Tag: Mars
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SLS manifest targets Europa and Mars Sample Return missions
NASA is moving up a gear with its manifest planning for the Space Launch System (SLS). A new internal manifest portrays a tag team approach, alternating SLS between crewed missions for Orion and major flagship science missions that includes sending a spacecraft to Europa and conducting a Mars Sample Return mission, all before the middle…
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Mars spacecraft safe after fortuitous comet encounter
The HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took these images of comet Siding Spring, the first resolved images of a long-period comet’s nucleus. HiRISE took the pictures nine minutes apart at a range of 138,000 kilometers (86,000 miles) from the comet, yielding a scale of about 138 meters (150 yards) per pixel. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University…
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Comet’s flyby of Mars a boon for scientists
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS “SPACE PLACE” & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of comet Siding Spring buzzing Mars. Credit: NASA The red planet’s brush with Comet Siding Spring Sunday was a close encounter of the best kind for science, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to study a pristine remnant of the solar system’s birth 4.6 billion years ago…
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Mars fleet watch Siding Spring Comet flyby
C/2013 A1, better known as Siding Spring, has buzzed Mars, under the close watch of the international fleet of spacecraft and rovers that are residents of the Red Planet. The threat posed by the comet – and its envelope of gas and dust – to the Martian spacecraft has been heavily mitigated, allowing for the…
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Fleet of Mars probes set to observe comet flyby
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS “SPACE PLACE” & USED WITH PERMISSION An artist’s concept of Comet Siding Spring (2013 A1) and Mars. Closest approach to Mars is on Oct. 19, 2014. Credit: NASA An international fleet of five Mars orbiters and two rovers will have ringside seats when a mountain-size comet streaks by on Oct. 19, passing…
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Candidate landing sites selected for ESA Mars rover
Artist’s concept of the ExoMars rover set for launch in May 2018. Credit: ESA TORONTO — The European Space Agency has announced four candidate landing sites for the ExoMars rover, as a deadline looms to secure full funding for the mission in time for a scheduled launch to the red planet in 2018. Considered the…
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India, NASA plot science campaign for Mars orbiters
TORONTO – Officials working on India’s Mars orbiter project are finalizing plans for a six-month science campaign after the spacecraft arrived in orbit last week, an achievement that has already satisfied the mission’s primary objectives, the head of India’s space agency said Monday. Since the probe entered orbit around Mars, scientists have switched on four…
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India’s MOM spacecraft arrives at Mars
After a journey of over 10 months, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) arrived at Mars on Wednesday, 24 September 2014 – following an insertion burn that was confirmed at 7:30am India Standard Time (02:00 UTC; 20:00 EDT in the U.S. on Tuesday, 23 Sept.) – to continue what has so far been a successful technology…
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Curiosity EDL data to provide 2020 Mars Rover with super landing skills
Lessons learned from the impressive Entry Descent and Landing (EDL) of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) are set to provide the next NASA Rover with improved landing skills. Although the 2020 Mars Rover will have a similar appearance to Curiosity, she will sport new scientific payloads and additional capabilities – not least the potential to…
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Earth’s Deep Space explorers – Global fleet hitting milestones
Deep Space spacecraft from the USA, Europe and India are all pressing through their mission milestones. India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is less than a month away from her arrival at Mars, while NASA’s New Horizons has crossed Nepture’s orbit, en route to Pluto. ESA’s Rosetta mission also announced the shortlisting of landing sites on…