 |
 |
| September 25, 2013 |
 Martian Life: Good or Bad? Sydney, Australia (SPX) Sep 23, 2013 - 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 seems to have essentially no methane in its atmosphere is another blow to the idea that microbes flourish somewhere on this world. Then again, scientists on Earth continue to demonstrate that life can su ... more |  |
NASA Rover Inspects Pebbly Rocks at Martian Waypoint Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 25, 2013 - 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 waypoint along the route inside Gale Crater. The location, originally chosen on the basis of images taken from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, paid off with investigation of targets that bear evid ... more |  |
Communications Tests Go the Distance for MAVEN Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Sep 23, 2013 - 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 study results from Mars orbit to Earth-bound researchers. Working from their consoles at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a team of test engineers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, be ... more |  |
Curiosity Rover Detects No Methane On Mars Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 23, 2013 - 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 positive detections. The roving laboratory performed extensive tests to search for traces of Martian methane. Whether the Martian atmosphere contains traces of the gas has been a question of high ... more |  |
Robotic Arm Goes to Work on Rock Target Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 23, 2013 - 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, 2013), Opportunity drove 28 feet (8.62 meters) to reach a surface target. On the next sol, the rover deployed the robotic arm to investigate the surface target named, 'Poverty Bush.' First, the ro ... more |  |
 | |
Life on Mars hopes fade after rover findings: study Washington (AFP) Sept 19, 2013 - 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. In the past decade, scientists have reported large "plumes" of methane in the Martian atmosphere, findings that have remained controversial because they were made on the basis of observations from Ear ... more |  |
India unveils Mars mission spacecraft Mumbai, India (XNA) Sep 20, 2013 - 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. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it would launch the space craft from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars in September 2014. "The spacecraf ... more |  |
Explosive flooding said responsible for distinctive Mars terrain London (UPI) Sep 16, 2013 - 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. Manuel Roda, a structural geologist at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, said such chaotic terrains - enigmatic features stretching hundreds of miles - are distinctive to Mars but the mechanism of their formation has been poorl ... more |  |
Upgrade to Mars rovers could aid discovery on more distant worlds Washington DC (SPX) Sep 13, 2013 - 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 kilometers to carry out. That has to change if future rover missions are to make discoveries further out in the solar system, scientists say. The change has now begun with the development of a ne ... more |  |
Investigating 'Coal Island' Rock Outcrop Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 11, 2013 - Opportunity is at the base of 'Solander Point' on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is investigating a scarp (rock outcrop), called 'Coal Island.' On Sol 3412 (Aug. 29, 2013), Opportunity approached a surface target, with a 180-degree turn-in-place, followed by a 6-foot (1.7-meter) bump to place a target of interest within reach of the robotic arm instruments. The rover began a survey ... more |  |
 | |
India prepares to launch country's maiden mission to Mars New Delhi (UPI) Sep 9, 2013 - Indian officials have confirmed a November launch date for the country's first mission to Mars, set to launch from a spaceport in the south of the country. "Hectic preparations are on to launch Indian Space Research Organization's ambitious Mars Orbiter Mission in November," U.R. Rao of the Governing Council of Physical Research Laboratory said. The Mangalyaan Mars probe will lif ... more | |
New technology could make for smarter planet rovers Pasadena, Calif. (UPI) Sep 9, 2013 - The Curiosity rover exploring Mars boasts impressive technology but future rovers will need more smarts to explore more distant worlds, U.S. scientists say. While the unmanned Curiosity mission has made major strides in landing on and finding its own way on a distant planet, new and better technology is needed if future rover missions are to make discoveries further out in the solar sys ... more |  |
Terramechanics research aims to keep Mars rovers rolling Boston MA (SPX) Sep 11, 2013 - In May 2009, the Mars rover Spirit cracked through a crusty layer of Martian topsoil, sinking into softer underlying sand. The unexpected sand trap permanently mired the vehicle, despite months of remote maneuvering by NASA engineers to attempt to free the rover. The mission mishap may have been prevented, says MIT's Karl Iagnemma, by a better understanding of terramechanics - the interact ... more |  |
Space Cadets line up for one-way Mars trip Washington (AFP) Sept 09, 2013 - More than 200,000 people from 140 countries have applied to go to Mars and never return, the group behind an ambitious venture to colonize the inhospitable red planet said Monday. Bas Lansdorp, a Dutch engineer and entrepreneur, plans to establish a permanent base on Mars in a mission he hopes will take off in 2022 if he can find the necessary $6 billion. One in four of the 202,586 appli ... more |  |
SwRI study suggests debris flows on frozen arctic sand dunes are similar to dark dune spot-seepage flows on Mars San Antonio TX (SPX) Sep 10, 2013 - A team of scientists from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has demonstrated that frozen water in the form of snow or frost can melt to form debris flows on sunward-facing slopes of sand dunes in the Alaskan arctic at air temperatures significantly below the melting point of water. The debris flows consist of sand mixed with liquid water that cascade down steep slopes. SwRI scientists ma ... more |  |
| ADVERTISEMENT + A Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison Report  Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison The Temperflow? uses a patent pending technology that allows body heat to ventilate out the mattress, while cooler air can flow back into the mattress. See www.Temperflow.com for more information about how their technology works. Or read our comparison report on two different memory foam mattress products.+ Buy a Temperflow? bed today and sleep better tonight! | |
NASA Evaluates Four Candidate Sites for 2016 Mars Mission Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 05, 2013 - NASA has narrowed to four the number of potential landing sites for the agency's next mission to the surface of Mars, a 2016 lander to study the planet's interior. The stationary Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander is scheduled to launch in March 2016 and land on Mars six months later. It will touch down at one of four sites select ... more |  |
Examining Rocks Around Boulder Field Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 05, 2013 - Opportunity is at the base of 'Solander Point' on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is navigating around a large boulder field examining the geologic contacts in this area. On Sol 3405 (Aug. 22, 2013), Opportunity backed away from the target 'Platypus' to image it with the color Panoramic Cameras, then moved about 13 feet (4 meters) navigating around the boulder field for surface targ ... more | |
Scouting a Boulder Field Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 28, 2013 - Opportunity is at the base of 'Solander Point' on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is scouting a large boulder field. On Sol 3398 (Aug. 15, 2013), Opportunity drove 75 feet (22.8 meters) into the boulder field to approach a potential surface target. On Sol 3399 (Aug. 16, 2013), an Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) measurement of atmospheric argon was performed. On ... more | |
We may all be Martians Florence, Italy (SPX) Sep 03, 2013 - New evidence has emerged which supports the long-debated theory that life on Earth may have started on Mars. Professor Steven Benner will tell geochemists gathering today (Thursday 29 Aug) at the annual Goldschmidt conference that an oxidized mineral form of the element molybdenum, which may have been crucial to the origin of life, could only have been available on the surface of Mars and ... more |  |
Mars Curiosity Debuts Autonomous Navigation Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 03, 2013 - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used autonomous navigation for the first time, a capability that lets the rover decide for itself how to drive safely on Mars. This latest addition to Curiosity's array of capabilities will help the rover cover the remaining ground en route to Mount Sharp, where geological layers hold information about environmental changes on ancient Mars. The capability us ... more |  |
| ||||
| ||||||||
No comments :
Post a Comment