NASA selects Mars climate mission: related news

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.

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.

NASA selects Mars climate mission

NASA has approved its next orbiter mission to Mars. The Maven spacecraft will arrive at the Red Planet in late 2014, to study the atmosphere and climate history of Earth's near neighbour.

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)

Lockheed Gets $485M From NASA To Create MAVEN Craft

coondoggie writes to tell us that Lockheed Martin has landed a $485 million contract to create the spacecraft for NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) project. "MAVEN is the second mission in NASA's Mars Scout Program — a series of small, low-cost, principal investigator-led missions to the Red Planet, NASA said. The Phoenix Mars Lander was the first mission under the program. Lockheed Martin is the industry partner on the Phoenix mission. It designed and built the spacecraft, and also provided flight operations and currently surface operations for the lander. The mission has been extended through Sept. 30, 2008."

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.

NASA Announces Next Mars Mission

Grant Henninger writes "Today, NASA announced their final selection for the Mars Scout 2013 mission: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN. MAVEN will provide the first direct measurements ever taken to address key scientific questions about Mars's evolution by measuring characteristics of its atmospheric gases, upper atmosphere, solar wind, and ionosphere. The mission, estimated to cost $485M, is scheduled for launch in late 2013."

Lockheed Martin Spacecraft to be Flown for NASA's MAVEN Mars Mission

has been selected by NASA to design, build and operate the spacecraft for NASA's Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) program. NASA's newest mission will analyze the upper atmosphere and past climate change on Mars. The $485-million project is led by principal investigator Bruce Jakosky of the

Lockheed Martin Spacecraft to be Flown for NASA's MAVEN Mars Mission

PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has been selected by NASA to design, build and operate the spacecraft for NASA's Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) program. NASA's newest mission will analyze the upper atmosphere and past climate change on Mars. The

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.

ASU Mars instrument gets new lease on life as NASA extends Mars Odyssey mission

TEMPE, Ariz. - A six-minute rocket firing on September 30 has put NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft on track for a new orbit around the Red Planet. The change, part of a two-year extension for the mission, will give an ASU-operated instrument carried on Odyssey greater sensitivity for mapping Martian minerals. The instrument is the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), a multi-band heat-sensing camera operated by ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility.

Low-Power FPGAs Aboard NASA?s Mission to Mars to Study Climate History

Home >> Features >> Application Briefs >> Low-Power FPGAs Aboard NASA’s Mission to Mars to Study Climate History

NASA calls end to Mars Phoenix mission

NASA officials have decided to call an end to the Mars Phoenix Mission, after winter took hold of the red planet. NASA calls the mission a total success.

Energizer-Bunny Odyssey Spacecraft Will Keep Going

Seems like everyone at Mars is getting an extended mission these days – every spacecraft, that is. The Mars Odyssey orbiting spacecraft, the longest-serving of six spacecraft now studying Mars, has gotten another two-year extension of its mission. And mission extensions are great opportunities to try something new, so Odyssey is altering its orbit to get a different and better look at Mars with its Thermal Emission Imaging System which maps minerals on Mars in infrared. During this third mission extension, which goes through September 2010, Odyssey will also be able to point its camera with more flexibility than ever before. Odyssey is another Energizer Bunny-like spacecraft: it has been going and going since it reached Mars in 2001.

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 to Discuss Hubble Anomaly and Servicing Mission Launch Delay

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 6 p.m. EDT today to discuss a significant Hubble Space Telescope anomaly that occurred this weekend affecting the storage and transmittal of science data to Earth. Fixing the problem will delay next month's space shuttle Atlantis' Hubble servicing mission. The briefing participants are: - Ed Weiler, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington - John Shannon, Shuttle Program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston - Preston Burch, Hubble manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. To participate in the teleconference, reporters in the U.S. should call 1-800-369-6087 and use the pass code Hubble.

NASA Whittles Down List of Next Mars Landing Sites

Four intriguing places on Mars have risen to the final round as NASA selects a landing site for its next Mars mission, the Mars Science Laboratory.

Site List Narrows For NASA's Next Mars Landing

Four intriguing places on Mars have risen to the final round as NASA selects a landing site for its next Mars mission, the Mars Science Laboratory.

Site List Narrows For NASA's Next Mars Landing

PASADENA, Calif. -- Four intriguing places on Mars have risen to the final round as NASA selects a landing site for its next Mars mission, the Mars Science Laboratory.

NASA Can't Reach Mars Lander, Ends Mission

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander monitors the atmosphere overhead and reaches out to the soil below in this artist's depiction of the spacecraft fully deployed on the surface of Mars. (NASA/JPL/UA/Lockheed Martin)

NASA says Phoenix Mars mission has ended

NASA on Monday declared an end to the Phoenix mission, some five months after the spacecraft became the first to land in Mars' arctic plains and taste water on another planet. Mission engineers have not heard from the Phoenix lander in over a week. It fell silent shortly after a raging dust storm blocked sunlight from reaching its solar panels.

NASA says Phoenix Mars mission has ended

NASA on Monday declared an end to the Phoenix mission, some five months after the spacecraft became the first to land in Mars' arctic plains and taste water on another planet. Mission engineers have not heard from the Phoenix lander in over a week. It fell silent shortly after a raging dust storm blocked sunlight from reaching its solar panels.

NASA : Mars mission fails

A dust storm and the onset of Martian winter have brought the Phoenix Mars Lander's mission to an end, NASA announced Monday. Mission controllers last heard from the vehicle on November 2.

NASA to Discuss Phoenix Mars Mission Science Data

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media briefing Monday, Sept. 29, at 2 p.m. EDT, to discuss the latest developments, findings and upcoming science opportunities of the Phoenix Mars Lander. The briefing will take place in the NASA Headquarters' James E. Webb Auditorium, 300 E St., S.W., Washington. It will be carried live on NASA Television and on the Web.

NASA Says Phoenix Mars Mission Has Ended

(LOS ANGELES) — NASA on Monday declared an end to the Phoenix mission, some five months after the spacecraft became the first to land in Mars' arctic plains and taste water on another planet. Mission engineers have not heard from the Phoenix lander in over a week. It fell silent shortly after a raging dust storm blocked sunlight from reaching its solar panels.

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