NASA Gives Green Light to Threatened Mars Rover: related news

NASA Gives Green Light to Threatened Mars Rover

Friday's decision to proceed comes after concerns were raised about the Mars Science Laboratory's budget and technical progress.

Mars Science Laboratory: Still Alive, For Now

The Mars Science Laboratory, the next generation of Mars rovers slated to head to Mars in 2009, is still alive, for the time being. The car-sized rover designed to look for life on Mars is over budget and behind schedule due to technical problems, and NASA officials met today to discuss their options. Potentially, Congress could pull the plug on the mission if cost overruns go too high. NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and Science Associate Administrator Ed Weiler were briefed, and met with mission managers in attempt to work out a potential solution. In a press briefing today, Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA headquarters said the rover's progress will be assessed again in January, but the mission will need more money.

Online Community Committed to Growing the Green Building Market

Rate It Green (www.rateitgreen.com) is an online community for everyone interested in finding green building and design products and services. Our objective is to facilitate an open marketplace where everyone can shop for and buy green products and services confidently. Rate It Green features an online Directory and Green Ratings system as well as a Green Forum where members can share their thoughts and ask questions about a variety of green products, services, and related topics. Our hope is that Rate It Green will help newcomers and experts alike discover new products and learn the pros and cons about existing materials and services from those who have actually worked with and used them. The company also publishes a guide to green building information resources, called Green Building 101.

NASA's Mars Rover to Head Toward Bigger Crater

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is setting its sights on a crater more than 20 times larger than its home for the past two years. To reach the crater the rover team calls Endeavour, Opportunity would need to drive approximately 7 miles to the southeast, matching the total distance it has traveled since landing on Mars in early 2004. The rover climbed out of Victoria Crater earlier this month. "We may not get there, but it is scientifically the right direction to go anyway," said Steve Squyres of

NASA Invites Students to Name New Mars Rover

WASHINGTON -- NASA is looking for the right stuff, or in this case, the right name for the next Mars rover. NASA, in cooperation with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures' movie WALL-E from Pixar Animation Studios, will conduct a naming contest for its car-sized Mars Science Laboratory rover that is scheduled for launch in 2009.

Mars Rover Spirit Still Alive

Toren Altair writes with this excerpt from a story at The Space Fellowship: "NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit communicated via the Mars Odyssey orbiter today right at the time when ground controllers had told it to, prompting shouts of 'She's talking!' among the rover team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 'This means Spirit has not gone into a fault condition and is still being controlled by sequences we send from the ground,' said John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., project manager for Spirit and its twin, Opportunity."

NASA Selects Mission to Study Mars Atmosphere

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has selected a Mars robotic mission that will provide information about the Red Planet's atmosphere, climate history and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before. Called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, the $485 million mission is scheduled for launch in late 2013. The selection was evaluated to have the best science value and lowest implementation risk from 20 mission investigation proposals submitted in response to a NASA Announcement of Opportunity in August 2006. "This mission will provide the first direct measurements ever taken to address key scientific questions about Mars' evolution," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Rover Sand Traps Provide Clues on Mars Climate

If you watched the "Five Years on Mars" documentary on the National Geographic channel about the Mars Exploration Rovers, you probably saw how both rovers have gotten stuck in some of the small sand dunes on Mars surface. These dune fields on Mars are a bit of a mystery to planetary geologists, and in fact, there is nothing like them on Earth. The fields of rippled sand on Mars, called Transverse Aeolian Ridges (TARs), are found over large areas across Mars. The dunes themselves are smaller than the gigantic dunes also found on Mars, but the fields are bigger than any sand ripple fields found on Earth. TARs hold clues to past and present climate processes, and since they can be death traps for rovers, scientists want to know more about these unusual features.

The NASA Spirit Rover Lives!

Nerds cheered and wept with happiness as NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit responded to ground control commands today via the Mars Odyssey orbiter. Earlier this week, NASA feared that the rover would fall victim to the same problem that killed our beloved Phoenix Mars Lander. The dust storm is still a problem, but Spirit has managed to gather enough solar energy to communicate normally. Once again, Spirit has lived up to the name and proven that its a fighter. [Spacefellowship via Slashdot]

Lockheed Martin Delivers Mars Science Laboratory Backshell to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

recently delivered the backshell for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The backshell is half of the large and sophisticated two-part aeroshell that will encapsulate and protect the MSL rover during its deep space cruise to Mars, and from the intense heat and friction that will be generated as the system descends through the Martian atmosphere. Lockheed Martin has designed and built nearly every capsule flown by NASA for space exploration since Apollo, but none as large as the MSL aeroshell at about 15 feet in diameter. For comparison, the heatshields of the Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers measured 8.5 feet and Apollo capsule heatshields measured just under 13 feet. In addition to protecting the rover, the backshell provides the structural support for the parachute and

Dust Storm Cuts Energy Supply of NASA Mars Rover Spirit

The deck of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is so dusty that the rover almost blends into the dusty background. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

Dust Storm Cuts Energy Supply Of NASA Mars Rover Spirit

A dust storm on Mars has cut into the amount of sunlight reaching the solar array on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, leaving the rover in a vulnerable state.

