NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) is hereby soliciting information from industry to determine the existence of sources with the capability to develop a working prototype of a drilling system for a Mars mission that would be ready for integrated field testing at a field site in Oklahoma for 14 days in March 2005, and at a field site in southwestern Spain for 30 days in June of 2005. Participation of the source in weekly team meetings and project reviews, to be held approximately semi-annually, would also be required. This prototype drilling system would be used in a NASA field experiment in a Mars analog environment to demonstrate technology for drilling on Mars.
September 22nd, 2003
Research And Development Sources Sought For Potential Development Of A Drilling System For A Mars Mission
September 19th, 2003
Destination MARS, The Red Planet
Interactive Feature: Find out about the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover mission, including mission control techniques developed in the Computation Sciences Division of the Ames Research Center.
September 16th, 2003
National Space Exhibit Blasts Off
The exhibition, “SPACE: A Journey to Our Future,” touches down at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center on Saturday, November 22. Created in collaboration between NASA and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the SPACE exhibition is produced by Clear Channel Exhibitions. It was made possible by General Motors (GM) with additional support from the Space Day Foundation and Lockheed Martin. The 12,000-square-foot exhibition, one of the largest touring space exhibits ever developed, will be on display in Seattle through May 9, 2004. It will travel to other museums and science centers in several U.S. cities over the next five years. “We hope this exciting exhibit will help to inspire the next generation of explorers,” Loston said. “We want to fuel the imagination and ignite the desire for discovery in the youth who will be our nation’s next pioneers of air, space and Earth,” she said.
September 12th, 2003
Marine Picks First Public Mars Global Surveyor Image
If you were given a chance to aim the camera on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter and take a picture of something on the red planet, what would you shoot? Now we know, after NASA released today the first picture selected from hundreds of public suggestions. The photo reveals a thick layer of dust blanketing the floor and wall of the summit crater atop a tall volcano called Pavonis Mons.
August 29th, 2003
Nasa To Host Annual Planetary Sciences Meeting
The origin of planets, the role of impacts on Mars’ weather, Jupiter’s atmosphere and recent results from the Mars Odyssey mission will be some of the topics that will be discussed at this year’s American Astronomical Society/Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) meeting, hosted by NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.
August 27th, 2003
Hubble Space Telescope’s Viewing Plans For Earth’s ‘Close Encounter’ With Mars
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope made observations of the planet Mars on August 26 and 27, when Earth and Mars were closer together than they have been in the last 60,000 years. As Hubble’s high-resolution images of the Red Planet are received at the Space Telescope Science Institute and are digitally processed by the Mars observing team, they will be released to the public and news media via the Internet. The Hubble images are the sharpest views of Mars ever taken from Earth. They reveal surface details as small as 17 miles (24 km) across. Though NASA’s Mars-orbiting spacecraft can photograph the Red Planet in much finer detail, Hubble routinely serves as a “weather satellite” for tracking atmospheric changes on Mars and for probing its geology on a global scale.
August 19th, 2003
Programs Will Share Inside Story of Mars-Bound Robots
Two free public programs in Pasadena this week will offer an introduction to the challenges and excitement of NASA’s project to examine two areas of Mars with robotic rovers that are currently flying to Mars. Peter Theisinger, Mars Exploration Rover project manager, will describe the project on Thursday evening, Aug. 21, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and on Friday evening, Aug. 22, at Pasadena City College.
August 4th, 2003
NASA’S First Scout Mission Selected For 2007 Mars Launch
NASA today selected Phoenix, an innovative and relatively low-cost mission, to study the red planet, as the first Mars Scout mission. The Phoenix lander mission is scheduled for launch in 2007. The 2007 Scout mission joins a growing list of spacecraft aimed at exploring Mars. It also represents NASA’s first fully competed opportunity for a dedicated science-driven mission.
July 2nd, 2003
Humans, Robots Work Together To Test ‘Spacewalk Squad’ Concept
Humans and robots worked side-by-side this summer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston to evaluate the concept of using human-robotic teams to improve the productivity of astronauts working outside the International Space Station, other space vehicles, or on the surface of other planets.