For NASA's stuck Mars rover, the Spirit may be willing, but the wheels could prove too weak. he space agency on Thursday outlined a rescue plan to try to free the rover Spirit, which has been bogged in a sand trap on the red planet for half a year. The risky operation is expected to last several months. "If it cannot make the great escape from this sand trap, it's likely that this lonely spot straddling the edge of this crater might be where Spirit ends its adventures on Mars," said Doug McCuistion, who heads the Mars exploration program at NASA headquarters. The plucky ...
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PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA and Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., have collaborated to create a Web site where Internet users can have fun while advancing their knowledge of Mars. Drawing on observations from NASA's Mars missions, the "Be a Martian" Web site will enable the public to participate as citizen scientists to improve Martian maps, take part in research tasks, and assist Mars science teams studying data about the Red Planet. "We're at a point in history where everyone can be an explorer," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "With so much data coming back from ...
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NASA to begin attempts to free Spirit PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 12 (UPI) -- NASA scientists say they plan to begin transmitting commands to the Mars exploration rover Spirit in an attempt to free the robot from martian sand. Spirit has been stuck in martian sand since April 23. Researchers expect the extraction process -- to begin Monday -- to be long and the outcome uncertain. said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program. Spirit has six wheels for roving Mars. The first commands will tell the rover to rotate its five working wheels forward approximately six turns. Engineers anticipate severe wheel slippage, with ...
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Scientists using a high-resolution camera attached to NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have found ice within newly formed Martian craters, about halfway between the north pole and the equator of the Red planet. "We knew there was ice below the surface at high latitudes of Mars, but we find that it extends far closer to the equator than you would think, based on Mars' climate today," said Shane Byrne of the University of Arizona, a member of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). The HiRISE researchers running the orbiter's high-resolution camera said the water ice found within the new meteorite impact craters was surprisingly ...
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A spacecraft orbiting Mars has spotted water ice in several impact craters midway between the north pole and equator — the first time ice so close to the surface has been discovered so far south on the red planet. Instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter estimated that the newfound ice is 99 percent pure. Previous spacecraft have spied ice lurking below the Martian surface. Before the Phoenix lander froze to death last year, it dug trenches and touched ice specks at its arctic landing site. Last year, radar observations from the Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed to the presence of buried glaciers in the Martian mid-latitudes. ...
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