Mars With Ice, Shaken, Not Stirred
Mars, like Earth, is a climate-fickle water planet. The main difference, of course, is that water on the frigid Red Planet is rarely liquid, preferring to spend almost all of its time traveling the world as a gas or churning up the surface as ice. view more (2007-10-26)
Building blocks of life formed on Mars
Organic compounds contain carbon and hydrogen and form the building blocks of all life on Earth. By analyzing organic material and minerals in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001, scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory have shown for the first time that building blocks of life formed on Mars early in its history. view more (2007-12-12)
Separation Day Arrives for Mars Express and Beagle 2
After a joint journey of 250 million miles (400 million km), the British-built Beagle 2 spacecraft and the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter should now have parted and gone their separate ways. At 8.31 GMT, software on Mars Express was scheduled to send the command for the Beagle 2 lander to separate from the orbiter. This would fire a... view more... (2003-12-19)
Timing is critical as launch windows approach
There will be greater tension than usual among engineers and scientists at Europe`s spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, in January 2003, as they gather to see ESA`s comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta departing on its long journey. If it is to keep its rendezvous with Comet Wirtanen in 2012, Rosetta must lift off on its Ariane-5 launcher no sooner... view more... (2002-09-05)
MIT, Harvard offer solution to Mars enigma
Planetary scientists have puzzled for years over an apparent contradiction on Mars. Abundant evidence points to an early warm, wet climate on the red planet, but there's no sign of the widespread carbonate rocks, such as limestone, that should have formed in such a climate. view more (2007-12-26)
Artificial intelligence boosts science from Mars
Artificial intelligence (AI) being used at the European Space Operations Centre is giving a powerful boost to ESA's Mars Express as it searches for signs of past or present life on the Red Planet. view more (2008-04-30)
Mars and Venus are surprisingly similar
Using two ESA spacecraft, planetary scientists are watching the atmospheres of Mars and Venus being stripped away into space. The simultaneous observations by Mars Express and Venus Express give scientists the data they need to investigate the evolution of the two planets' atmospheres. view more (2008-03-06)
Rosetta warms up for Mars swing-by
This month the team working on ESA's Rosetta mission have been particularly busy. Activities are underway to set the spacecraft's trajectory and prepare the on-board instruments ready for the next major mission milestone: the swing-by of planet Mars in February 2007. view more (2006-11-30)
Dig deeper to find Martian life
Probes designed to find life on Mars do not drill deep enough to find the living cells that scientists believe may exist well below the surface of Mars, according to research led by UCL (University College London). view more (2007-01-30)
Royal interest in University space project
During their visit to Leicester on 1 August 2002 Her Majesty the Queen and HRH Prince Philip will be shown the British Beagle 2 space mission to Mars which will be on display in the Planets Gallery of the National Space Centre. Beagle 2 is a unique British-led space probe, designed to search for evidence of life on the Red Planet. Beagle 2 will be... view more... (2002-07-26)
Looking for water on Mars
NASA's Phoenix Scout Lander reached Mars on May 25,, opened a soils lab, and started looking for water. Phoenix uses a robotic scoop arm to deliver regolith samples to the suite of instruments aboard the Lander--with one exception. view more (2008-09-29)
Mars Express mission controllers ready for NASA Phoenix landing
ESA's Mars Express mission control team are ready to monitor Phoenix's critical entry, descent and landing onto the Martian surface on 26 May 2008. view more (2008-05-21)
ASU instrument takes better look at Mars minerals
A slow drift in the orbit of NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft that mission controllers started nine months ago is now giving an ASU instrument on the spacecraft a better and more sensitive view of minerals on the surface of Mars. view more (2009-06-23)
Carnegie Mellon rover heads to Atacama Desert for final mission in 3-year search for life
Carnegie Mellon University researchers and their colleagues from NASA's Ames Research Center, the universities of Tennessee, Arizona and Iowa, as well as Chilean researchers at Universidad Catolica del Norte (Antofagasta) are preparing for the final stage of a three-year project to develop a prototype robotic astrobiologist, a robot that can... view more... (2005-08-11)
Path to Finding Life on Mars and in Outer Space
Clues to finding current or past life on Mars now or at some point in the past begins with an examination of Earth's most extreme environments and the adaptable microscopic life that thrives there. view more (2006-02-02)
Venus Express comes into Cosmic Vision
On 11 July 2002, Europe took a step closer to Venus. The ESA Science Programme Committee agreed unanimously to start work on Venus Express. Venus Express will reuse the Mars Express spacecraft design and needs to be ready for launch in 2005. view more (2002-07-15)
Evidence of ancient hot springs on Mars detailed in Astrobiology journal
Data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) suggest the discovery of ancient springs in the Vernal Crater, sites where life forms may have evolved on Mars, according to a report in Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. view more (2009-02-12)
Olympus Mons - the caldera in close-up
View from overhead of the the complex caldera (summit crater) at the summit of Olympus Mons on Mars, the highest volcano in our Solar System. Olympus Mons has an average elevation of 22 km and the caldera has a depth of about 3 km. This is the first high-resolution colour image of the complete caldera of Olympus Mons. The image was taken from a... view more... (2004-02-11)
Follow the nitrogen to extraterrestrial life
The great search for extraterrestrial life has focused on water at the expense of a crucial element, say geobiologists at the University of Southern California. view more (2006-05-05)
One giant leap for space fashion: MIT team designs sleek, skintight spacesuit
In the 40 years that humans have been traveling into space, the suits they wear have changed very little. The bulky, gas-pressurized outfits give astronauts a bubble of protection, but their significant mass and the pressure itself severely limit mobility. view more (2007-07-17)
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