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MarsNews.com :: NewsWire :: General News :: Archives

December 08, 2007

Christmas Eve star will be Mars The Seattle Times
On Dec. 24, Mars reaches opposition. This means that it will appear as a bright orange star in the east soon after sunset. The Planet Watch feature on the daily Seattle Times Weather Page can help you determine its location.

November 25, 2007

December a busy month for Mars The Honolulu Advertiser
Jupiter loses command of the night sky next month, exiting into the glow of the sunset to eventually emerge ahead of the sun in the morning sky. However, another planet moves into center stage, perhaps not as large and bright as Jupiter, but definitely holding its own set of mysteries. Mars reaches opposition next month, rising as the sun sets on Christmas Eve. Six days earlier, the Red Planet reaches its closest point to Earth's orbit, roughly 54.8 million miles away. These two Martian events, closest approach and opposition, happen roughly every two years as Earth catches up to slower Mars in its longer orbit around the sun. During opposition, Earth is between the sun and the fourth planet, resulting in Mars and the sun being opposite in the sky (opposition). Because Mars' orbit is not perfectly circular — in fact it's relatively oval — some oppositions are better than others. You may recall the Mars Madness that occurred in August 2003, where that opposition brought Earth and Mars closest in recorded history, or 60,000 years.

November 12, 2007

Cosmic Illusion: Mars to Move Backward
We're now coming into the home stretch of the last good apparition of Mars until 2016. Now blazing in the late-evening east-northeast sky like an eye-catching yellowish-orange "star," Mars is less than six weeks away from its closest approach to Earth during this apparition. At the beginning of the year, the red planet was 221 million miles (356 million kilometers) from Earth. This week, it will be 63 million miles (102 million kilometers) away and it now shines some 10 times brighter than it did on New Year's Day. Since Jan. 1, Mars has progressed more than halfway around our sky and now is on an easterly course through the background stars of the Zodiac. It currently resides smack in the middle of the constellation of Gemini, the Twins. But on Thursday, Nov. 15, that steady eastward course is going to come to a stop.

October 30, 2007

Donna Shirley - Mars Exploration Program Manager CR4
Donna Shirley managed the Mars Exploration Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and on July 4, 1997 the entire world watched as the Mars Pathfinder and the Sojourner Rover successfully landed on Mars. Two months later the Mars Global Surveyor successfully went into orbit around the red planet. Not only were these events two of the U.S. space program's greatest successes, but they may well provide the world with some of the most important scientific data of the 20th and 21st centuries. According to Shirley, "My proudest moment was having my daughter, my second moment was when the Pathfinder and Sojourner actually worked. When you consider that it was going 17,000 miles an hour and it wasn't supposed to make just another hole in the ground—well, that was a great achievement." Donna Shirley retired in August 1998 as Manager of the Mars Exploration Program after a 32-year career at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

August 24, 2006

40-Year-Old Mars Meteor Mystery Said Solved
On July 14, 1965, Mariner 4 swooped over Mars. It was a moment of high drama. Six other probes had already tried to reach the red planet and failed. Since the days of H.G. Wells (War of the Worlds, 1898), people had been hearing about life on Mars, and they were ready to see the canals and cities. The wait was becoming excruciating. Finally, all was revealed. With flawless precision, Mariner 4 dipped less than 10,000 km above the planet's surface and took 22 pictures. Mars was covered with desert sand and ancient craters. No cities. No canals. No Martians. No one would ever look at the red planet the same way again. Most histories of the mission end right there, with Mariner 4 buzzing Mars—"the first spacecraft to visit the red planet"-- and throwing cold water on a lot of good science fiction. But there's more to the story. After the flyby, something strange happened to Mariner 4, setting the stage for a 40-year mystery...

August 22, 2006

Will Mars be close in August 2006? Earth & Sky
It's happening again. For the third time in three years, people are writing to us, amazed and confused about a new email in their inboxes announcing, among other things, that Mars will be closer than ever in recorded history in August 2006. What's more, the email says, "Mars will look as large as the full moon to the unaided eye." But, although it contains a grain of truth, this email is a hoax. Mars will NOT be particularly close to Earth in August 2006.

July 19, 2006

Team envisions exploring Mars with mini probes Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT engineers and scientist colleagues have a new vision for the future of Mars exploration: a swarm of probes, each the size of a baseball, spreading out across the planet in every direction. Thousands of probes, powered by fuel cells, could cover a vast area now beyond the reach of today's rovers, including exploring remote and rocky terrain that large rovers cannot navigate. "They would start to hop, bounce and roll and distribute themselves across the surface of the planet, exploring as they go, taking scientific data samples," said Steven Dubowsky, the MIT professor of mechanical engineering who is leading the research team.

July 06, 2006

NASA Advised to Revamp Mars Plans
NASA needs to rethink its Mars exploration plans after 2010 given new understandings about the red planet and likely funding levels in the coming years, according to a report just out from a panel of outside experts. By adding to a reworked mix of future missions—for example, a geophysical/meteorological network as well as a sample return mission—the space agency would garner a greater scientific impact at Mars, the panel concludes. Moreover, the space agency must fortify its ability to analyze the data streaming in from Mars. That research can help flesh out a safe and scientifically productive role for humans on Mars.

March 09, 2006

Cashing in on Mars
To land humans on the Red Planet, NASA will need new equipment, fresh thinking, and advanced technology. These companies are preparing for mankind's next giant leap.

February 22, 2006

Slidell teenager explores Mars, finalist for 'junior Nobel Prize' Covington News Banner
When most people look back at their first summer job, it is usually with a sense of dread. Bank presidents started out mowing lawns, corporate CEOs flipped burgers for minimum wage and small business owners began their working days as lifeguards at the local pool. Seventeen-year-old Slidell native Kate Lowry, however, studied gullies on the surface of Mars during her summer internship at NASA's Ames Research Center in San Francisco.

February 17, 2006

The Shadow of Phobos Universe Today
Mars' moon Phobos casts its shadow across the surface of the Red Planet in this photograph captured by ESA's Mars Express. Phobos is only 27 kilometres by 22 kilometres in size (17 x 14 miles), and it orbits Mars once every 7.5 hours. To an observer on the ground, this eclipse would look similar to one on Earth; however, Phobos would only cover about 20% of the Sun's surface. And it would be over quickly - the shadow moves at 7200 km/h (4400 mph).

January 19, 2006

Making space vision a reality
When Dr Michael Griffin took charge of the US space agency (Nasa) last year, it seemed as if he was being handed a poison chalice. Whereas some of his predecessors had been in charge of heroic expeditions to the Moon - he had inherited a grounded shuttle fleet that was soon to be scrapped and a partially built International Space Station that critics were labelling expensive and pointless.

