Mars Orbiter Still Sidelined After Nine Weeks

October 29, 2009

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter remains sidelined nine weeks after a still-unexplained shutdown -- it’s fourth this year.

The problem appears to be with unexpected voltage signals or a device that measures voltages, reports the Arizona Daily Star.

Engineers are working on software fix, but no word yet on when NASA may try to resuscitate the spacecraft. MRO, which has produced detailed, unprecedented maps of the Martian surface, completed its prime science mission and has been being used to help scout landing sites for the Mars Science Lab, a roving geology station planned for launch in 2011.

A Snowball's Chance on Mars (Better Than You Think!)

September 24, 2009

If you think that a snowball’s chance on Mars is roughly the same as one in the mythical netherworld, park your eyes on this:

It’s ice in the pit of a Martian crater.

The pictures were taken by NASA’s sharp-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which found highly pure, bright ice in five newly formed craters.

Scientists had been comparing MRO images to look for changes, particularly dark marks associated with meteorite impacts.

“We saw something very unusual  -- this  bright blue material poking up from the bottom of the crater. It looked a lot like water ice. And sure enough, when we started monitoring this material, it faded away like you'd expect water ice to fade,” said Shane Byrne, with the University of Arizona.

Water ice is unstable on the Martian surface, transforming quickly into atmospheric water vapor, he added.

Scientists then used an MRO spectrometer to confirm the material was water.

"All of this had to happen very quickly because 200 days after we first saw the ice, it was gone, it was the color of dirt," Byrne said. "If we had taken (the) images just a few months later, we wouldn't have noticed anything unusual. This discovery would have just passed us by."

Byrne and 17 co-authors are reporting the findings in this week’s issue of Science.

(NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took this image of a new, 8-meter (26-foot)-diameter meteorite impact crater in the topographically flat, dark plains within Vastitas Borealis, Mars, on November 1, 2008. The crater was made sometime after Jan. 26, 2008. Bright water ice was excavated by, and now surrounds, the crater. This entire image is 50 meters (164 feet) across. Credit: NASA/University of Arizona.) 

Mars Rover Down But Not Out

August 18, 2009

NASA's robotic Mars geologist Spirit hasn't been idle while engineers at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif., try to figure out how to get its wheels unstuck from the sand.

In commemoration of its 2,000 day on Mars, NASA had Spirit radio back a series of seven images taken by its navigation camera. The area in Spirit's view has been informally named Troy. Always looking to make lemonade out of lemons, scientists have been studying Spirit's tracks where soil was turned up by the rover's stuck wheels. 

Engineers have been testing ways to free Spirit, which has been stuck in the soft sand since May.

(Photo: NASA) 

A Meteorite on Mars

August 04, 2009

NASA’s robotic Mars geologist may have stumbled on pay dirt -- a two-foot diameter rock that scientists suspect is  meteorite. Scientists first spotted the boulder on July 18 though the rover was traveling in the opposite direction. Ground controllers sent commands to turn the rover around and head back for a close up look. 

Tests to determine its chemical composition are under way, but initial results show the rock, nicknamed Block Island, is an iron meteorite.

(Credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory) 

Together, To Mars

July 08, 2009

Forty years after Neil Armstrong's giant leap for mankind, the United States and Europe took a small step toward a permanent partnership for Mars exploration. 

In a joint statement issued today, NASA's space science chief Ed Weiler and the European Space Agency's director of science and robotic exploration David Southwood, said they had agreed to create a Mars Exploration Joint Initiative, (known, of course, by the acronym MEJI) that "will provide a framework for the two agencies to define and implement their scientific, programmatic and technological goals at Mars."

Would you make a one-way journey to Mars?

May 31, 2009

Paul Davies, director of  an Arizona State University think tank/ science research center, raises the question in an article in Astrobiology Magazine, claiming it’d be a real price-chopper.

“It would be the first step to establishing a permanent human presence on another world,” writes Davies. And no, it’s not a suicide mission.

He envisions a foursome making the move, with the expectation that eventually they would be joined by others.

“This Mars base would grow and eventually become a permanent Mars colony that might take hundreds of years to establish,” Davies said.

7-year-old offers help for NASA's stuck rover

May 29, 2009

NASA is mining ideas from a new generation  -- our kids.  A 7-year-old named Julian posted on Twitter this idea about how to get the Mars rover Spirit unstuck from a sand pit. 

The lead rover driver Paolo Bellutta apparently is  impressed with the idea -- and grateful for the suggestion. The team wants to send their young advisor a present. 

Thanks for the tip, Boing-Boing

Update: Paolo writes "Unfortunately his suggestion (suggested also by other engineers) cannot implemented for several technical reasons, but felt it was important to encourage kids like Julian in using their imagination to solve tough problems." 

A curious name for NASA's new rover

May 27, 2009

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but NASA, for one, is hoping for a more alluring outcome. The results of a national contest to name the agency's next Mars rover are in, and the winning moniker is Curiosity.

In a press release NASA says it received more than 9,000 proposals from students. The selection committee also weighed suggestions from people involved in the  Mars Science Laboratory program and from a public poll (non-binding, particularly after the brouhaha stirred up by comedian Stephen Colbert, who made a pitch to have the space station's last connecting hub named after him.)

Sixth-grader Clara Ma of Kansas won the honors, thanks in part to an essay that reads:

"Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It  makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life  will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder." 

NASA says that Curiosity will be larger and more capable than any craft previously  sent to land on Mars and that it will check to see whether the environment in a selected landing region ever has been favorable for  supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of life.

Curiously missing from the Curiosity release is that the rover won't be launched this year, as originally planned, due to technical complexities and budget overruns. Let's just hope Curiosity doesn't kill off the rest of NASA's Mars science program getting back on track. 

Tally-Ho! Mars Rover Spies Crater Destination

March 18, 2009

After trudging across the Martian desert for six months, Opportunity, one of NASA's two roving robotic geology stations on Mars, has spied its destination -- a 14-mile diameter wide crater named Endeavour. 

The target is seven miles away and even farther for Opportunity, which has to take a circuitous route to avoid getting stuck. The rover has traveled about two miles since climbing out of Victoria Crater, its last target. 

"It's exciting to see our destination, even if we can't be certain whether we'll ever get all the way there," John Callas, NASA's manager for its Mars rovers, said in a statement.  "At the pace we've made since leaving Victoria,  the rest of the trek will take more than a Martian year."

One year on Mars is 23 months on Earth -- and probably feels a lot longer with nothing to break up the scenery.

(Credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

NASA Delays Mars Probe

December 04, 2008

NASA is dumping plans for next year’s launch an ambitious science probe to the surface of Mars to search for signs of life.

The new plan, outlined during a press conference on Thursday, is to fly in 2011, the next time Earth and Mars are favorably positioned.

“If we could delay the launch for a few months we would, but launch opportunities don’t allow that,” said NASA chief Michael Griffin.

The problem revolves around motors in a system being designed to lower the Mars Science Laboratory onto the planet’s surface.

The delays will add another $400 million or more to the probe’s already-ballooned $1.9 billion price tag. Managers expect to delay other Mars probes, and if necessary, other projects in NASA’s space science portfolio, to cover the costs. Those folks weren't at the press conference.