MGS in orbit over Mars (Courtesy JPL/Caltech)

[05-May] NASA Funding Threatened for Mars Surveyor 2003 (updated)
[01-May] Caltech Students Develop a New Plan to Send Humans to Mars
[22-Feb] Mars Global Surveyor Achieves Mapping Orbit

The NewsWire: Latest News from the Internet

Friday, May 7, 1999

School Children Will Help Drive Next Mars Rover A new U.S. mission to Mars will let school children help operate a robotic rover as it rolls over the red Martian surface, former astronaut John Glenn announced Thursday. The Mars Surveyor 2001 mission, set to launch in 2001, will allow student astronauts,'' living in a simulated Mars base on Earth, to assist in manipulating the rover on Mars, according to Glenn, a former senator.

Thursday, May 6, 1999

Glenn announces school children will help drive next Mars rover A new U.S. mission to Mars will let school children help operate a robotic rover as it rolls over the red Martian surface, former astronaut John Glenn announced on Thursday.

Students to Participate in 2001 Mars Mission The general public, and students in particular, will have unprecedented access to a 2001 Mars mission as part of a Planetary Society project announced Thursday, May 6.

Kids can take a virtual spin on Mars Hey, kids: Want to drive a rover on Mars? NASA plans to give children as young as 11 a turn at the remote controls on Earth during a mission due for launch in 2001. Selected students would issue the commands to move a rover just like the one that wowed the world during the Mars Pathfinder mission.

Monday, May 3, 1999

Caltech Proposes Safer Mars Mission Forget the new Star Wars-an ambitious project by students at the California Institute of Technology could be bringing an epic space saga to a solar system near you.

Sunday, May 2, 1999

Up close and Martian The planet Mars has reached its closest point to the Earth for 10 years, giving observers all over the world an unusually clear view. Mars has been hurtling towards the Earth at almost 50,000kmh - a million kilometres each day. It reached its closest point on 1 May, and will soon start to move away again at the same speed.

Mars Data Hint at Old Hot Springs (Albuquerque Journal) Mars may once have bubbled with hot springs, warm cozy pools where Martian microbes could have evolved, according to a team of New Mexico researchers. Using data from NASA's Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, the scientists found chemicals in the Martian soil similar to what's found around hot springs on Earth.

MGS Resumes Science Operations; Antenna Still Stuck NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft resumed collecting images and other data Thursday, April 29, although engineers are still unable to correct a problem with the spacecraft's antenna.

NASA's Mars rover test drive racks up miles and smiles (NASA/JPL) It is the ultimate test drive for the newest otherworldly vehicle. A few practice spins around an ancient lake bed in the Mojave desert this week with the next-generation Mars rover are helping NASA scientists and engineers learn more about driving the real thing on Mars.

Saturday, May 1, 1999

Evidence for Plate Tectonics on Early Mars Mars may have once had not only active volcanoes but a system of plate tectonics that would have made it much more like the modern-day Earth, scientists reported April 30.

Future of space: Bigger discoveries by smaller, smarter machines Powerful cameras the size of postage stamps. Probes soaring around space on solar sails blown by the sun's winds. People living on the moon and Mars. Robots mining asteroids for minerals. Sound like science fiction? It's not to researchers working on new technologies to expand and accelerate space exploration in the next century, according to speakers Friday who wrapped up the 36th Space Congress.

Friday, April 30, 1999

Surveyor Returns To Mapping Mode NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft returned to mapping operations Thursday with its high-gain telecommunications antenna in a fixed position.

Mars' past may look like Earth's present (Christian Science Monitor) The Red Planet has intrigued humanity for more than 3,000 years. The ancient Babylonians and Romans named it for their gods. A 19th-century astronomer caused an international uproar when he said he found "canals" on its surface.

Mars' Magnetic 'Zebra Stripes' May Suggest Life Magnetic zebra stripes'' on Mars suggest that tectonic plates once slammed into each other much as they do on Earth, fueling speculation about ancient life on the Red Planet, scientists reported Thursday. Plate tectonics -- which is the way big sections of a planet's surface slide around over billions of years -- was thought to be a process that only happened on Earth and that required water, a basic precondition for life. If it happened on Mars too, that would add new ammunition for those who believe life existed there at one time.

Martian Bound Robot Takes A Spin It is the ultimate test drive for the newest otherworldly vehicle. A few practice spins around an ancient lake bed in the Mojave desert this week with the next-generation Mars rover are helping NASA scientists and engineers learn more about driving the real thing on Mars.

Thursday, April 29, 1999

Mars once may have had Earthlike magnetic field and volcanism The discovery of magnetic strips across the face of Mars suggests the barren planet once had geology like that of Earth, with a torrid interior spurting molten rock and massive plates drifting on the surface.

Researchers: Mars once hummed with magnetism, like Earth New information from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft suggests the barren planet once had geology like that of Earth, with a torrid interior spurting molten rock and massive plates drifting on the surface.

Magnetic traces of a ‘hidden Mars’ Magnetic readings show signs that early Mars was subject to the same geological shifts that are still active on Earth, scientists say. They could represent the first evidence of plate tectonics on another planet. But Mars, unlike Earth, ran out of steam billions of years ago.

Plate Tectonics on Mars? Magnetic stripes on the surface of Mars are similar to fields in the sea floors of Earth and may indicate ancient crustal movements on the Red Planet.

Tectonic Mars The discovery of magnetic strips across the face of Mars suggests the barren planet once had geology like that of Earth, with a torrid interior spurting molten rock and massive plates drifting on the surface.

Magnetic discovery on Mars The rocks on Mars contain the magnetic imprint left by large-scale surface movements millions of years ago, according to a team of US and French researchers.

Wednesday, April 28, 1999

NASA scientist: We will find living forms on Mars The NASA scientist who claims to have found evidence of past life in three Martian meteorites made a bold prediction Tuesday: Real living creatures - not ancient microfossils - are buried deep beneath the windswept surface of Mars and eventually will be rooted out by robotic or human explorers.