Thunder and lightning storms over Australia Wednesday prevented NASA from sending the Mars robot Spirit its daily “road map,” giving the six-wheeled explorer a rest on its 18th day on Mars, NASA said.
January 19th, 2004
Golf Carts Today, Mini-Van In 2009?
If you think the Mars rovers are interesting, wait until you see a mini-van clambering over the planet’s red rocks and dusty lake beds. The two golf-cart size rovers that are mesmerizing the country now are preparing the way for a 2009 mission to Mars called the Mars Scientific Laboratory, says William Hiscock, head of the physics department and director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium based at Montana State University-Bozeman. The 2009 mission will involve a rover, too, but that vehicle will be the size of a mini-van.
January 15th, 2004
Navy Enlists Microbes To Cut Costs
Microbes have been exploited for thousands of years to help us make bread and alcohol, and more recently, to make antibiotics and clean up toxic spills. Now the Office of Naval Research is hoping the one-celled organisms will reduce the costs of producing a missile propellant, and in the process, lead to a new age of “bioproduction.”
January 12th, 2004
APS X-rays Reveal Secrets Of The Martian Core
While astronomers peer at the surface of Mars, now making its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years, scientists are learning the secrets of its deep interior using the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne.
January 12th, 2004
NASA Research Enhances Benefits Of Plant Experiments
NASA-funded scientists are researching methods to address current issues and future needs for efficiently growing plants on Mars. The research is being conducted in the specialized low- pressure and Mars-simulation chambers at the new state-of- the-art Space Life Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida.
January 11th, 2004
NASA’s Mars rover unfolded, almost ready to roll
The Mars Spirit rover has fully unfolded and extended its wheels, and may be ready to drive off its landing platform onto the Martian surface by mid-week, NASA said.
January 6th, 2004
Rover Adds Color To Mars View:
The first full-color snapshots of Mars have surpassed all expectations and shown the so-called the red planet actually boasts subtle shades of blue and ochre, NASA scientists said Tuesday. The image, actually a mosaic of 12 images taken by a high definition camera, is of such high quality that NASA was able to zoom in on details of stones and pebbles in the reddish brown sand in front of the robot.
December 30th, 2003
Ion Engine Design Passes Key Test
A team of engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif, successfully tested a new ion propulsion engine design, one of several candidate propulsion technologies under study by NASA’s Project Prometheus. The event marked the first performance test of the Nuclear Electric Xenon Ion System (NEXIS) engine at the high- efficiency, high-power, and high-thrust operating conditions needed for use in large-scale nuclear electric propulsion applications.
December 22nd, 2003
New Composite Hydrogen Fuel Tank For RLVs Successfully Tested
A team of engineers from Northrop Grumman and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Have demonstrated that a new, specially designed fuel tank made from composite materials can safely hold and contain liquid hydrogen under simulated launch conditions.
December 8th, 2003
Japan Poised To Abandon Martian Probe Mission
Japan’s trouble-plagued first mission to Mars is set to be abandoned in the latest of a series of costly failures to hit the country’s space development programme, news reports and officials said Monday. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will make a final attempt on Tuesday to remotely repair electronic circuitry on the Nozomi probe damaged by a solar flare last year, which caused the main engine to shut down, officials said.