Mars News, Science, Technology at MarsDaily.com

September 30, 2013

Martian chemical complicates hunt for life's clues
Washington DC (SPX) Oct 01, 2013
The quest for evidence of life on Mars could be more difficult than scientists previously thought. A scientific paper published today details the investigation of a chemical in the Martian soil that interferes with the techniques used by the Curiosity rover to test for traces of life. The chemical causes the evidence to burn away during the tests. In search of clues to life's presence on Mars - now or in the past - Curiosity checks Martian soil and rocks for molecules known as organic carbon compo ... read more

Previous Issues

Sep 27

Sep 26

Sep 25

Sep 24

Sep 23

Scientists find a martian igneous rock that is surprisingly Earth-like During the nearly 14 months that it has spent on the red planet, Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, has scooped soil, drilled rocks, and analyzed samples by exposing them to laser b ... more		Researchers describe unusual Mars rock The first rock that scientists analyzed on Mars with a pair of chemical instruments aboard the Curiosity rover turned out to be a doozy - a pyramid-shaped volcanic rock called a "mugearite" that is ... more		Water for future Mars astronauts Within its first three months on Mars, NASA's Curiosity Rover saw a surprising diversity of soils and sediments along a half-kilometer route that tell a complex story about the gradual desiccation o ... more
				NASA Mars rover Curiosity finds water in first sample of planet surface The first scoop of soil analyzed by the analytical suite in the belly of NASA's Curiosity rover reveals that fine materials on the surface of the planet contain several percent water by weight. The ... more		NASA Wants Investigations for a Mars 2020 Rover NASA has released its announcement of an open competition for the planetary community to submit proposals for the science and exploration technology instruments that would be carried aboard the agen ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

NASA Rover Inspects Pebbly Rocks at Martian Waypoint NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has resumed a trek of many months toward its mountain-slope destination, Mount Sharp. The rover used instruments on its arm last week to inspect rocks at its first waypoi ... more		Science Benefits From Diverse Landing Area Of NASA Mars Rover NASA's Curiosity rover is revealing a great deal about Mars, from long-ago processes in its interior to the current interaction between the Martian surface and atmosphere. Examination of loose ... more		Eutelsat orders 340 new OneWeb LEO satellites from Airbus Planet secures multi year satellite contract with Swedish Armed Forces EU should consider forming combined military force: defence chief		Dawn Marks Six Years In Space On the sixth anniversary of leaving Earth to embark on a daring deep-space expedition, Dawn is very, very far from its erstwhile planetary residence. Now humankind's only permanent resident of the m ... more
				Australia's new prototype vehicle to improve Earth observation satellites' accuracy Australian scientists developed a prototype autonomous vehicle, "Outback Rover," to help scientists to improve the accuracy of Earth observation satellites that provide valuable data to Australia's ... more		First scoop of Mars soil contains 2 percent water: study The first scoop of Martian soil analyzed by NASA's Curiosity rover held about two percent water, offering hope for hydrating humans who someday explore the Red Planet, scientists said Thursday. ... more

US Navy History of Human Spaceflight Conference

Space Situational Awareness Conference 2013

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Martian Life: Good or Bad? Is there life on Mars? The answer has eluded us for decades, and the more we explore the planet, the more elusive that answer seems to become. The discovery by the NASA rover Curiosity that Mars see ... more		NASA Rover Inspects Pebbly Rocks at Martian Waypoint NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has resumed a trek of many months toward its mountain-slope destination, Mount Sharp. The rover used instruments on its arm last week to inspect rocks at its first waypoi ... more		HawkEye 360 boosts RF coverage with new Cluster 13 satellites Slow orbital wobble patterns drive ancient greenhouse climate swings Ordovician mass extinction cleared the way for jawed fishes to rise		Communications Tests Go the Distance for MAVEN It's not easy to simulate millions of miles electronically, but that's what engineers did recently as they tested the all-important communications system the MAVEN spacecraft will use to relay its s ... more
				Curiosity Rover Detects No Methane On Mars Data from NASA's Curiosity rover has revealed the Martian environment lacks methane. This is a surprise to researchers because previous data reported by U.S. and international scientists indicated p ... more		Robotic Arm Goes to Work on Rock Target Opportunity is at the northern edge of 'Solander Point' on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is investigating the geologic contact at the base of Solander Point. On Sol 3426 (Sept. 12, 20 ... more

China unveils its first and unnamed moon rover

Mission to moon will boost research and awareness

Mighty Eagle Improves Autonomous Landing Software With Successful Flight

Chinese VP stresses peaceful use of space

China's space station to open for foreign peers

Last Days for Tiangong

Unmanned cargo ship docks with orbiting Space Station

New space crew joins ISS on Olympic torch mission

Station Crew Readies for Cygnus' Sunday Arrival

New Horizons - Late in Cruise, and a Binary Ahoy

Pluto Science Conference Exceeds Expectations

SciTechTalk: Grab your erasers, there are more moons than we thought

	Life on Mars hopes fade after rover findings: study Hopes of finding life on Mars suffered a setback after new findings from NASA's Curiosity rover detected only trace amounts of methane gas in the Red Planet's atmosphere, a study said Thursday. ... more		India unveils Mars mission spacecraft India unveils its Mars mission space craft on Wednesday, saying the launch of the space craft is likely to happen in late October or early in November, local news agency PTI reported Thursday. ... more		Explosive flooding said responsible for distinctive Mars terrain Catastrophic melting and outflow of a buried ice lake formed the lumpy, bumpy floor of an ancient impact carter on Mars, an Italian scientist says. ... more		Upgrade to Mars rovers could aid discovery on more distant worlds Smart as the Mars Curiosity mission has been about landing and finding its own way on a distant world, the rover is pretty brainless when it comes to doing the science that it was sent 567 million k ... more

SwRI tests rooftop solar fire behavior and mitigation options

Fast FPGA pulse shaping clears neutron gamma pile ups in nuclear detectors

Bayesian neural net sharpens thorium 232 fission yield data

Investigating 'Coal Island' Rock Outcrop		India prepares to launch country's maiden mission to Mars		New technology could make for smarter planet rovers		Terramechanics research aims to keep Mars rovers rolling		Space Cadets line up for one-way Mars trip
SwRI study suggests debris flows on frozen arctic sand dunes are similar to dark dune spot-seepage flows on Mars		NASA Evaluates Four Candidate Sites for 2016 Mars Mission		Examining Rocks Around Boulder Field		Scouting a Boulder Field		We may all be Martians

Mars Curiosity Debuts Autonomous Navigation

ASA Mars Rover Views Eclipse of the Sun by Phobos

International Space Agencies Outline Steps to Take Humans to Mars

Mars Rover Opportunity Working at Edge of 'Solander'

Snapping Pictures of the Martian Moons

MRO Swapping Motion-Sensing Units

Opportunity Reaches Base of 'Solander Point'

NASA launches new Russian-language Mars website

Twin astronauts to be studied 'as one' in space research

Big ice may explain Mars' double-layer craters

Full Curiosity Traverse Passes One-Mile Mark

Curious craters on Mars said result of impacts into ancient ice

NASA Begins Launch Preparations for Next Mars Mission

Mars rover hoping to yield more secrets, one year on

NASA Curiosity Rover Approaches First Anniversary on Mars

Space cadets in Washington for one-way ticket to Mars

'Lazarus comets' explain Solar System mystery

Free Newsletters - Space - Defense - Environment - Energy

Buy Advertising

Media Advertising Kit

Editorial & Other Enquiries

Privacy statement

The contents herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2013 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy statement