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One Strange Mars Rock

Nancy Atkinson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:37:48 +0000

Opportunity has come upon another big rock on Mars. But what is it? Another meteorite? A big clump of ejecta from an old impact? There's lots of other debris scattered around this area as well. The rock has been named "Marquette Island," staying with the island theme for the other meteorites Oppy has come across, and the rover may take the "opportunity" to get closer to this rock and check it out, given the sand dunes surrounding it don't provide too much of an obstacle. So maybe next week we'll find out what it is. But in the meantime, enjoy these color and 3-D images (see more below) of the rock via Stu Atkinson from Unmannedspaceflight.com. Check out more great looks at Marquette Island at Stu's blog about Oppy's travels, Road to Endeavour.

Oh, and rumor has it that the extrication process may have begun to free the Spirit rover. Latest images show she has moved every so slightly. More as it becomes available….
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mars, Mars Rovers, Opportunity

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Mars Explorers May Use AI to Become 'Cyborg Astrobiologists'

Nicholos Wethington — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:46:04 +0000

Ever heard of a 'Cyborg Astrobiologist'? Probably not. But I bet you'll want to be one after learning that future exploration of Mars (and other planets, for that matter) may employ the use of artificial intelligence integrated into spacesuits to enhance the ability of astronauts in taking scientific data while exploring. The AI assistance could help future astronauts exploring planets to recognize differences in their surroundings as being due to the presence of life. Does this sound like something from 50 years from now? Well, a prototype model has already been tested, and has shown the principle behind this idea to be sound.

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© nick for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Astrobiology, Exploration, Mars

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Bacteria Could Survive in Martian Soil

Nicholos Wethington — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:57:02 +0000

Multiple missions have been sent to Mars with the hopes of testing the surface of the planet for life – or the conditions that could create life – on the Red Planet. The question of whether life in the form of bacteria (or something even more exotic!) exists on Mars is hotly debated, and still requires a resolute yes or no. Experiments done right here on Earth that simulate the conditions on Mars and their effects on terrestrial bacteria show that it is entirely possible for certain strains of bacteria to weather the harsh environment of Mars.(...)
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Northern Spring Approaches on Mars: Will Phoenix Phone Home?

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:05:05 +0000

I was just thinking of the Phoenix lander earlier this week, wondering if our little buddy was surviving the Martian winter when, boom: via Twitter came this:

@MarsPhoenix "Spring has sprung in the north hemi(sphere) of Mars! Team is waiting for longer daylight hours, around mid-Jan., to 'listen' for our lander."

Then, via another Tweet from @doug_ellison, (Doug Ellision) I found out the folks at Unmannedspaceflight.com have been thinking about the Phoenix lander, too. Phil Stooke from the UMSF crew had searched for Phoenix in the latest images released by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, taken in August 2009 and found of glimmer of hope the lander was still visible among the CO2 frost and "snow." See the comparison above of the landing site from Dec. 2008 to August 2009. Then Emily Lakadawalla of the Planetary Society Blog took things one step further and made a little "movie" of HiRISE images of Phoenix during the different seasons on Mars (check out her extensive post here.) Hope springs eternal for many of us as to whether we'll ever hear from Phoenix again, and time will only tell. But its nice to know there were lots of us with Phoenix on the brain this week; kind of a shared experience! (except everyone else did all the work….) See below for more closeups of Phoenix's winter surroundings from UMSF.
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Volunteers Still Needed for Simulated Mars Mission

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:13:31 +0000

Need to get away from it all? If you have a background in medicine, computers or engineering and can speak a little Russian and English, this might be just what you are looking for. The European Space Agency and the Russian Institute of Medical and Biological Problems are still looking for volunteers to participate in a 520-day simulation of an expedition to Mars. The institute announced last week the opening of registration, but haven't yet gotten enough applicants. The nearly two-year experiment will simulate all aspects of a journey to the Red Planet, with a 250-day outward trip, a 30-day stay on its surface, and a 240-day return flight.
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Missions to Mars Poster

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:33:38 +0000

If you enjoyed the zoomable poster of 50 year of space exploration, you'll probably also like this new poster of Mars missions. It's basically a bar graph, with missions to Mars as listed chronologically, and the mission result is coded by how close the corresponding bar reaches to Mars. The poster also lists a few of the upcoming missions as well. Cool!

