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Field Report From Mars: Sol 3385 - August 2, 2013
Posted by Larry Crumpler on 2013/08/06 06:54 CDT
This week Opportunity finished up a quick investigation of the strange rocky terrain out here in the plains where it is approaching the next mountain rim segment of Endeavour crater, Solander Point.
One Year on Mars: My Favorite Moments from Planetfest 2012
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/08/06 04:28 CDT | 1 comments
It seems like it was just yesterday that 2000 people gathered in the Pasadena Convention Center to celebrate Curiosity's landing on Mars. All of Planetfest 2012 is online for your enjoyment.
The Ancient Snows of Mars on Planetary Radio
Grad student Kat Scanlon leads research indicating precipitation may have helped shape the surface of the red planet
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/08/06 10:20 CDT
Kat Scanlon tells Planetary Radio that Hawaii and Mars have more in common than you might think.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Celebrates Milestones, Arrives at Solander Suburb
Sols 3355 - 3384
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2013/08/05 03:44 CDT | 1 comments
The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission Opportunity celebrated the 10th anniversary of its launch on July 7, 2003, and then went on to complete the last leg of its 2 km trek from Cape York to Solander Point. But just before the robot field geologist pulled onto the actual base of the ridge where it will spend its sixth Martian winter, Mars lured the team off the path with some of the weirdest Martian rocks the scientists have seen yet.
TODAY at 4pm PDT: Google+ Hangout, Celebrate Curiosity's First Year on Mars with Deputy Scientist Ashwin Vasavada
Monday, Aug 5th at 4pm PDT/7pm EDT
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/08/05 12:00 CDT
It was just one year ago that Curiosity had her dramatic landing on the surface of Mars. Emily Lakdawalla and I will interview the Deputy Project Scientist of the Curiosity mission, Ashwin Vasavada, about the successes of the past year and the what to look forward to in the next
Keeping up with Curiosity, almost a year after landing
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/08/01 06:16 CDT | 4 comments
It seems like my attention wandered for just a moment, and all of a sudden Curiosity is really on the road. She's racked up drive after drive, methodically eating up the terrain between here and her goal: the ancient rocks at the foot of Mount Sharp.
Happy 32! Happy New Mars Year!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/07/31 01:45 CDT | 4 comments
They're too far apart to have a party, but today Curiosity and Opportunity could have rung in the New Mars Year. Today Mars reached a solar longitude of zero degrees and the Sun crossed Mars' equator, heralding the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/07/29 01:18 CDT | 4 comments
Pushing back the frontier, and filling in the blank spaces on the map.
The Mars 2020 Rover In-Depth
NASA's next major mission to the Red Planet will store samples for eventual return to the Earth
Posted by Van Kane on 2013/07/27 01:05 CDT | 3 comments
We now know the science goals for NASA’s next major Mars mission. The new rover will further the astrobiological search begun by the Curiosity rover and store samples for eventual return to the Earth, providing a stepping stone to the next stage of Martian exploration.
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3378 - July 25, 2013
Posted by Larry Crumpler on 2013/07/26 12:32 CDT
We are now only about 180 meters from the new mountain, Solander Point. We slowed down this week so that we could check out the rocks here where there is a strange hydration signature from orbital remote sensing.
Planetary Geomorphology Image of the Month: Water tracks on Earth and Mars
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/07/18 09:57 CDT | 3 comments
The International Association of Geomorphologists' "planetary geomorphology image of the month," contributed by Joe Levy, features water tracks on Earth and compares them to recurring slope lineae on Mars.
A new HiRISE view of Opportunity (sol 3361)
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/07/17 06:14 CDT
The HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped a lovely color photo of the rim of Endeavour crater, catching Opportunity midway between Nobby's Head and Solander Point.
Posted by Ralph Lorenz on 2013/07/17 01:13 CDT
The fictional world Tatooine, scene of action in the Star Wars movies, is named after a town in Tunisia, where parts of the movies were filmed. The desert backdrops against which the movies were filmed are real terrestrial landscapes, which prove to be perhaps unexpectedly dynamic.
Programmable Mars Watch for $50
Posted by Ara Kourchians on 2013/07/11 06:00 CDT
Time is kept differently on Mars. This is because Mars itself rotates a little slower than Earth. This proves to be a pain when it comes to timekeeping.
Mars 2020 Science Announcement Live-blog
NASA's next Mars rover now has a mission
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/07/09 01:57 CDT | 6 comments
Follow along as NASA reacts to the recommendations of the science definition team for the next Mars rover.
Field Report From Mars: Sol 3355 - July 2, 2013
Posted by Larry Crumpler on 2013/07/08 06:04 CDT
By Sol 3325 Opportunity has driven up onto the next "island" of rock, "Sutherland Point" and "Nobbys Head." On this sol Opportunity is only about 700 m from the goal, the mountains to the south.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/07/07 10:24 CDT | 9 comments
The south polar cap of Mars is riddled with strange landscapes.
Mars Exploration Rovers Mission Update: Opportunity Continues Sprint to Solander Point
Sols 3325 - 3354
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2013/07/04 04:04 CDT | 1 comments
The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission celebrated its 10th anniversary of leaving Earth in June, as Opportunity continued the sprint to its next winter haven at Endeavour Crater.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/06/27 10:55 CDT | 9 comments
It had never occurred to me to think about geostationary satellites in Mars orbit before reading a new paper by Juan Silva and Pilar Romero. The paper shows that it takes a lot more work to maintain a stationary orbit at an arbitrary longitude at Mars than it does at Earth.
If we started today, how long would it take to get to Mars? With this budget, never.
Analysis of the House Science Committee Hearing on the 2013 NASA Authorization Bill
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/06/19 04:38 CDT | 6 comments
The House of Representatives held a hearing today to discuss their proposed NASA authorization bill, which would fund Planetary Science, cut Earth Science, forbid asteroid retrieval, and command NASA to pursue a path to Mars via the Moon.
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