December 22, 2005

Mars attracts The Boston Globe
Back when Joseph E. Palaia IV and the former Melissa Blom were college sweethearts in New Jersey, at a time when most new couples in love think of being together, not apart, he told his future wife that if she wanted to be with him she'd have to let him leave for several years to live on Mars. ''In fact, it was a criteria. She needed to accept the fact that I'm going to Mars one day," Palaia recalls. ''This is who I am."

October 28, 2005

Major Dust Storm on Mars Visible with Backyard Telescopes
A major dust storm has just broken out on Mars and the event will be visible this weekend with good-sized backyard telescopes. The timing is incredible. Amateur skywatchers around the world are planning to gaze at Mars Saturday night because it will be closer to Earth than anytime until the year 2018. The dust storm was no more than a small bright dot Thursday yet it was large and obvious Friday, as seen in images taken by Clay Sherrod at the Arkansas Sky Observatories.

October 27, 2005

Mars to Swing Close to Earth This Weekend
Mars is ready for another close-up. For the second time in nearly 60,000 years, the Red Planet will swing unusually close to Earth this weekend, appearing as a yellow twinkle in the night sky. Mars' latest rendezvous will not match its record-breaking approach to Earth in 2003, when it hovered from 35 million miles away. But more skygazers this time around can glimpse the fourth rock from the sun because it will glow above the horizon.

October 11, 2005

Extraordinary Feats of an X-Man X PRIZE FOUNDATION
When Peter H. Diamandis needed the inspiration to finish earning his pilot's license, a friend gave him a copy of The Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Lindbergh's memoir about flying across the Atlantic Ocean. “"I read it at my parents" house,” says Diamandis, “"and it gave me a great idea." ”Just a few pages into the book, a young Lindbergh describes going on a mail flight and thinking about what role he might play in the future of air travel: "Possibly—-my mind is startled at the thought—- I could fly nonstop between New York and Paris." The notion of flying between these two cities did not enter his head at random. It was not even his own idea. Instead, it was the idea of a philanthropist—- a man who motivated not only Lindbergh in his time, but also Diamandis in ours. The result with respect to Lindbergh is well known: He became the most famous pilot in the history of aviation. Diamandis, by contrast, isn't a household name. Yet he has become one of the most innovative and successful philanthropists at work today. As the co-founder, chairman, and president of the nonprofit X Prize Foundation, he is the mastermind behind one of the most thrilling aeronautical achievements of the last quarter century: the amazing flight of SpaceShipOne. When it soared 100 kilometers (nearly 70 miles) above the earth's surface last fall, it became the first privately financed vehicle to enter suborbital space. The ship's designers captured the X Prize, including its purse of $10 million.

September 22, 2005

Mars Doubles in Brightness Red Nova
The red planet, already intense, is about to get much brighter. Step outside tonight around midnight and look east. About halfway up the sky you'll see the planet Mars. It looks like an intense red star, the brightest light in the midnight sky other than the Moon. Here's the amazing part: Between now and the end of October, Mars, already so bright, will double in brightness again. Imagine that. Mars is getting brighter for the simple reason that it's getting closer. Earth and Mars have been converging for months and on Oct. 30th at 0319 Universal Time, the two worlds will be just 69 million kilometers apart -- the closest approach of Mars and Earth for the next 13 years.

September 13, 2005

NASA May Use Hawaiian Ash In Mars Training Spacer
Hawaii's stark volcanic landscape that once served as a training ground for lunar astronauts might soon be a resource for Mars training. A Hawaiian company is seeking state permission to quarry an area between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea to obtain purified volcanic ash for NASA to use in Mars training, the Honolulu Advertiser reported Friday.

August 19, 2005

Viewer's Guide: Mars to be Spectacular in Fall, 2005
Mars is coming back. The Red Planet, the only one whose surface we can see in any detail from the Earth, has begun the best apparition it will give us until the summer of 2018. Planet watchers have already begun readying their telescopes. If this sounds familiar, you might recall a similar setup two years ago. This current apparition of Mars will not be as spectacular as the one in August 2003 when the planet came closer to Earth than it had in nearly 60,000-years. This time around, Mars comes closest to the Earth on the night of Oct. 29 (around 11:25 p.m. Eastern daylight time). The planet will then lie 43,137,071 miles (69,422,386 kilometers) from Earth measured center to center. Mars will arrive at opposition to the Sun (rising at sunset, setting at sunrise) nine days later, on Nov. 7.

July 30, 2005

Turn to Moon and Mars for resources: Kalam Khaleej Times
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam exhorted scientists to look towards Moon and Mars to meeting the impending shortage of metals and materials on the earth. Interacting with students of Sree Adi Sankara Institute of Engineering and Technology at Kalady in Ernakulam district yesterday, he said the scientists will have to set up factories in Moon and Mars within 20 to 40 years to tide over the crisis.

July 26, 2005

NASA Returns to Shuttle Flight as Discovery Reaches Orbit
The space shuttle Discovery roared into space Tuesday, piercing a Florida morning sky today and launching seven astronauts on NASA’s first orbiter mission since the Columbia disaster. After almost two weeks of delay, two and a half years without a shuttle flight and $1.4 billion in return-to-flight work, Discovery successfully left Earth behind on a 12-day test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) with no hint of the fuel sensor glitch that scrubbed a July 13 launch attempt. Typical Florida weather, including rain storms and a potential launch threat from electrified anvil clouds, was not an issue here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) spaceport.

June 05, 2005

Earth as Seen from Mars
On its 449th martian day, or sol (April 29, 2005), NASA's Mars rover Opportunity woke up approximately an hour after sunset and took this picture of the fading twilight as the stars began to come out. Set against the fading red glow of the sky, the pale dot near the center of the picture is not a star, but a planet -- Earth. Earth appears elongated because it moved slightly during the 15-second exposures. The faintly blue light from the Earth combines with the reddish sky glow to give the pale white appearance.

May 31, 2005

Approaching Mars
By the time you finish reading this sentence, you'll be 25 miles closer to the planet Mars. Earth is racing toward Mars at a speed of 23,500 mph, which means the red planet is getting bigger and brighter by the minute. In October, when the two planets are closest together, Mars will outshine everything in the night sky except Venus and the Moon. (You're another 50 miles closer: keep reading!)

May 20, 2005

Roadrunner first-graders present 'Vacation on Mars' Arizona Daily Star
It's possible that science was never so musical. First-graders at Roadrunner Elementary this week presented "Vacation on Mars," a Broadway-style musical complete with choreography, costumes, props and sets - and all of it helped them learn the first-grade state science standards. In two performances for the school during the day and one showing on Tuesday evening for the parents, the children opened by singing "Mars, Mars," and ran through other space-themed songs.

