Mars

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Mars Rover Gets 'Brain Transplant'

Will allow Curiosity to start driving

(Newser) - Mars rover Curiosity has gotten a new brain. NASA scientists just spent four days changing Curiosity's software, swapping out programs it needed for its complicated landing on Mars and replacing them with software that will enable it to drive, operate its robot arm, and analyze soil samples, reports NASA...

Obama Tells NASA: I've Considered Getting a Mohawk

NASA's Bobak Ferdowski inspires amusing riff from the prez

(Newser) - President Obama had mohawks and Martians on his mind today when he called NASA to congratulate them on Curiosity's safe (and serendipitous ) touchdown on Mars, Huffington Post reports. "I understand there's a special Mohawk Guy that's working on the mission," said Obama, referring to...

'Insane Coincidence' Confirmed on Mars

Curiosity did snap photo of its own ride

(Newser) - Yep, the "insane coincidence" on Mars really happened. Moments after landing on Sunday, the Curiosity rover snapped a photo of its own ride crashing on the Martian landscape, the Los Angeles Times reports. The blink-and-it's-gone lucky shot was confirmed by a member of Curiosity's scientific team in...

Curiosity Sends Back 1st Color Panorama

360-degree compilation photo shows Gale Crater

(Newser) - The photo-snapping rover Curiosity returned another postcard from Mars yesterday—the first 360-degree color panorama of Gale Crater. Scientists admired the sweeping vista—red dust, dark sand dunes, and tan-hued rocks. In the distance was the base of Mount Sharp, a three-mile-high mountain rising from the crater floor, where the...

Mars Rover Landed in 'Area 51' ... Kind Of

NASA has dubbed landing region 'Yellowknife'

(Newser) - Cue the tinfoil hats. Area 51 is the Nevada military base famous among conspiracy buffs for its alleged alien secrets, but the Mars probe Curiosity landed in a part of the Red Planet called ... Quad 51. Coincidence? Well, yes, it's totally a coincidence, reports Florida Today . The Gale Crater...

Rover Spies &#39;Earth-Like&#39; Scene
 Rover Spies 'Earth-Like' Scene 
Aug 9, 2012 7:50 AM CDT

Rover Spies 'Earth-Like' Scene

Gale Crater reminiscent of Mojave Desert: scientists

(Newser) - Curiosity may have landed in a Martian crater, but it could just as easily be somewhere in California, say scientists who have studied the photos and video it has beamed back to Earth. With mountains visible in the distance—through the hanging haze—the scene from the Gale Crater looks...

Curiosity Sends Back First Color Photo

Martian rover's key camera 'working and awesome,' team says

(Newser) - NASA's Curiosity rover is feeding scientists with a steady stream of images, including the first one in color. The color photo shows the north wall and rim of the ancient crater where the rover made its amazing landing earlier this week, Reuters reports. The image, which appears fuzzy because...

Mars Rover Sends Back First Video

Curiosity captures landing, images of Martian surface

(Newser) - NASA has released a rover's-eye view of Curiosity's nail-biting landing on Mars yesterday. The video, which captures a minute of what engineers described as "seven minutes of terror," begins as the rover's heat shield falls away, and ends with dust being kicked up as Curiosity...

NASA Bites Nails: '7 Minutes of Terror' Loom on Mars

Curiosity to land at 1:31am ET ... hopefully

(Newser) - Olympic feats have ruled the press over the last week, but a scientific feat may be the one stealing headlines tomorrow. The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal are among just a few news outlets previewing the upcoming "seven minutes of terror"—that's how NASA officials are...

NASA Enlists Shatner to Explain Risky Mars Landing

Rover Curiosity arrives late tomorrow

(Newser) - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is scheduled to touch down tomorrow night on a two-year mission, and who better than Captain Kirk to explain all? The space agency has William Shatner detail what it expects to happen, including the Hollywood-esque "seven minutes of terror" that precedes the landing, reports...

Man's Ticket to Mars: Inflatable Heat Shield?

Device inflates to deflect heat and force

(Newser) - It sounds like something out of an HG Wells novel, but NASA's newest innovation may pave the way to getting humans on Mars. The agency successfully tested a $17 million inflatable heat shield yesterday, reports Space.com . The Inflatable Re-Entry Vehicle Experiment 3 (IRVE-3) blasted off from a NASA...

On NASA's Mars Menu: Thai Pizza, Martian Veggies

Astronauts on the 3-year mission could grow some of their own produce

(Newser) - Here's a real head scratcher: How do you feed a crew of six to eight astronauts on a mission to Mars that will last almost three years? It's a question NASA is working at already, even though the mission won't happen for at least another 10 to...

Mars Rover Offers Sweeping View

NASA creates composite image from 817 photos

(Newser) - It's Mars as you've never seen it: NASA released a panoramic image this week of the planet's landscape, notes Wired . The rover Opportunity took 817 images from late 2011 until May 2012 as it sat parked for the winter, and the space agency used them to create...

Firm Plans Reality Show —on Mars

4 visitors will reach planet by 2023, according to Mars One's plan

(Newser) - Combine a Dutch Nobelist, the co-creator of Big Brother, and a Mars-obsessed company, and what do you get? A reality show that follows the creation of the first human colony on Mars, of course. Mars One , as the company is called, plans to send four people to the planet by...

NASA's Goal: Man Near Mars in 21 Years

NASA wants to put humans in orbit around Mars by 2033

(Newser) - NASA wants to put humans into Mars' orbit by 2033, with the goal of having astronauts return to Earth with a canister of Mars rocks that would have been collected earlier and put into orbit. The goal was unveiled this week by an internal NASA study group working on the...

Mars Rover Moves for 1st Time in 5 Months

Had to weather Martian winter

(Newser) - The Mars rover Opportunity is on the go again. After spending nearly five months conducting experiments in one spot, the NASA rover moved for the first time this week, rolling off the rock outcrop where it hunkered down for the Martian winter. The mission team received confirmation late Tuesday that...

Mars Once Had Earth-Like Oceans
 Mars Once Had 
 Earth-Like Oceans 
study says
May 7, 2012 7:34 PM CDT

Mars Once Had Earth-Like Oceans

Red planet 'was at least transiently water': Prof. Josef Dufek

(Newser) - A far denser atmosphere may have allowed Earth-like oceans to flourish on Mars billions of years ago, the Telegraph reports. Analyzing data from the Mars rover Spirit, Professor Josef Dufek of Georgia Tech University concluded that the planet's atmosphere was once 20 times denser—perfect for harboring lots of...

Pat Robertson Offers Proof Global Warming Is Hoax

Here it is: There are no SUVs on Mars

(Newser) - If you're worried about man-made climate change, stop. Pat Robertson today offered evidence that it's not real. And here it is: There are no SUVs on Mars. Or oil refineries for that matter. "And yet, it’s the relationship to the sun that is affecting the climate...

Mars Puts on a Show Tonight

Sun, Earth, Mars line up, making for great skywatching

(Newser) - It's called the Mars opposition—the period every 26 months that the orbits of the sun, Earth, and Mars line up, with the sun and Mars on opposite sides of the Earth. And with Mars swinging extra close to the Earth tonight—a veritable stone's throw at just...

If Obama Budget Passes, It's Bye-Bye Mars

Budget cuts could eliminate much of Mars program from NASA's plans

(Newser) - For 20 years, NASA has basically been obsessed with Mars. This summer, NASA's most high-tech rover will land near the Martian equator. And 2016 and 2018 missions have already been planned, with the intention of bringing home rocks from the red planet. But those two future excursions may not...

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