| March 02, 2009 |  |
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A Sliver Of A Chance For Life On Mars
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Feb 27, 2009The Phoenix Mars Lander ended its mission last November, but scientists are still pondering the data. One intriguing discovery was a nightly cycle in which water vapor in the atmosphere collapsed into the martian soil. One researcher thinks this may hint of dew-like films that could have supported life in a previous martian climate. Phoenix landed on Mars on May 25, 2008. It was the first ... more Orbiter Puts Itself Into Precautionary Mode 
Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 27, 2009NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter unexpectedly rebooted its computer Monday morning, Feb. 23, and put itself into a limited-activity mode that is an automated safety response. The mission's flight-team engineers are examining possible causes of the event while planning to prepare the spacecraft to resume its scientific investigations of Mars. There has been no reoccurrence of the reboot e ... more Europe names crew for Mars 'mission' 
Paris (AFP) Feb 26, 2009The European Space Agency (ESA) on Friday named a Frenchman and a German who will join four Russians in an innovative 105-day isolation experiment to test whether humans can one day fly to Mars. From March 31, the six "crew" will be locked inside a special facility in Moscow that replicates conditions of a space trip to Mars. The simulation will be followed by a 520-day experiment, start ... more Scientists Possibly Find Why Asteroids Are Missing 
Tempe AZ (SPX) Feb 26, 2009University of Arizona scientists have uncovered a curious case of missing asteroids. The main asteroid belt is a zone containing millions of rocky objects between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The scientists find that there ought to be more asteroids there than researchers observe. The missing asteroids may be evidence of an event that took place about 4 billion years ago, when the solar ... more Fractured Lavas Suggest Floods On Mars 
Flagstaff AZ (SPX) Feb 26, 2009Unique fractures in lavas on ancient Mars suggest water occasionally flooded portions of the planet's surface. The fractures, known as "columnar joints", are the first that have been observed on a planet other than Earth. "Columnar joints form as cooling lava contracts," explains Moses Milazzo, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff. The characteristics of the column ... more |
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Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 17, 2009The Dawn spacecraft, which began its journey to the asteroid belt in 2007, is now nearing Mars, and scientists at the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute (PSI) are preparing to use the encounter to tune up Dawn's GraND instrument. Dawn's instrument payload includes a visible-light camera, a visible-light and infrared mapping spectrometer, and GraND (the Gamma-Ray and Neutron Detector) ... more Spirit Gets Energy Boost From Cleaner Solar Panels 
Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 14, 2009A small but important uptick in electrical output from the solar panels on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit this month indicates a beneficial Martian wind has blown away some of the dust that has accumulated on the panels. The cleaning boosts Spirit's daily energy supply by about 30 watt-hours, to about 240 watt-hours from 210 watt-hours. The rover uses about 180 watt-hours ... more Detailed map shows dry Moon 
Washington (AFP) Feb 12, 2009A new detailed map of the Moon released Thursday shows the Earth's satellite holds very little water and reveals never-before seen craters at the poles, an international research team said. "The surface can tell us a lot about what's happening inside the Moon, but until now mapping has been very limited," C.K Shum, professor of Earth sciences at Ohio State University, said in the February 13 ... more NASA Spacecraft Falling For Mars 
Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 16, 2009Launched in September of 2007, and propelled by any one of a trio of hyper-efficient ion engines, NASA's Dawn spacecraft passed the orbit of Mars last summer. At that time, the asteroid belt (where Dawn's two targets, asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres reside), had never been closer. In early July the spacecraft began to lose altitude, falling back towards the inner solar system. ... more |
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Washington DC (SPX) Feb 11, 2009NASA's activities in social networking media will be recognized Wednesday in New York, when the agency receives an award for its presence on the popular Web site Twitter. Known as the Shorty Award, it was created to honor the best producers of short content on Twitter during 2008. Updates on NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander mission received the most votes in the science category from users of ... more Martian Crater Features Suggest Influence Of Water And Ice 
Tucson AZ (SPX) Feb 10, 2009Scientists at the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute (PSI) have found further evidence for the large role that water has likely played in shaping the Martian landscape. Their results, which will be published in "Icarus", provide strong evidence that multiple wet and/or icy climate cycles have shaped the topography of the planet's large craters. "Icarus" is the journal of the American ... more Spirit Update: On the Move - sol 1791-1797 
Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 11, 2009Communication problems during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday led to the postponement of a drive planned for sol 1791 (Jan. 15, 2009) to sol 1793 (Jan. 17, 2009). Once the drive began, however, Spirit was able to go ahead with characterization of a rock target known as "Stapledon." Studies began with a stack of microscopic images taken at different focal lengths, then moved to ... more Opportunity Update: Happy Anniversary! - sol 1770-1776 
Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 11, 2009Happy anniversary to both Spirit and Opportunity for completing five Earth-years exploring the surface of Mars! Opportunity's goal this past week has been to put the pedal to the metal and acquire drive-by images of a crater dubbed "Ranger Crater." Preliminary results from last week's shake of the mirror on the miniature thermal emission spectrometer on sol 1771 (Jan. 16, 2009) indicated ... more
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