May 18, 2005

Mars to put on good show Morning News
All herald the return of the god of war. The only catch is, you’re going to have to get up early if you want to see him before sunrise wins the battle. The planet Mars is making a comeback after having spent several months pulling itself up from the eastern horizon haze. It hovers in the constellation Aquarius and is brightening rapidly as it races for a rendezvous with opposition in November.
Mars to put on good show Morning News
All herald the return of the god of war. The only catch is, you’re going to have to get up early if you want to see him before sunrise wins the battle. The planet Mars is making a comeback after having spent several months pulling itself up from the eastern horizon haze. It hovers in the constellation Aquarius and is brightening rapidly as it races for a rendezvous with opposition in November.

April 16, 2005

NASA's shift from Mars to Moon irks Mars buffs Hindustan Times
NASA's shift of focus from Mars to Moon has irked researchers on the Mars Mission working for years to answer the question of life on the red planet and hoping to track any signs of habitability on the faraway land. NASA veterans find moon "an unnecessary stop on the way to Mars".

April 14, 2005

Europe will land on Mars in 2013 The Register
The European Space Agency (ESA) has confirmed that it plans to send another mission to land on Mars, as part of the pan-European Aurora programme to explore the solar system. The main objectives of the €500m mission will be to search for past or present Martian life; to learn more about the source of the atmospheric methane, and find out whether Mars is still seismically active. ESA also wants to drill into the surface of the planet, something that has not been done before. The robotic exploration will be a prelude to a 2016 sample-return mission. The mission would blast off from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana in 2011 aboard a Soyuz launcher.
The Sands of Mars
Imagine this scenario. The year is 2030 or thereabouts. After voyaging six months from Earth, you and several other astronauts are the first humans on Mars. You're standing on an alien world, dusty red dirt beneath your feet, looking around at a bunch of mining equipment deposited by previous robotic landers. Echoing in your ears are the final words from mission control: "Your mission, should you care to accept it, is to return to Earth--if possible using fuel and oxygen you mine from the sands of Mars. Good luck!"

April 01, 2005

Red Canyon Software gets NASA contract The Denver Business Journal
The NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland announced Friday it's awarded Red Canyon Software Inc. a contract to develop educational software that will simulate flight over the Mars terrain and will be used in NASA exhibits and schools. Denver-based Red Canyon, an aerospace engineering company, will create "MarsFlight" Educational Software Simulator. The Phase I software is scheduled to be displayed in June at the Paris Air Show.

March 31, 2005

Shape-Shifting Robot Nanotech Swarms on Mars
Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have successfully tested a shape-shifting robotic pyramid. As the engineers watched like anxious new parents, the robot pyramid traveled across the floor of a lab at NASA Goddard. Robots of this type will eventually be miniaturized and joined together to form "autonomous nanotechnology swarms" (ANTS) that alter their shape to flow over rocky terrain or to create useful structures like communications antennae and solar sails.

March 19, 2005

New NASA chief faces monumental job
The brainy rocket scientist nominated by President George W. Bush and endorsed by key members of Congress to lead NASA as it shifts from space shuttles to moon ships seems to have it all and know it all. But Michael Griffin will need every one of his seven degrees plus political savvy to take on the monumental challenges ahead of him. Getting NASA out of the shuttle business and back into hands-on lunar exploration will clearly be his biggest task.

February 17, 2005

NASA & Navy Sign on for a New Safety Exchange
NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance signed an agreement with the U.S. Navy Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to participate in each other's audits of institutional management programs and projects. NASA's Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance Bryan O'Connor and the Navy's Executive Director for Undersea Warfare John James signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Tuesday at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

January 14, 2005

Touchdown on Titan: Huygens Probe Hits its Mark
A European probe has landed on Saturn's moon Titan a mysterious satellite that has perplexed astronomers for decades. The probe's landing is the farthest touchdown for any human-built object to set land on another world.

January 10, 2005

Commentary: Stocks' Final Frontier The Motley Fool
Humans reached for the heavens once again in 2004, from the president's push for Mars to SpaceShipOne's daring suborbital adventures to Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. Fool contributor Tim Beyers wonders if there are profits for investors on Earth in this new space race.

November 26, 2004

Scientists propose conservation parks on Mars Nature
Next time you go for a stroll on Mars, be sure you don't leave any litter behind. A plan to keep parts of the red planet in their pristine state could see seven areas turned into 'planetary parks', regulated just like national parks here on Earth. The scheme has been proposed by Charles Cockell, a microbiologist for the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, and Gerda Horneck, an astrobiologist from the German Aerospace Centre in Cologne, Germany.

November 24, 2004

China's space chief to visit NASA
The head of China's space agency will visit NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe next week, a move one U.S. expert said could mean increased cooperation between the two countries. The December 2 meeting with Chinese National Space Agency Administrator Laiyan Sun had been under discussion for months, O'Keefe said on Tuesday. He stressed international cooperation was part of President George W. Bush's vision for space exploration, which includes human missions to the moon and eventually to Mars.

November 19, 2004

2004-5 Mars Rover Model Competition PhysOrg.com
Deadline extended to Nov. 30 for UH Mars Rover contest applications. Grade schoolers with aspirations to build their own vehicles to explore the surface of the Red Planet have been given till Tuesday, Nov. 30, to sign up for the 2004-2005 University of Houston Mars Rover Competition. Blanketed in toxic soils, seething with powerful radiation and theorized to host no intelligent civilization, this hostile planet provides many challenges, giving Houston-area students in grades three through eight a chance to create their own homemade solutions. The results will be revealed during a parade of Mars Rover models designed and constructed to carry out a specific science mission on the surface of Mars.

November 11, 2004

Mars answers spur questions Rocky Mountain News
Five spacecraft are circling Mars and creeping across its ruddy surface, looking for traces of long-gone waters and signs that the cold, arid planet may once have been hospitable to life. The robotic martian invasion - three orbiters and two six-wheeled rovers - has already uncovered strong evidence that water once flowed on Mars and is now locked in subsurface ice. But big questions about water on Mars remain. When did it flow? How long did it last? How much was there? Where did it come from? Where did it go? Perhaps the most tantalizing question: Were there long-lived watery environments where microbial life could have gained a foothold?

October 22, 2004

Shatner Wants to Boldly Go on Space Flight
"Star Trek" star William Shatner and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Dave Navarro are among thousands of people who want to fly on Virgin's proposed commercial space flights, company chief Richard Branson said Friday. Branson said more than 7,000 people had registered their willingness to pay the $210,000 fare for the service, which promises to send passengers 70 miles above the Earth.

