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
February 18th, 2004
The facts about fusion
If you could invest in commodity futures for lunar helium-3, you would have reaped a windfall last month in the wake of President Bush’s call for America to return to the moon. Helium-3 (as opposed to the garden-variety helium-4 that fills all those balloons) is one of the rarest substances on Earth, produced primarily as the result of processing tritium for nuclear weapons. But it’s known to exist naturally within lunar soil, and theoretically, it’s one of the cleanest fuels around for nuclear fusion.
February 6th, 2004
Spirit rover uncovers a rocky surprise
Scientists declared NASA’s Spirit rover completely “healed” on Friday, after the probe suffered computer problems that engineers now acknowledge they made worse during their diagnosis. Spirit marked its return to science operations by brushing off the dust from a rock nicknamed Adirondack, revealing a surprisingly dark surface underneath.
February 3rd, 2004
Europeans want to send humans to Mars
A European could step on the surface of Mars within three decades, according to European Space Agency plans spelled out Tuesday. The plans are more precise than the broad U.S. goals of sending humans back to the moon by 2020 and then on to Mars, revealed last month by President Bush.
January 30th, 2004
Virtual space travel
It hit me while I was looking at the stereo image of Opportunity’s landing site through 3-D glasses: This is cool. This is a place I’d like to go. I can almost make out the trail I’d take over the hill. Is that the feeling that will drive humans to the moon, Mars and beyond? Or will it instead drive the creation of more capable robots in space, and better virtual-reality systems here on Earth?
January 28th, 2004
Martian bedrock revealed in living color
NASA on Wednesday released the Opportunity rover’s first color photographs of layers of Martian rock that could have been formed by water.
January 23rd, 2004
Bringing space costs back down to Earth
A trillion dollars to send astronauts to Mars? If such claims are valid, it’s no wonder that the public might waver in its general support for space exploration. But despite the repeated use of this figure in the news media, the actual cost is expected to be much, much less. Engineering cost analysis that has worked in the past suggests that the actual cost of Bush’s proposals will be only a fifth to a tenth as great as the frightening numbers being waved around. The slowly mounting NASA allocations, as shown on budget proposals, are in line with these estimates.
January 23rd, 2004
Mars rover is sick, but not dead
NASA received data from the Spirit rover Friday morning for the first time in two days, easing scientists
January 22nd, 2004
Rover suffers anomaly on Martian surface
An anomaly of an unknown nature has cut off data transfer from the Spirit rover on Mars for more than 24 hours, mission managers said Thursday. The news came a day after NASA said the rover was out of contact because of bad weather at a radar transmission site in Australia. On Thursday, project manager Peter Theisinger told reporters at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that the loss of data did not appear to be due to the weather, but due to a “very serious anomaly on the vehicle.”
January 21st, 2004
NASA details new space goals to staff
In a presentation now being delivered to NASA employees across the country, the space agency is providing details of how it plans to implement the broad new space goals announced by President Bush last week. The presentation, a copy of which was obtained by MSNBC.com, includes a list of guiding principles, specific program plans and details of budgetary rearrangements.