Marsapalooza, part of NASA’s Mars 2004 (“M2K4”) effort to promote the Mars Exploration Rovers mission and NASA Mars education initiatives, is a tour during which a team of youthful scientists and engineers (the “M-Team”) will visit five cities across the country to raise public literacy about the Mars mission, to reach out to students in underserved communities, and to present themselves as role models to inspire the next generation of explorers. The tour is the product of a unique partnership involving NASA, the National Science Foundation, Passport to Knowledge, and several museums, planetariums, and science centers across the country.
November 5th, 2003
Deep Space Network Gears Up for Interplanetary Boom
NASA’S Deep Space Network has completed a number of upgrades to help support the fleet of more than two dozen spacecraft touring the solar system. Among the upgrades is the addition of a new 34-meter (110-foot) antenna near Madrid, Spain, which began operations on November 1, 2003.
November 4th, 2003
Mars Rover Spirit Mission Status
A series of tests of one of the science instruments on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has enabled engineers and scientists to identify how to work around an apparent problem detected in August. Tests now indicate that all of the science instruments on both Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, are in suitable condition to provide full capabilities for examining the sites on Mars where they will land in January.
October 17th, 2003
Space Transportation with a Twist
Today’s scientists are already hard at work on new ideas for spaceflight in the future. New technology is being developed to help propel spacecraft into Earth orbit — and beyond. NASA researchers are studying ways to create more powerful and more efficient rockets. Engineers are considering things such as energy beamed from the ground, ions, and plasma as possible concepts for next-generation engines. Next to all of these super-high-tech ideas, one spaceflight possibility sounds remarkably simple — string.
October 10th, 2003
Martian Creatures To ‘Come To Life’ In Nasa Student Challenge
As five spacecraft from countries around this world rapidly approach Mars, NASA educators are challenging students to learn about the ‘red planet’ and design creatures that could survive in the harsh Martian environment. On Oct. 13, NASA Quest at NASA Ames Research Center, located in California’s Silicon Valley, will launch the ‘Design-a-Martian Challenge.’ NASA Quest is an educational Web site dedicated to bringing the NASA experience to K-12 students. The seven-week challenge builds upon the growing excitement about the red planet, and provides students an opportunity to interact with NASA Mars experts and other students from around the world. “The Design-a-Martian Challenge is a great opportunity to have students actively participate in one of the greatest scientific endeavors in recent history,” said Donald James, education director at NASA Ames. “With the knowledge gained from the challenge, the students will be Mars experts within their families and classrooms when the twin Mars Exploration Rovers land on Mars at the beginning of 2004.”
September 30th, 2003
Gallery Of Mars Closeups From NASA Orbiter Adds 10,232 Views
Thousands of newly released portraits of martian landscapes from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft testify to the diversity of ways geological processes have sculpted the surface of our neighboring planet.
September 29th, 2003
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Coming in 2005
As Earth pulls away from Mars after last month’s close approach, NASA is developing a spacecraft that will take advantage of the next close encounter in 2005. That spacecraft will make a more comprehensive inspection of our planetary neighbor than any previous mission.
September 24th, 2003
Webcasts To Feature Scientists On A ‘Mars Mission’
NASA and Spanish scientists, who are developing ways to drill into Mars in search of underground life, will take part in eight worldwide, educational webcasts from their project site near Spain’s Rio Tinto River from Sept. 29 to Oct. 15. NASA Ames Research Center scientist Carol Stoker will kick off the webcast series on Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. EDT with a talk about the Mars Analog Research and Technology Experiment (MARTE). According to Stoker, mineral deposits like the ones the MARTE project is drilling into may also be found in the Martian subsurface.
September 23rd, 2003
Spotlight: If You Thought That Was a Close View of Mars, Just Wait
As Earth pulls away from Mars after last month’s close approach, NASA is developing a spacecraft that will take advantage of the next close encounter in 2005. That spacecraft, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, will make a more comprehensive inspection of our planetary neighbor than any previous mission.
September 22nd, 2003
Scientists Practice Mars Drilling Near Acidic Spanish River
To develop techniques to drill into the surface of Mars to look for signs of life, NASA and Spanish scientists recently began drilling 150 meters (495 feet) into the ground near the source of the waters of the Rio Tinto, a river in southwestern Spain, part of a three-year effort that will include the search for underground life forms. During the Mars Analog Research and Technology Experiment (MARTE), scientists and engineers from NASA, U.S. universities and the Spanish Centro De Astrobiolog