October 19, 2004

A Space Vision on Trial The Washington Dispatch
Over shadowed by the three Presidential debates and the Vice Presidential debate, a fifth debate recently took place between the Bush and Kerry Campaigns on the subject of space policy. This debate was cosponsored by the Washington Space Business Round Table and Women in Aerospace and took place in Washington in front of an audience of a hundred or so aerospace professionals.

October 18, 2004

The Great (well, OK) Space Debate The Space Review

Thursday’s event was less a debate than a preview of what will happen to NASA after January 20, 2005...The participants in the debate reflected how space rated in both campaigns: while knowledgeable about space topics, neither Lori Garver, representing Kerry, nor Frank Sietzen, representing Bush, rank high in the hierarchy of either campaign organization.

(Links to other debate roundups included)

October 16, 2004

A Lone Dreamer Fuels A New Space Age
Peter Diamandis wasn't thinking about history as he stood in the Mojave Desert and watched a small, shuttlecock-shaped craft glide back to Earth, having nudged the edge of space. He just thought it looked beautiful. It was the next day, after the thousands of cheering spectators had disappeared, after the jubilant speeches had dried up along with the champagne, as Diamandis was driving his father back to Los Angeles, that euphoria - and relief - swept over him.

October 14, 2004

Russia to Built New Orbital Platform
Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov said at the International Space Congress in Vancouver that according to Russia's federal space program for 2006-2015, Russia is going to develop a new orbital basic platform available for cosmonauts.

October 13, 2004

Martian rocks can be found here, it's true Arizona Republic
Some time ago there was an article in The Republic about scientists finding a rock from Mars here on Earth. How do they know that it did not come from somewhere else in the universe or from anywhere in our solar system? I can't see how it can be anything but a wild guess. It is true that every now and again, they find rocks from Mars here at home. Mostly they find them in places like Antarctica, not because Antarctica is especially prone to getting hit by rocks from outer space, but because it's easier to find them there. There aren't a lot of trees or underbrush or buildings or stuff to cover them up.

October 12, 2004

NOAA, NASA begin age of Aquarius Government Computer News
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Aquarius habitat went live today 62 feet underwater off the Florida coast for an 11-day experiment in remote robotic telesurgery and spacelike maneuvers. In cooperation with NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and several universities, the six-member habitat crew and a remote Canadian surgeon will operate commercial robotic medical equipment during the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation 7 [see GCN story].

October 04, 2004

SpaceShipOne Wins $10 Million Ansari X Prize in Historic 2nd Trip to Space
Human flight took a significant step forward today as the privately built SpaceShipOne flew into suborbital space for the second time in five days, securing the $10 million Ansari X Prize. With pilot Brian Binnie at the controls, SpaceShipOne rocketed to an unofficial height of 368,000 feet, setting a new altitude record for the craft and proving that private industry can build a viable vehicle for sending paying passengers to space. "This is a milestone for humanity," said John Spencer, president of the Space Tourism Society in Los Angeles.

October 01, 2004

UK aims to be major space player
The UK is almost certainly going back to Mars and is set to become a major player in Europe's efforts to explore the Solar System. Science minister Lord Sainsbury says the country will pay the £5m interim subscriptions needed to maintain a premier place in the Aurora programme. Aurora sets out a vision for Europe to visit the planets with robotic probes and perhaps one day even with humans.
Looks like Mars, sounds like the Arctic Nunatsiaq News
If there are any native Martians on Mars, they may be shocked to learn that U.S. scientists are renaming places on their planet as fast as they can, in the same way that explorers and every wave of newcomers gave their own foreign place names to the Eastern Arctic. A little bit of Canada's North has been transported to Mars as names for places, people and events on Earth are transported to locations on the Red Planet. Borrowed place names for Martian craters include Inuvik, Nain, Nutak and Thule. The names of vessels used in past polar exploration are also now on Mars.

September 29, 2004

SpaceShipOne blasts off up into space
SpaceShipOne landed safely Wednesday after blasting off up into space in what appeared to be the successful start to its bid to win a $10 million prize for private spaceflight. Officials on the ground said the ship had unofficially cleared the 100-kilometer mark, crossing the internationally accepted boundary of outer space. That came after tense moments immediately after the plane's separation from its carrier aircraft. As SpaceShipOne's rocket engine completed its 90-second burn, the plane went into a severe roll upwards. Stunning images showed the plane corkscrewing in as many as 10 revolutions per minute, before pilot Mike Melvill brought it back under control.

September 27, 2004

New $50 Million Prize for Private Orbiting Spacecraft
While a team of aerospace engineers takes aim this week on the $10 million Ansari X Prize competition for privately developed suborbital spaceflight, a Nevada millionaire is planning an even loftier contest. Robert Bigelow, chief of Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace, is apparently setting higher goals for private spaceflight endeavors with America's Space Prize, a $50 million race to build an orbital vehicle capable of carrying up to seven astronauts to an orbital outpost by the end of the decade, according to Aviation Week and Space Technology. Bigelow told Aviation Week that not only would Space Prize winners secure the $50 million purse, half of which he's putting up himself, but also snag options to service inflatable space habitats under development by Bigelow Aerospace.
Bigelow's Gamble Aviation Week & Space Technology
The Bigelow Aerospace project to privately develop inflatable Earth-orbit space modules is beginning to integrate diverse U.S. and European technologies into subscale and full-scale inflatable test modules and subsystems at the company's heavily guarded facilities here. While much public attention is focused on the massive International Space Station (ISS), Bigelow has quietly become a mini-Skunk Works for the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). Ongoing technical assistance to Bigelow from JSC is focused on helping the company spawn development of orbiting commercial inflatable modules by the end of the decade, with the possibility of JSC later using the Bigelow technology for inflatable modules on the Moon or Mars.
UK's Branson to Launch Space Tourism in 2007

Richard Branson, Britain's best-known entrepreneur and part-time daredevil, plans to launch the world's first passenger service to space in 2007, offering zero-gravity flights for $198,600.

Branson, whose Virgin empire stretches from planes and trains to vodka, music and personal finance, is teaming up with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to build five, fish-shaped capsules for the two-to-three hour flights.

Virgin Galactic will be the latest offshoot of Branson's business empire, which started in mail-order recorded music in the 1970s. It will invest $100 million in ground infrastructure and spacecraft capable of carrying five passengers.

September 20, 2004

SpaceDev to Build Piloted Spaceship
The aerospace firm SpaceDev cast its hat into the ring of private human spaceflight today, announcing its plans to build a reuseable spacecraft that may one day carry passengers into orbit. Based in Poway, California, SpaceDev is designing a piloted sub-orbital spacecraft that could eventually be scaled up for orbital flights.

