NASA Mars exploration managers at the Jet Propulsion Lab, in California, are pondering whether or not to command the Spirit rover to back out over its own tracks in an attempt to free the bogged rover.
The compacted soil could be stronger and allow the Spirit rover to free itself. NASA managers say it will take weeks to free the rover, and cautioned the attempt may not work at all.
December 1st, 2009
Mars rover Spirit may back track its way out of being stuck Alabama Live
November 13th, 2009
Time magazine names NASA Ares I rocket program best invention of 2009 Alabama Live
Shortly after coming off a successful Ares program test launch, NASA’s Ares I rocket team has been given Time magazine’s top accolade in science and technology of the No. 1 best invention of 2009.
“Well, I was shocked and amazed when I saw the story, but it shows the work our team has done over the past four years,” said Teresa Vanhooser, acting manager of Ares projects at Marshall Space Flight Center. “I’m just proud for the entire team.”
On Oct. 28, NASA lofted the Ares I-X test rocket into the Florida sky for almost seven minutes. The test will help NASA design and build the planned Ares I, which the space agency hopes to replace the retiring space shuttle with by 2015.
“It was an outstanding test, and it validated some areas and showed us where we need to improve. That’s what test flight is about,” Vanhooser told The Times today.
March 24th, 2000
Congress, Mars & NASA Alabama Live
You don’t get a Cadillac for the price of a Yugo. NASA is simply trying to make the most of the money it has. The facts as we know them: On Dec. 3, 1999, the Mars Polar Lander began descending to the surface of the red planet. And that was it. The probe was never heard from again. The spacecraft or its debris, if any exists, is lost in space or on the Martian surface, where recovery is not practical.
October 20th, 1999
Marshall expert, ex-astronaut to search Antarctica for aliens Alabama Live
Somewhere in Antarctica lie rocks that fell from outer space thousands or even millions of years ago. Inside them, scientists hope to find microscopic evidence of life on other planets.