Controllers Cheer As Data Arrive From NASA's Spirit Rover

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit communicated via the Mars Odyssey orbiter today right at the time when ground controllers had told it to, prompting shouts of "She's talking!" among the rover team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

NASA's Spirit Rover is alive

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit communicated via the Mars Odyssey orbiter today right at the time when ground controllers had told it to, prompting shouts of “She’s talking!” among the rover team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

NASA Says Phoenix Mars Mission Has Ended

This artist's rendering provided by NASA shows the Phoenix Mars spacecraft. NASA said Monday, Nov. 10. 2008, that the Phoenix Mars mission has ended. The lander has been digging trenches and conducting science experiments since May, to study whether the environment on Mars could support primitive life. (AP Photo/NASA)

NASA Mars Exploration Opportunity Rover Update: October 3-7, 2008

Like a motorist preparing for a road trip, NASA's Opportunity rover is studying a "road atlas" of Mars, using details provided by a powerful camera in orbit above the red planet. Opportunity's road crew is poring over every detail of the landscape in images from the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Team members will use the data to select a route to "Endeavour Crater" 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) away.

Mars Rover Team Sets Low-Power Plan for NASA's Spirit

PASADENA, Calif. -- After assessing data received from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on Thursday, mission controllers laid out plans for the rover to conserve its modest energy during the next few weeks.

NASA's Mars rover Spirit imperiled by dust storms

The most recent self-portrait of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the solar panels still gleaming in the Martian sunlight and carrying only a thin veneer of dust two years after the rover landed and began exploring the red planet.

Mars Satellite's First Weather Report

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circling Mars for over two years now, and has provided unprecedented views of the Red Planet with its HiRISE Camera. But did you also know that MRO is a weather-monitoring satellite, too? The Mars Climate Sounder instrument is examining the Martian atmosphere and has issued its first Mars weather report. "It has taken 20 years and three missions but we finally have an instrument in orbit that gives us a detailed view of the entire atmosphere of Mars and it is already giving us fresh insights into the Martian climate," said Professor Fred Taylor of Oxford University. Within a paper issued by the Mars 'weather team' comes surprising news: during the freezing Martian winter the atmosphere above the planet’s South Pole is considerably warmer than predicted.

NASA Moves Forward with Mars Rover Launch in 2009

Despite “spiraling costs” and looming deadlines, NASA decided to move forward with the planned 2009 launch of the next Mars rover. The next-gen rover is the size of an SUV and will sport a laser. Final price tag is expected to be near $2 billion.

NASA to press ahead for 2009 Mars rover launch

A full-circle panoramic view of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander during the first several weeks after it arrived on an arctic plain on Mars in late May. (AP / NASA)

NASA Orbiter Reveals Details of Wetter Mars

NASA orbiter reveals details of wetter Mars WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has observed a new category of minerals spread across large regions of Mars, which suggests liquid water remained on the planet's surface 1 billion years later than scientists believed, the U.S. space agency NASA announced Tuesday.

Mars Rover Spirit Remains Quiet as Dust Storm Weakens

The deck of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is so dusty that the rover almost blends into the dusty background. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

NASA finds evidence of a wetter Mars

This NASA artist's conception shows the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in low orbit over the planet Mars, March 10, 2006. The NASA probe entered orbit Friday in search of water, life and other information about our red neighbor. (UPI Photo/NASA)

Mars Rover's Epic Trek For the Crater Endeavor

Smivs writes "The BBC reports that NASA is to send its Mars rover Opportunity on a two-year trek to try to reach a crater called Endeavour. The robot will have to move about 11km to get to its new target — a distance that would double what it has already achieved on the planet. Endeavour is much bigger than anything investigated to date, and will allow a broader range of rocks to be studied. Detailed satellite imagery from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will help pick out the best route ahead; and new software recently uploaded to Opportunity will enable the rover to make its own decisions about how best to negotiate large rocks in its path. Opportunity has just emerged from the 800m-wide Victoria Crater. Endeavour, by comparison, is 22km across.

Search took 0.56 seconds.