August 20, 2004

New Moon Rising: The Making Of America's New Space Vision And The Remaking Of NASA Apogee Books Space Series
The inside story of how NASA responded to the 2003 Columbia accident in never-before-reported detail The secret deliberations within NASA on how to make way for a new goal such as manned lunar and Mars flight The story of the major U.S. political figure who came to NASA’s aid during the debates, and whose support became crucial to helping get Bush on board The role of the president himself in shaping-and reshaping-the space plan How NASA reached the decision to abandon the space shuttle and station to free up funds to pay for the new plan How the Sean O’Keefe administration built a quiet political coalition to support the proposal-and why it almost came undone during the critical weeks following the Bush announcement What it was like at the helm of U.S. civil space as tragedy gave way to an unexpected opportunity, told from the insider’s unique perspective in a you-are-there- in- the- room style with Sean O’Keefe and his inner circle, battling over options to save NASA-and what President George W. Bush really believed the space program should do for America.

August 11, 2004

Mars: The Nasa Mission Reports, Vol. 2 Apogee Books
This latest volume brings the exploration of Mars up to date. Including the latest results from the amazingly successful Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, as well as progress reports from the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey missions. 416 pages with 248 pages of color images INCLUDES DVD-V / DVD-ROM.

August 09, 2004

Washington State-Based Ansari X Prize Contestant's Spacecraft Explodes NBC30
A team taking a low-budget stab at the $10 million Ansari X Prize for private manned spaceflight suffered a setback Sunday, when their rocket malfunctioned and exploded after shooting less than 1,000 feet in the air. No one was hurt in the test of the Rubicon 1 just south of Olympic National Park. The 23-foot-long, 38-inch-diameter spacecraft held three dummies simulating the weight of astronauts. Click "Full Story" to see a video of the launch attempt...

August 06, 2004

Could the ISS become a Russo-European Project? Novosti
It is becoming increasingly difficult to tally US declarations about the International Space Station (ISS) with reality. On the one hand, President Bush and NASA have given repeated assurances that the US still sees the ISS as a unique international project in manned space flight. On the other hand, words alone cannot make equipment, especially sophisticated space equipment, keep functioning. Money is needed for the final version of the space station to appear in all its beauty, complete with new Russian and US-Canadian elements, the European Columbus orbital facility and the Japanese Kibo module.
Russia No Longer to Carry Supplies to ISS for Free MosNews
Russia will resume construction of a new section of the International Space Station (ISS) and will cease being a free “space carrier” for NASA, Aleksandr Aleksandrov, head of the test-flight service of Russia’s Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK) Energiya told ITAR-TASS. According to Aleksandrov, the new section of the station may be built on the basis of the 2nd functional cargo bloc (FGB-2), currently stored on the premises of the Khrunichev space center.

August 02, 2004

Website Lets Users Scout the Red Planet from Home
For those who want to explore Mars but can’t wait for a spacecraft to take them there, NASA scientists have reformulated a website that lets the general public search data and images from previous missions. The website called Marsoweb had been designed to help scientists select possible landing sites for the Mars Exploration Rovers. By making the web pages more user friendly, NASA hopes that space enthusiasts will electronically survey the red planet’s terrain for interesting geological features.

July 30, 2004

NASA Invites Public To Explore 'Red Planet' Via Internet
NASA scientists have modified a scientific Web site so the general public can inspect big regions and smaller details of Mars' surface, a planet whose alien terrain is about the same area as Earth's continents. After adding 'computer tools' to the 'Marsoweb' Internet site, NASA scientists plan to ask volunteers from the public to virtually survey the vast red planet to look for important geologic features hidden in thousands of images of the surface.

July 28, 2004

Howling at the Moon: Space Entrepreneurs See Red Over Mars Favoritism
The ability of NASA to rise to the occasion and put into practice U.S. President George W. Bush's vision for space exploration appears to be up for grabs as his 2005 budget request now founders in Congress. Meanwhile entrepreneurs believe the U.S. space agency's preoccupation with Mars is eclipsing in importance our closest celestial neighbor: the Moon.

July 19, 2004

Russia, India sign space co-operation protocol IndiaExpress Bureau
India and Russia on Monday signed a protocol to boost co-operation in space including joint development of global navigation system and launching Russian spacecraft by Indian rockets. The protocol signed by Gen. Anatoly Perminov of Russian Federal Space Agency -"Roskosmos"- and ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair also provides for the joint projects in space exploration.

July 10, 2004

National Air and Space Museum Celebrates Mars Day! July 16 National Air and Space Museum
The many wonders of the Red Planet will be explored July 16, 2004 when the National Air and Space Museum celebrates Mars Day! with a host of activities at the museum's flagship building on the National Mall in Washington and the new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The annual Mars Day! festivities give the public a chance to learn the latest about our "next-door neighbor" from the staff of the museum's Education Division, Space History Division and Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS).

July 04, 2004

Japan, Russia discuss joint Mars mission The Yomiuri Shimbun
Japanese researchers, who gave up on an attempt to explore Mars last December, have begun planning another probe to the Red Planet in cooperation with Russia. Japanese researchers are exchanging information with their Russian counterparts, who will launch their own probe for the first time in 10 years, with an eye to the possibility of installing in the probe a small Japanese satellite that can orbit Mars to study the atmosphere.

June 21, 2004

SpaceShipOne Makes History: First Manned Private Spaceflight

The first non-governmental rocket ship flew to the edge of space today and was piloted to a safe landing on a desert airport runway here.

Civilian test pilot, now turned astronaut Mike Melvill brought SpaceShipOne down to the Mojave Airport tarmac after flying to 100 kilometers (62 miles) in altitude, leaving the Earth’s atmosphere during his history-making sub-orbital space ride.

Editor's Note: News postings have been sporatic over the last few days since Tourdemars attended the launch of SpaceShipOne in Mojave, and JBurk was on vacation in Fiji & Hawaii. The normal pace of news entries will now resume; thanks for your patience.

June 09, 2004

New Oregon Museum of Science and Industry planetarium show takes you to Mars Bend.com
Mars, a new digitally animated space show, will open at OMSI's Harry C. Kendall Planetarium on Saturday, June 12. The museum's newest ultra-high definition, full-dome SkyVision(tm) show attempts to answer some of the questions that come to mind when we think of Mars: What happened out there? Was there once life? What happened to the water? Could there still be life...somewhere?

June 07, 2004

NASA Administrator's Tribute to President Reagan
In the coming days our nation will pause to mourn the loss and honor the tremendous legacy of our 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan. President Reagan's boundless optimism about America manifested itself in many ways. Among them was his energetic and unbridled support for NASA's space exploration program. Less than three months after he took the oath of office, on April 12, 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia launched on its first mission, and after a six-year hiatus, Americans were back in space to stay.

