil		Valles Marineris - the largest canyon in the Solar System		Mars Soil Sample Delivered for Analysis Inside Rover
Rover eyes 'man-made' objects in Martian dirt		Preventing infection on long flights		Curious About Life: Interview with Jen Eigenbrode		Proof at last: Moon was created in giant smashup		Opportunity Is On The Move Around 'Matijevic Hill'

Science Of Global Climate Modeling Confirmed By Discoveries On Mars

NMSU Graduate Student Looks For Indications Of Life On Mars In Possible Trace Methane Gas

Rover's Second Scoop Discarded, Third Scoop Commanded

UNH scientists provide window on space radiation hazards

Robotic Arm Tools Get To Work On Rock Outcrop

Curiosity Preparing for Second Scoop

Resume Working with First Scooped Sample

Meteorite delivers Martian secrets to University of Alberta researcher

Mars Rock Touched by NASA Curiosity has Surprises

Mars rover makes surprising rock find

Curious About Life: Interview with Michael Meyer

Curiosity Update: Object Likely Benign Plastic from Curiosity Rover

Testing Mars and Moon soil for sheltering astronauts from radiation

India testfires Mars mission engine

Checking a Bright Object on the Ground

First Scoopful A Success

China to collect samples from Mars by 2030: Xinhua

Curious About Life: Interview with Pan Conrad

Year on ISS planned ahead of manned Mars mission

Mars rover finds 'bright object'

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