Still reeling from the spectacular failures of two Mars missions last year, NASA said it had learned from its mistakes and would not repeat them in an ambitious new mission for 2003. Edward Weiler, associate administrator in NASA’s Office of Space Science, said communications and software shortcomings, brought on in part staff cuts, had plagued the agency.
August 10th, 2000
‘Twin Rovers’ to Explore Mars in 2003
Twin rovers with the specific mission of discovering sites where water might have once pooled on Mars will roam the planet’s surface in 2004, NASA said on Thursday. The U.S. space agency said it would launch the two golf cart-sized rovers separately in 2003. While scientists have yet to choose the precise landing sites, they said one might go to a safe, flat area while the second might take on riskier, more aggressive terrain.
July 7th, 2000
Scientists Find Super-Hardy South Pole Microbes
In a finding that could have an impact on the search for life on Mars and other planets, scientists say they have detected hardy microbes that seem to thrive in the radiation, cold and darkness at the South Pole. “If the team’s conclusions prove true, the discovery not only has important implications for the search for life in other extreme environments on Earth, but also for the possibility that life — at least at the microscopic level — may exist elsewhere in the solar system,” the National Science Foundation (NSF) said on Thursday in a statement.
June 9th, 2000
Clea DuVall Closes in on Carpenter’s ‘Ghost’
Clea DuVall is in final negotiations to co-star in the sci-fi action thriller “John Carpenter’s Ghost of Mars,” opposite Courtney Love and Ice Cube.
January 12th, 2000
Did Bacteria Survive Trip From Mars?
Astronomers reported on Wednesday they had found a tough but peaceful pair of bacteria that might have been able to survive the arduous trip from Mars, back when the Red Planet could have supported life.
January 6th, 2000
Crippled Mars Lander Could Be in Crater — NASA
The ill-fated Mars Polar Lander, last heard from on Dec. 3, 1999, as it started a descent to the surface of the Red Planet, may be lying crippled in a huge crater, the chief mission scientist said on Thursday. But Richard Zurek, the Mars Polar Lander Project Scientist, said the crater theory was just one of several scenarios being considered by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
December 8th, 1999
Clinton Defends NASA After Mars Lander Loss
President Clinton defended the U.S. space program on Wednesday, one day after NASA scientists confirmed the loss of the $165 million Mars Polar Lander. “I think it’s important not only for the American tradition of exploration. … We have to keep doing this if we ever hope to know what’s beyond our galaxy,” Clinton said at what was billed as his final news conference of the year.
October 17th, 1999
Hollywood Renews Love Affair With Mars
The last time the Red Planet loomed large on the big screen — during the 1950s and 1960s — it was the Martians who typically visited Earth. This time around, Earthlings are venturing to Mars.