May 28, 2004

‘Mars czar’ to speak at UCSC next week Santa Cruz Sentinel
A NASA official known as the "Mars czar" will give a free talk Thursday at UC Santa Cruz. G. Scott Hubbard, who has been working on space missions since 1974, will visit as part of a lecture series sponsored by the UCSC Foundation. His talk, titled "Space Exploration: The Moon and Mars — A Vision of the Future," will be at 3:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Colleges Nine and 10. The public is invited.

May 19, 2004

Students shoot for Mars Iowa City Press-Citizen
Andrei Perkhounkov pointed at a small hole in the large pipe that would act as the cannon for the launch of the Mars probes. "Don't look here," he warned the crowd of 17 Longfellow third- and fourth-graders. "By the time you look here, the probe will be in the sky."

May 13, 2004

Russian space agency seeks to join ESA
Russia's space agency is seeking to join the European space agency (ESA) but only as an equal member, its director Anatoly Perminov told ITAR-TASS. He said the issue had been recently discussed with the ESA director Jean-Jacques Dordain. But the discussions dealt with Russia joining as no more than an associate, a status that would give it less power than other nations in the European space alliance.

April 27, 2004

China 'Shocked' at U.S. Cold Shoulder in Space
The Chinese, who launched their first astronaut into space last year, are "shocked" the United States has not welcomed them into the tight-knit community of space-faring nations, a leading U.S. expert said on Tuesday. Joan Johnson-Freese, who chairs the National Security Decision Making Department at the U.S. Naval War College, said one space official she met on a recent trip to China was in tears as he pleaded for U.S. recognition and cooperation.

April 22, 2004

Biosphere 2 awaits new life Tucson Citizen
Here's something to remember as we observe Earth Day today. There's just one. "At present, there is no demonstrated alternative to maintaining the viability of Earth," said Joel E. Cohen, a populations professor at The Rockefeller University in New York City. "Despite its mysteries and hazards, Earth remains the only known home that can sustain life." Arizona was host to the grandest experiment to re-create a piece of Earth: Biosphere 2. And the experiment failed.

April 20, 2004

Rad scientists: A new wave defies stodgy stereotypes The Seattle Times
If the images coming back from Mars looked an awful lot like Arizona, there was little familiar about the exuberant young engineers whooping it up in the control room of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena — talking on cellphones, cracking jokes, wearing funny T-shirts. Gone are the days when space geeks were (only) poker-faced pocket-protector guys with narrow ties and crew cuts. The rocket scientists at the JPL are surfer dudes, sky divers, rock climbers — even "Survivor" survivors. Far from the seemingly bloodless clones of the Apollo era, the young faces on the screen were as sunny, as animated, as varied as Southern California itself.

April 13, 2004

Teacher's dreams soar with NASA nod The Columbian
Astronomy teacher Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger usually gives assignments, but on Monday she got one. The Hudson's Bay High School teacher was notified that she has been selected by NASA to be an educator astronaut. The position is based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Monday it could not confirm that she had been selected. NASA will publicly announce its next astronaut class on May 6.

April 12, 2004

Putin Calls for Demilitarization of Space
President Vladimir Putin on Monday reaffirmed his support for the demilitarization of space but added that Russia must be ready to counter others' moves to the contrary. In a speech to top space officials on Cosmonauts Day, which marks the 43rd anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's epochal spaceflight, Putin also hailed the Soviet Union's space glory and emphasized that space research remains a top priority for the government.
Op/Ed: The feminization of American space policy The Space Review
When President George W. Bush announced a new civilian space policy at NASA Headquarters on January 14 he used much of the language typical of such speeches. He talked of vision and the bravery of explorers like Lewis and Clark, who traveled far and opened new frontiers. He cracked a couple of small jokes and spoke of the pioneering spirit that was part of America’s heritage. But there was a phrase missing from Bush’s speech: no mention of American “leadership in space.” The absence was notable largely because there was a time when this phrase was at the center of American space policy and was endlessly repeated in space policy speeches and documents.

April 08, 2004

Private Spaceship Completes Second Rocket-Powered Test Flight
The privately-backed SpaceShipOne suborbital rocket plane made its second powered flight today. Built by Scaled Composites of Mojave, California, the piloted vehicle was powered by a hybrid rocket motor to over 105,000 feet. The engine burned for 40 seconds, zipping to Mach 2, or two times the speed of sound, according to a source that witnessed the test flight high above Mojave, California skies.

April 01, 2004

April Fools' on Mars: Scientists Post Yearly Photo Joke National Geographic
A pair of astrophysicists announced today that April Fools' Day is more intense on Mars than on Earth. To back their claim, the duo notes that Mars has less gravity (pun intended) than Earth—and is therefore sillier.

Editors' Note: As you can tell, we definately agree with this! :)

Google Copernicus Center is hiring Google Jobs
Google is interviewing candidates for engineering positions at our lunar hosting and research center, opening late in the spring of 2007. This unique opportunity is available only to highly-qualified individuals who are willing to relocate for an extended period of time, are in top physical condition and are capable of surviving with limited access to such modern conveniences as soy low-fat lattes, The Sopranos and a steady supply of oxygen.
California-based company launches feasibility study for outsourcing software development to Mars Art & Logic
Following NASA's announcement that "substantial" amounts of liquid water once existed on Mars, Art & Logic, Inc. is studying the feasibility of outsourcing computer programming tasks to the Red Planet. The company hopes to establish early dominance in the Martian outsourcing market, should a Martian civilization ever be discovered. Some industry analysts believe Art & Logic has entered the Martian outsourcing game too early. Citing the lack of lifeforms and breathable atmosphere, skeptics think the company's research spending is running amok.

March 31, 2004

Center for Mars Exploration Concept Maps
These web pages are in the form of concept maps, tools for organizing and representing knowledge. Concepts, usually enclosed in boxes, can be events or objects, real or abstract (e.g. "ocean", "pathway", "deep", "process"). Concepts may also consist of a phrase (e.g. "small organic molecules", "heat from the Earth's interior"). Two or more concepts are linked with words describing the relationship (e.g. "Mars is red", "Human Body temperature typically 98.6 degrees"). Some concepts have Icons attached to them. This is to show there is more information available. By clicking on the icon, one or more choices appear. Selecting one of these choices will load a new web page. Concept Map icons will open new concept maps, movie icons will open a movie, etc. By doing this, one can easily browse through a set of maps.
Rover scientist says Mars rocks deserve closer look The Mercury News
The rocks that revealed the strongest sign yet that water once pooled on Mars are also ideal for preserving evidence that life once existed on the planet - if it ever did, according to the lead scientist of NASA's current twin-rover mission. Meridiani Planum, the area now being studied by the rover Opportunity, could be the target of future missions equipped to look for organic materials or return samples to Earth, said Steve Squyres, the principal scientist of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover program.