Via Fast Company

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MER Team Prepares to Extract Spirit

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:49:56 +0000

To prepare for an actual attempt to extract the Spirit rover from its sand-trapped predicament, engineers using test rovers on Earth have added a new challenge. Until last week, those commanding and assessing drives by the test rovers were usually in the same room as the sandbox setup simulating Spirit's predicament, where they can watch how each test goes. That changed for the latest preparation, called an operational readiness test.
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Opportunity Discovers Still Another Meteorite! Find It on Google Mars

Nancy Atkinson — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:17:09 +0000

Mackinac on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL/ colorization by Stuart Atkinson

Opportunity must be driving down Meteorite Alley on Mars. The rover has come across still another meteorite, the third space rock it has found the past few months, and fourth overall since 2005. This one is called Mackinac, which continues the "island" theme by which the science team has dubbed the meteorites. Block Island was found in July 2009, and Opportunity came upon Shelter Island the end of September (around sol 2020 for the rover). Mackinac was found on sol 2034 (Oct 13), and it looks very similar in composition to the two earlier meteorites. Opportunity analyzed the Block Island and found it was made of iron and nickel.

The image above was color calibrated by Stu Atkinson, who hangs out at UnmannedSpaceflight.com. You can find all the raw images Opportunity has sent back to Earth here, and raw images from Spirit here. But you can also follow Opportunity in other ways….
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Google Mars, Mars, Opportunity

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Amazing and Marvelous Mars Dunes

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:14:15 +0000

I see the Bad Astronomer has beat me to the punch by posting this image before I could. But what an amazing and gorgeous image of dunes on Mars! However, my initial thought when I saw this on the HiRISE webpage was perhaps this was the first long-awaited look at Phil's tattoo. Seriously, doesn't this look like it could be body art? The dunes even have a Phil-like flesh color. But this wonderful image was taken by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. There is a great database of dune images gathered for the US Geological Survey on the HiRISE website, and below, take a gander at more lovely dune images:
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Here Be Dragons on Mars!

Nancy Atkinson — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:03:32 +0000

Image from Opportunity's Panoramic camera on sol 2029. Credit: NASA/JPL, colorized and annoted by Stu Atkinson

Oh no! Hopefully the same folks who went nuts over the Bigfoot on Mars don't see this one! Could there really be a dragon on Mars? Relax, its just a shadow from Opportunity's camera mast, distorted by the unusual and bumpy fusion crust surface of the Shelter Island meteorite that the Mars rover has been studying the past few days. But it seems rather fitting: "Here Be Dragons" is a phrase used to denote unexplored territories, and that is certainly where Oppy and Spirit are in their explorations of Mars.

Thanks to Stu Atkinson for the colorized version of this rover image.

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Why We All Love HiRISE

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:44:03 +0000

My description of this image: "Holy moly — what a gorgeous shot!" NASA's description of this image: "Layers in the lower portion of two neighboring buttes within the Noctis Labyrinthus formation on Mars are visible in this image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter."

Absolutely beautiful. Click the image for access to larger versions. 'Nuf said.

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Opportunity Finds Another Big Meteorite

Nancy Atkinson — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:33:56 +0000

It's amazing what a rover can find laying by the side of the road. The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found a rock that apparently is another meteorite. Less than three weeks ago, Opportunity drove away from a larger meteorite called "Block Island" that the rover examined for six weeks. Now, this new meteorite, dubbed "Shelter Island," is another fairly big rock, about 47 centimeters (18.8 inches) long, that fell from the skies. Block Island is about 60 centimeters (2 feet) across and was just 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) away from this latest meteorite find. At first look, the two meteorites look to be of a similar makeup; Opportunity found that Block Island was is made of nickel and iron.

This image was taken during Oppy's 2,022nd Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 1, 2009).

