Robotic Space Missions

August 5, 2011

Possible evidence of flowing water on Mars

NASA Spacecraft Data Suggest Water Flowing on Mars

PASADENA, Calif. — Observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars.

"NASA's Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing us closer to determining whether the Red Planet could harbor life in some form,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “and it reaffirms Mars as an important future destination for human exploration."

An image combining orbital imagery with 3-D modeling shows flows that appear in spring and summer on a slope inside Mars' Newton crater

The markings appear on slopes during late spring and summer fade in winter, then return the next spring. And the best explanation is briny water run-off due to melting. If true this will be the place to look for possible life for sure.

Tags: charles bolden, flowing water on mars, mars exploration program, mars reconnaissance orbiter, nasa spacecraft, spacecraft data

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March 7, 2009

Kepler Space Telescope Launches

The Kepler space mission is underway. At 22:49 on Friday March 6th, the Kepler spacecraft was launched into space on a Delta II rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The missions goals are to search for rocky or terrestrial planets like the Earth. It will be observing an area of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, which is rich in Sun like stars and looking for a slight dimming in these stars light output. This dimming would reveal a planet transiting the star.

Once a transit has been detected scientists can deduce much information about both the orbiting planet and its host star. The size of the planets orbit will be found by using Kepler`s 3rd Law of planetary motion. The planets size can be determined by how much the light from the star drops during the transit and the size of the star. And from knowing the size of the orbit and the stars temperature whether or not this planet could be habitable can be ascertained.

clipped from www.nasa.gov

The Kepler Mission Begins

Liftoff of the Delta II rocket and Kepler spacecraft

Image above: Liftoff of the Delta II rocket carrying NASA's Kepler spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

Tags: cape canaveral air force station, home galaxy, kepler mission, nasa gov, size of the planets, terrestrial planets

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August 2, 2008

Phoenix Lander Collects Ice Sample And Confirms Water On Mars

NASA's Phoenix has collected an ice sample, delivered it into it's oven, and confirmed that water exists on Mars.

clipped from www.jpl.nasa.gov

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After a bit of a struggle to deliver the sample to the landers internal lab, the experiment was completed and the existence of water on Mars has been confirmed.

$Robotic Arm on NASA\'s Phoenix Mars Lander$

Tags: jpl nasa, mars nasa, nasa gov, phoenix lander, water on mars

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June 2, 2008

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Already Doing Research

The Phoenix Mars Lander, a mission to explore the Martian northern arctic plain, which launched from earth on 4 August, 2007, safely landed in the northern polar region of Mars on 25 May, 2008. No small feat as this was the first successful soft landing (one not using airbags) since the Viking 2 landing in 1976.

And the results are already coming in. The Canadian Space Agencies meteorological station gave its weather report for Sol 4 "sunny but dusty with increasing dust, causing decreasing visibility. High -30C, Low -80C, no wind measurements available.