March 30, 2004

Planet Mars Family Space Camp VillageSoup
The Midcoast Children’s Museum and Planet Toys are bringing together their formidable creative energy and commitment to play in three days of activities during April school vacation dedicated to fun and education.

March 24, 2004

NASA Finds Ocean Water on Mars! Long John Silver's Gives America Free Giant Shrimp to Celebrate Business Wire
NASA's March 23 announcement of evidence of the past presence of "a body of gently flowing saltwater" on Mars is big news for America, and giant news for seafood fans. In January, Long John Silver's offered to give America free Giant Shrimp if NASA found conclusive evidence of an ocean on Mars. To celebrate the success of NASA's Mars Rover project, the company is going to give America free Giant Shrimp on Monday, May 10. "This is the big announcement that Long John Silver's has been waiting for since January - that there is evidence of a past salty sea on Mars," said Mike Baker, Chief Marketing Officer for Long John Silver's, Inc. "We can't wait to celebrate NASA's out-of-this-world success, and there's no better way to recognize their giant accomplishments than with free Giant Shrimp for America."

March 23, 2004

Lessons From Mars Star Telegram
When Sally Urquhart was pregnant with her daughter, Mary, in 1969, she pleaded with the infant to arrive just at the right time. Not too early, not too late and, please, not during man's first walk on the moon. "She would talk to me while I was in the womb," said Mary Urquhart, now a University of Texas at Dallas professor. "She didn't want to miss a human being first setting foot on the moon."

March 20, 2004

Detailed Viewer's Guide: Five Planets Soon Visible
There are five planets visible to the naked eye now. Not until April 2036 will there be another chance to readily see all five naked-eye planets at the same time in the evening. The sky show will be at its best from late March into the first days of April: the five brightest naked-eye planets will all be simultaneously in view in the early evening sky from roughly 45 to 90 minutes after sunset. In addition, from March 22 through April 2, the Moon will traverse the scene and on some evenings will appear to pass close to this or that world.

March 18, 2004

A Canadian mission to Mars? Toronto Star
With its bright reddish-brown landscape, dotted with troughs and cobblestones, the latest image from Mars drew gasps from the audience. Halfway towards the Martian horizon stood a signpost that read, "Tim Horton's — Opening Soon." The digitally altered image of Mars, shown to a packed audience at Montreal's McGill University recently, captured the enthusiasm for a Canadian mission to Mars, following the spectacular success of NASA's twin Martian rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

March 15, 2004

Scientists: Most distant object in solar system found
Scientists may have discovered the solar system's most distant object, more than three times farther away from the sun than Pluto. The object -- about 8 billion miles (12.8 billion kilometers) from Earth -- has been given the provisional name of Sedna, after the Inuit goddess who created sea creatures of the Arctic.

March 13, 2004

A Red Planet Forever in the Orbit of Science and Dreams The New York Times
Mars and science fiction came of age together in the 1890's, and ever since they have had a tight relationship, a feedback loop that has made both famous. It began with the American astronomer Percival Lowell, who built a technically advanced telescope and through it saw straight lines on the surface of the red planet. He explained that these had to be the canals of an alien race whose planet was drying out, forcing them to convey water from the polar caps, also visible.

March 12, 2004

Russia Replaces Space Agency Chief
Russia replaced without explanation its long-serving space agency chief on Friday and appointed a top general to replace him, Russian media reported. For the past 12 years Yuri Koptev has overseen Russia's space program -- the sole launcher of missions to the International Space Station since the United States grounded its shuttles in February 2003 after the Columbia disaster. The agency's new chief will be Colonel-General Perminov, 58, previously commander of the army's space division.
Boriska-boy from Mars
I was told the story of an unusual boy named Boriska from members of an expedition to the anomaly zone located in the north of the Volgograd region, most commonly referred to as "Medvedetskaya gryada". "Can you imagine, while everyone was sitting around the campfire at night, some little boy (about 7 years of age) suddenly asked everyone's attention. Turned out, he wanted to tell them all about life on Mars, about its inhabitants and their flights to earth," shares one of the witnesses.

March 11, 2004

Idaho State takes lead in Mars research Pocatello Idaho State Journal
Mars exploration is in the news, and Idaho State University is emerging as a national leader in studying the Red Planet, according to a press release. ISU Department of Geosciences researchers will make presentations at two upcoming national conferences: March 15-19 at the 35th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in League City, Texas, near Houston and the Johnson Space Center; and May 3-5 at The Geological Society of America's Rocky Mountain Section and Cordilleran Section Joint Meeting in Boise.
Mars Horizon, the Big Plans Astrobiology Magazine
The future of Mars missions hinges on a launch window about every 26 months. The next generation of robotic explorers will take new instruments and exploration strategies to the red planet this decade.
Russia reorganizes space agency ITAR-TASS
A reshuffling of the Russian government has given the Russian space agency a new name and removed aircraft from its purview, but has left its long-time head still in charge.

March 10, 2004

$750,000 contract offered for Canadian-built Mars rover CBC
The countdown is on to launch a Canadian mission to Mars by 2010. Two NASA rovers are driving on Mars, looking for signs of past life. If the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has its way, Spirit and Opportunity will be joined by a Canadian designed and built lander or rover.
Out-of-this-World job opportunities await college students at Space Foundation's free Space Career Fair The Space Foundation
College students can combine their education and talents with an interest in space and learn more about opportunities in the space industry at the second annual Space Career Fair for College Students. Scheduled Tuesday, March 30 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, the Space Career Fair is hosted by the Space Foundation, its corporate members and sponsoring companies. "The Career Fair addresses the space industry's critical need of overcoming difficulties in attracting high-quality, young talent," said Dr. Patricia Arnold, vice president of education and workforce development for the Space Foundation. "College students will benefit by learning about new space jobs they can aspire to, including those that require technical and non-technical expertise."

March 07, 2004

NASA faces rush of retirees
NASA's labor pool is overloaded with people soon eligible to retire. A pipeline once filled with American science and engineering graduates is shrinking. Students no longer see the aerospace industry as a choice career path. Higher-paying private sector jobs are alluring, and interest in federal service is declining. Together, those factors raise serious questions about NASA's ability to recruit and retain a new generation of scientists, engineers and technologists needed to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020 and then on to Mars years after that.

