Tag: Mars
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Rover teams practice for spelunking on the moon and Mars in California lava tubes
NASA’s robotics team drives the test rover, CaveR, into Valentine Cave at Lava Beds National Monument in California. One of the CaveR engineers is perched on a lava ledge, a marker of one of the lava flows in the cave. (NASA Photo) BELLEVUE, Wash. — Underground lava tubes are great places to set up bases…
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That burst of Martian methane is long gone, but mystery of life on Mars remains
This image was taken by the left Navcam on NASA’s Curiosity rover on June 18. It shows part of Teal Ridge, which the rover has been studying within a region called the “clay-bearing unit.” (NASA / JPL-Caltech Photo) BELLEVUE, Wash. — NASA says the record-setting belch of Martian methane that its Curiosity rover detected last…
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Is there life on Mars, or on other worlds beyond Earth? The answer may be squishy
NASA’s Curiosity rover took this selfie in June 2018 by capturing a series of pictures with a camera mounted on its robotic arm. (NASA / JPL-Caltech Photo) BELLEVUE, Wash. — NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected fresh whiffs of Martian methane, once again sparking speculation about a potential biological source — but researchers at the space…
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Cristoforetti leading NEEMO 23 underwater expedition for deep space training
Another NEEMO expedition is set to begin this week, with the 10-day NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 23 crew preparing to test techniques that will be employed during deep space missions. Previous NEEMO expeditions have already provided valuable lessons in dealing with challenges such as communication time-delays associated with sending and receiving commands between controllers…
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Scientists call on InSight’s robotic arm to assist stalled heat probe on Mars
The self-hammering mole, part of the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) on NASA’s InSight lander, was only partially buried in the soil of Mars as of early June 2019, as shown in this illustration. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Later this month, ground teams will send commands for the InSight lander on Mars to use its…
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Now you can put your name on NASA’s Mars 2020 rover (in teeny tiny letters)
Members of the public who sign up to have their names sent to Mars will get a souvenir boarding pass to print out as well. (NASA / JPL-Caltech Image) Space fans have been sending their names to Mars and other extraterrestrial destinations for more than two decades, and it’s that time again: From now until…
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Amid the talk about moon missions, Mars fans push for a share of the space spotlight
An artist’s conception depicts a crewed mission to Mars. (NASA / JPL-Caltech Illustration / 2004) As NASA shifts the focus of its space exploration effort to the moon, the advocates of Mars exploration and settlement have a message for future lunar explorers: Don’t get too comfortable. “I do think the moon should be included in…
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SpaceX’s Elon Musk shows off a shiny Starship in landscapes of moon and Mars
New renderings of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket, shared by CEO Elon Musk on Twitter early today, show the shiny spaceship sitting on bare ground on the moon and Mars. The artwork is similar to less shiny renderings that came out a couple of years ago when Musk laid out the architecture for the Starship launch…
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InSight lander detects first likely ‘quake’ on Mars
This image of InSight’s seismometer was captured March 19. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Sensors delivered to Mars by NASA’s InSight lander have detected the first signals suggesting seismic activity on the red planet, a major discovery that extends the field of seismology to a new world beyond the Earth and the moon. Scientists announced the detection Tuesday,…
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Sweet! Scientists narrow down source of mysterious burst of methane on Mars
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter, shown in this artist’s conception, has been circling Mars since 2003. (Spacecraft image credit: ESA / ATG Medialab; Mars: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) It may sound like an April Fool’s joke about flatulent aliens, but this is serious: The scientists behind the…