Watching the news about the discovery of water on Mars Tuesday, I was reminded of Auden’s great poem, “Mus
March 2nd, 2004
Rover Finds Mars Was Wet Enough for Life
Mars rover Opportunity has found evidence that the Red Planet was once wet enough for life to exist there, but the robot has not found any direct traces of living organisms, NASA scientists announced Tuesday. “Opportunity has landed in an area of Mars where liquid water once drenched the surface,” said Edward Weiler, associate NASA administrator for space science, at a news conference. “This area would have been a good, habitable environment.”
February 26th, 2004
Space Test Dummies
Soon, “Matroshka” will go where none of his kind has gone before
February 17th, 2004
From Heat to Cold Power
Mercouri Kanatzidis envisions a refrigerator that not only would keep the Maytag repairman pining by a silent phone, but could put him out of business altogether. Gone would be the noisy compressors, the environmentally dubious coolants, and the dust bunnies under the cooling coils. Instead, says the chemistry professor at Michigan State University, the unit would rely on electricity flowing through specially designed semiconductors to keep the inside of the icebox chilled. Those same semiconductors also could be used to convert wasted heat in auto exhaust pipes, power-plant smokestacks, or other sources into valuable electricity.
February 12th, 2004
Busy Rovers Back to Work on Mars
The Mars rover Spirit got moving again Thursday after an interruption caused by cold, and controllers figured out how to drive its twin, Opportunity, so that it won’t slip on the sloping martian terrain.
February 9th, 2004
Opportunity Peeks Over Mars Crater Rim
NASA’s Opportunity rover peeked over the rim of the crater in which it landed and was able to see the clamshell holder and parachute it discarded just before hitting the surface of Mars, scientists said Monday. A photograph from Opportunity, released at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, showed the two objects distinctly, on a largely featureless surface.
January 30th, 2004
NASA Scans Mars Rock Data for Water Clues
Scientists were trying Friday to determine whether NASA’s Opportunity rover spotted evidence of a mineral that typically forms in water, a finding that would provide a clue that dry and dusty Mars may once have been wet. NASA landed two rovers on Mars to hunt for geologic evidence that would show whether the planet ever was wet enough to support life.
January 29th, 2004
NASA Reflects on Space Program Casualties
NASA’s chief reminded employees Thursday that “the consequences of us not getting it right are catastrophic,” as the space agency paused to remember the dead crew members of Columbia, Challenger and Apollo. Administrator Sean O’Keefe said in a televised address that space exploration is risky but never should result in fatalities because of “complacency, indifference, failure to attend to detail.” That should be a solemn pledge for anyone who works in the space program, he said.
January 22nd, 2004
NASA Unable to Communicate with Mars Rover
NASA scientists said on Thursday they had lost contact with the robot rover Spirit on Mars and were unsure what had caused the problem. Spirit project manager Pete Theisinger told a news briefing that there was a “very serious anomaly” in communications with the six-wheeled craft, which landed on Mars on Jan. 3 on a planned three-month mission to explore the geologic history of the planet. Theisinger said scientists had been unable to communicate with Spirit for about 24 hours and had so far been unable to explain the source of the problem.
January 20th, 2004
Spirit Rover Begins Probing Martian Soil
The Spirit rover used its entire tool kit for the first time to complete a down-and-dirty analysis of the martian soil, using a “Swiss army knife” of gadgets to probe the dirt’s mineral composition, scientists said Tuesday. NASA scientists said the results of the probe which included the first-ever analysis by a Mossbauer spectrometer outside Earth revealed as many questions as answers.