See below for a 3-D version of this image created by Stu Atkinson.
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NASA Tests New Robotic Lander for Future Moon, Asteroid Missions

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:58:28 +0000

The best way to study the new-found water on the Moon would be with in-situ instruments. Since humans won't be making any lunar landings for at least a decade, the next best option is robotic spacecraft. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is developing and testing a new robotic lander to explore not only the Moon, but also asteroids and Mars. This design is definitely next generation: it's bigger than any lander yet and MSFC is currently testing the all-important final of reaching the destination: landing.
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New Images Reveal "Pure" Water Ice at Low Latitudes on Mars

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:17:52 +0000

Images of recent impact craters taken by the HiRISE Camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed sub-surface water ice halfway between the north pole and the equator on Mars. While the Phoenix lander imaged subsurface ice where the top layer of soil had been disturbed at the landing site near the north pole, these new images – taken in quick succession, detecting how the ice sublimated away — are the first to show evidence of water ice at much lower latitudes. Surprisingly, the white ice may be made from 99 percent pure water.
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Columbia Hills Flyover 2.0; Awesome Meridiani Mosaics

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:44:32 +0000

About 18 months ago Doug Ellison from UnmannedSpaceflight.com created a flyover of the Columbia Hills on Mars using data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Spirit, the Mars rover. He's now done a 2.0 version to mark Spirit's recent birthday — she's been on Mars for 3 Martian years. Ellison made the skies a little hazier to mark the moderate dust storm that occurred recently and put Spirit in her current predicament, stuck in the sandy soil near Home Plate. Additionally, he added music and an intro credit page to avoid it being badly credited, (which happened when it was posted on Astronomy Picture of the Day in May of 2008) as well as a map at the end to show where Spirit has been all this time. If you saw the first version, this one is even better. If you haven't seen it before, prepare to be amazed.

Not to leave out Opportunity, below you'll find some incredible drive mosaics put together by James Canvin, also from UnmannedSpaceflight.com. Oppy is putting the pedal to the metal to reach Endeavour Crater and is covering a lot of territory these days.
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Why is Mars Red? New Study Offers Surprises

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:47:03 +0000

Is Mars red due to rocks being rusted by the water that once flooded the red planet? And is the only explanation for the hematite found by Mars orbiters and studied by the Mars Exploration rovers is that water once was present in volumes on Mars? Not necessarily, says a new study. Research done by Dr. Jonathan Merrison at the Aarhus Mars Simulation Laboratory in Denmark shows that the red dust that covers Mars may be formed by ongoing grinding of surface rocks. Liquid water need not have played any significant role in the red dust formation process.
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Phoenix's Telltale Tells All About Winds and Weather on Mars

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:47:28 +0000

On board the plucky little Phoenix Mars lander was an even pluckier and littler device called the Telltale. It measured, for the first time, wind speeds and directions at the Mars polar region. Scientists have now been able to summarize the results from the Telltale, and presented their findings at the European Planetary Science Conference in Potsdam, Germany. They shared some unexpected new findings about the weather on Mars.
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New Evidence of Dry Lake Beds on Mars

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:10:02 +0000

Networks of giant polygonal troughs found in crater basins on Mars are cracks caused by evaporating lakes. These landforms had been attributed to thermal contractions in the Martian permafrost, similar to what the Phoenix lander explored near the north pole on the Red Planet. But these polygon-shaped cracks are too large to be caused by thermal contractions and provide further evidence of a warmer, wetter Martian past.
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Search for the Mars Polar Lander in New HiRISE Images

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:42:28 +0000

We had an enthusiastic response to an article we ran in July about searching through images from the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to help find the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander. Now, Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog has sent out an alert that a dozen more images are available from the big release of images from HiRISE for additional searches for MPL, including the image above. See this page from the HiRISE site for a links to all the images. On this page, you'll find an overview of the Mars Polar Lander, its disappearance, the search to find it, and why they want to find it. Emily also has a lengthy post with tips and instructions on how to search for particular objects in the HiRISE images. If you think you have found something of interest, post a comment on this page of the HiRISE Blog, or use this form to contact the HiRISE team. The UnmannedSpaceflight website has a thread discussing the search (serious searchers only).

Ok, phew, I think that's all the links you'll need! Let me know if I missed something….

