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... Read Full Story
PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 1 (UPI) --
NASA scientists say they are trying to resolve a problem aboard the Mars Odyssey orbiter, which put itself into a safe standby mode Saturday.
Space agency engineers said the likely cause of the event was an upset in the orbiter's computer as was the case with a similar event in June 2008.
While in safe mode, Odyssey remains in communication with ground controllers and maintains its optimal temperatures and power, NASA said. To clear the memory error... Read Full Story
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... Read Full Story
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... Read Full Story
Artist's rendering of rover Spirit. Image courtesy of NASA
Julie Townsend , a member of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory team that’s trying to get the rover Spirit moving again on Mars , where it’s now struck in soft soil, will speak at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 30. Map . She recently answered questions about her work.
Q: How’d Spirit become stuck in the Martian sand?
A: As you probably know, the Spirit rover has a bum wheel. Her right front... Read Full Story
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... Read Full Story
Russia will pushed back its flagship satellite mission to Mars' moon until 2011 in a move which will delay the joint launch of China's first Mars probe, space sources were cited as saying Wednesday. "The prospects of the spacecraft Phobos' flight to Mars was discussed at a conference of scientist and space industry firms today. The dominant opinion was that this flight would be put off until 2011," one source told the Interfax news agency. The delay, just two month before the scheduled... Read Full Story
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... Read Full Story
The European Space Agency (ESA) on Wednesday signed a deal with its Russian counterpart Roscosmos to cooperate on two Mars exploration projects, Russia's Interfax news agency reported. The deal was inked by Roscosmos head Anatoli Perminov and the ESA's Jean-Jacques Dordain at the Maks aviation and space show outside Moscow, Interfax quoted an unnamed Roscosmos spokesman as saying. Under the deal, the ESA will use Russia's Proton rocket as part of its Exomars project to send a robotic rover... Read Full Story
The Phoenix Mars Lander was a NASA mission that launched to the Red Planet on August 4, 2007, aboard the Delta II 7925 vehicle. It consisted of a robotic station that was to conduct scientific experiments on Mars, and study surface chemistry, weather patterns, atmospheric conditions, and the landscape too. Originally scheduled to operate for 125 sols (Martian days), and conclude in August 2008, the spacecraft managed to endure in the frozen wastelands where it was sent until November 2, when... Read Full Story
