NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found bright veins of a mineral, apparently gypsum, deposited by water. Analysis of the vein will help improve understanding of the history of wet environments on Mars.
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The vein is about the width of a thumb and about 18 inches long. Opportunity examined it and found it rich in calcium and sulphur, possibly the …
NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory, which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST (7:02 a.m. PST).
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An artist’s concept of NASA’s biggest-ever Mars rover Curiosity examining a rock on the Red Planet. …
NASA has launched the most capable machine, nicknamed Curiosity, ever built to land on Mars.
The 1-tonne rover, tucked inside a capsule, launched from Florida on an Atlas 5 rocket at 10:02 EST (15:02 GMT). The rover will take 8.5 months to fly to Mars.
Mars Science Lab
The landing configuration is a first. Rather than being sheathed in inflated … Read the rest of this article
After eight years of planning, more than $600 million in cost overruns, and a two-year delay, NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory is finally ready to launch.
Now you can watch the nuclear-powered, 1-ton rover — currently the largest machine that can feasibly land on the Red Planet — take off from Cape Canaveral and begin its journey to Mars.… Read the rest of this article
Following the first successful contact on Tuesday, ESA’s tracking station in Australia again established two-way communication with Russia’s Phobos–Grunt spacecraft on 23 November. The data received from the spacecraft have been sent to the Russian mission control centre for analysis.
Tracking station control room at ESA’s Space Operations Centre, Credits: ESA
ESA’s 15 m-diameter antenna at Perth, Australia, was again … Read the rest of this article
Images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars at dozens of locations and shifting up to several yards. These observations reveal the planet’s sandy surface is more dynamic than previously thought.
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A dune in the northern polar region of Mars shows significant changes between two images taken on June 25, …
The record-breaking simulated mission to Mars has ended with smiling faces after 17 months. Mars500’s six brave volunteers stepped out of their ‘spacecraft’ today to be welcomed by the waiting scientists – happy that the venture had worked even better than expected.
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The hatch of the Mars500 facility has been closed since June 2010. It was finally opened on 4 …
The 520 days of isolation for the Mars500 crew will end on 4 November, when the hatch of their ‘spacecraft’ is opened for the first time since June last year. Scientists eagerly await the final samples as the crew count the hours to liberty.
Diego Urbina looking out from the hatch inside Mars500 facility. Credits: ESA
During the 17-month simulated … Read the rest of this article
In early June the Mars500 crew celebrated their one full year inside the modules simulating an interplanetary spaceship. They are now flying virtually back to Earth and due to a delay in communications, introduced to make the simulation more real, some material reaches the outside world slowly. As they get nearer to Earth the
communications delay is reduced.
By September … Read the rest of this article
The Sun Now (Visible light)
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The Sun Now (H-Alpha light)
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Aurora Oval
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Aurora Oval
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