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Love Mars? Then This is For You

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:03:07 +0000

PDS Montage. Credit: HiRISE

We frequently ooh and aah over the images returned by the HiRISE camera from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and now there's gonna be a whole lot of oohing and aahing going on. The HiRISE folks have just released more than 1,500 new observations of Mars for the Planetary Data System archive, showing a wide range of gullies, dunes, craters, geological layering and other features on the Red Planet. Take a gander at some of the highlights:
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Future Designs: Robotic Mars Greenhouse, Teleporting Fridge

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:50:59 +0000

Now THIS is what I'm talking about! Every year Electrolux holds a competition for students to design concepts for future appliances, and they've just announced the eight finalists. My favs: a robotic greenhouse for Mars and a teleporting refrigerator. Le Petit Prince (Little Prince) is a robotic greenhouse concept that is specially designed to help the future exploration and expanding population when we colonize Mars. This intelligent robot carries and cares for a plant inside its glass container, which is functionally mounted on a four-legged self-transporting pod. Not only does it search for the optimum place to receive enough sunlight and other nutrients, it also send reports of its movements and developments to its fellow greenhouse robots through wireless communication. It was designed by Martin Miklica, from the Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic. He said he was inspired by the book The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov and R2-D2 from Star Wars (and surely Wall-E had something to do with this, too.)

See video of Le Petit Prince, below, and of the teleporting fridge.
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Mars Reconnissance Orbiter Goes Into Safe Mode Again

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:10:44 +0000

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter put itself into a safe mode Wednesday morning, Aug. 26, for the fourth time this year. While in safe mode, the spacecraft can communicate normally with Earth, but aborts its scheduled activities, and awaits further instructions from ground controllers. "We hope to gain a better understanding of what is triggering these events and then have the spacecraft safely resume its study of Mars by next week," said MRO Project Manager Jim Erickson.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mars, mars missions, mars reconnaissance orbiter

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Mars Kicking Spirit When She's Down

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:10:03 +0000

The Spirit rover has been stuck in loose soil on Mars for several months now, and just as the rover team is preparing to execute maneuvers to attempt to free Spirit, a dust storm hits. Is Mars an unforgiving planet or what? The amount of electricity generated by the solar panels on Spirit has been declining for the past several Martian days, or sols, because of the storm, and Spirit's daily activities have been trimmed. Those watching over the rover are keeping an eye on weather reports from observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. While the rover team at JPL are keeping their "spirits" up, a recent image from the rover indicates Spirit herself might be getting frustrated with her string of bad luck:
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2000 Sols on Mars

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:34:21 +0000

Another milestone for the Mars Exploration Rovers: Spirit has been operating on Mars for 2000 sols, or Martian days. Who would have ever thought the rovers would last this long? But here they are, still going, um, pretty strong. Even though she's got plenty of electrical power, Spirit is currently stuck in loose soil at her location, called Troy. But engineers are working hard to figure out how to set her free. Check out the latest on the efforts at the Free Spirit website.

To celebrate Spirit's milestone, Unmanned Spaceflight's Astro0 has put together a Sol 2000 poster over at his website, Astro0 in Space. It's gorgeous, and includes a new poem by my pal Stuart Atkinson, so check it out!

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HiRISE Highlights: Crater Within a Crater, Awesome View of Victoria and More

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:07:39 +0000

I was just thinking it had been awhile since we featured images from the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, so I moseyed over to the HiRISE website only to be blown away by their newest releases. This incredible crater in Meridiani Planum shows a possible double whammy of impacts. It looks as though material filled in the original crater only to be blown out a second time. Another option is that the material in the crater could have collapsed, giving the appearance of a second impact. You can bet the HiRISE team will be looking more closely at this one. Before we move on to more great images, an update on MRO, which unexpectedly went into "safe" mode last week: MRO has now been restored to full operations, after switching to its backup computer. Engineers successfully transitioned the orbiter out of limited-activity "safe" mode on Saturday, Aug. 8, and resumed use of the spacecraft's science instruments on Monday, Aug. 10. This has happened a few times, and engineers are trying to figure out the root cause of this.
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