March 06, 2004

Mars critics say billions are ill-spent
NASA's celebration last week of gritty evidence that Mars once had enough water to support life has spawned more questions: Where's the water now? When did it disappear? Are there any fossils of living creatures, or even microbes? But prominent scientists outside the space agency are beginning to ask a harder question: Does Mars represent what is out of whack in American science and exploration?
Astronaut urges McNair students to reach for Mars The Jersey Journal
NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz and U.S. Rep. Robert Menendez, D-Hoboken, visited McNair Academic High School in Jersey City yesterday to promote the space program to the next generation of explorers.

February 19, 2004

Looking at Mars in 3-D The Cornell Daily Sun

To celebrate and explore the recent Mars landing, the office of the provost started giving away one thousand pairs of 3-D glasses last week. The glasses, which can be used to view the 3-D images being sent back by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, are available at the information desk in the Straight.

February 18, 2004

Bringing Mars closer The Durango Herald

Jumping for joy, 2-year-old Sarah and 4-year-old Emily Vierling experience a little of what Mars might be like. Weight on the Red Planet is about one-third of what it would be on Earth. Strapped in a harness, each girl takes a turn pushing off and catching big air, experiencing a simulation of Mars' gravity.

February 17, 2004

Giant Shrimp Debuts at Long John Silver's; America Watches for NASA News of Conclusive Evidence of Ocean Water on Mars; If Found by Feb. 29, America Gets Free Giant Shrimp on March 15 Business Wire

It's giant news when the world's largest quick-service seafood chain introduces its biggest shrimp ever. Long John Silver's is introducing the new, nearly-half-foot-long Giant Shrimp to America this week. Long John Silver's Giant Shrimp have been in the news since mid-January, when company President Steve Davis sent a letter to NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, offering to give America free Giant Shrimp if NASA's Mars Rover finds conclusive evidence of an ocean on Mars by Feb. 29. The giveaway would take place on March 15, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

February 15, 2004

A bit of 'Mars' on Earth The Advocate

Colonization of the Red Planet might one day become more than just the plot line of a pulpy science fiction novel. The United States has two explorers currently on the surface of Mars, but they are both robots.

February 13, 2004

Amateur Shoots Mars "Picture of the Year" Sky & Telescope

A California amateur astrophotographer recently received a unique double honor by having two of his Mars images featured in two well-known publications. Wally Pacholka's portraits of the red planet last July 21st over Nevada's Valley of Fire State Park near Lake Mead were chosen by TIME and LIFE magazines for their respective editions of pictorial highlights of 2003. His photo of brilliant Mars shining through Arch Rock was published as one of TIME's "Pictures of the Year" last December 22nd, while his image showing the planet next to a formation called Poodle Rock is in LIFE's "The Year in Pictures."

February 12, 2004

The Pros and Cons of the Exploration of Mars [Audio] Australian Broadcasting Company

Dan Crowley of the Shoalhaven Astronomical Society believes NASA's work on Mars has increased interest in Astronomy and that we could even see a renewed 'Space Race' to get a man on Mars as was seen in the 60's to get a man on the moon.

February 11, 2004

Real rocket scientist to head sci-fi museum Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The veteran NASA engineer who oversaw development of the first Mars rover has been named director of Paul Allen's Experience Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. "When they said they were looking for a director, I got very excited," Donna Shirley said yesterday. "I thought it would be a really fun thing to do." Shirley, 62, who previously served on the museum's advisory board, began working on the Mars program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1966 and became the first woman to manage a project for NASA, the billion-dollar Mars Exploration Program.

A virtual tour of Mars Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Our next-door neighbor in the solar system has become quite the Internet star. Web sites devoted to the findings of the Mars Exploration Rover mission are leaving no stone unturned -- or at least undocumented -- in meeting the public thirst for information about the Red Planet. A wide range of sites offer information, images and interactive features that take the Web surfer virtually there.

February 10, 2004

Op/Ed: Teen Columnist: Rovers land on Mars, have major impact here Tucson Citizen

When Spirit landed on Mars last month, bouncing into a perfect landing to the cheers of NASA scientists, the world did something surprising: it noticed. And I decided to take senior year calculus. It wasn't the most thrilling decision of my life. But I'll need a calculus course on my college applications if I want to study astrobiology after high school. Despite my reluctance to take on senioritis and math simultaneously, you could say I was inspired. I'm not the only one.

February 03, 2004

Wish you were here: Imaging Mars

The spectacular images of Mars being sent back by European and US spacecraft give us a thrilling insight into what it must be like to travel to the Red Planet. While the camera aboard Europe's Mars Express orbiter has captured the breathtaking scale of the planet's mesas, channels and calderas, those on the US space agency's (Nasa) rovers have caught the exhilarating strangeness of the Martian surface.

February 02, 2004

MarsClock for PalmOS MarsClock

MarsClock is a clock for Mars. It is a port of Mars24, created using OnBoardC. It runs on the PalmOS operating system (v 3.0 through 5.2) and requires MathLib. The error between MarsClock and the JPL MER time sheets is less than one minute for the nominal mission duration.

January 29, 2004

Martian Water Quest Hits High Gear

Mars is under more intense scientific scrutiny than ever. The curiosity is about whether Earth's cold, barren neighbor was ever wet enough to support simple microbial life. Scientists speculate that liquid water once flowed there because U.S. satellites in recent years have observed channels and other land forms that appear to have been carved by water. Now, two U.S. robot rovers are on the Martian landscape to seek proof of this.

January 27, 2004

Twice the 'Opportunity' on Mars? Landing of Second Rover Gives America Twice the Opportunity for Free Giant Shrimp from Long John Silver's Business Wire

With NASA's Mars Rover "Opportunity" making a successful landing in Meridiani Planum on Sunday, January 25, America now has a second opportunity to enjoy free Giant Shrimp from Long John Silver's. Long John Silver's announced on January 16 that it will give America free Giant Shrimp if NASA's Mars Exploration Rover project finds conclusive evidence of an ocean on Mars by February 29, 2004. With the successful landing of a second Rover, America can now pull for either "Spirit" or "Opportunity" to find conclusive evidence of an ocean.

January 26, 2004

Soviet Lunokhod designers to help build Mars rovers for ESA Itar-Tass

The designers of Soviet Lunokhod moon crawlers will take part in the creation of a similar machine for the exploration of Mars under a programme launched by the European Space Agency. Russian technologies will be used in designing and building a Mars rover, an ESA official said. In his words, the European Aurora project calls for cooperation with two Russian organisations – the Babakin Research Centre, and the Lavochkin Research and Production Association. These organisations have rich experience of building interplanetary spacecraft and the ESA wants to use their expertise for designing the technical part of the Mars rover.

January 17, 2004

The Mars Scorecard David Gore

Welcome Space Sports fans! As you are well aware, Earth is currently the underdog in the solar system division in the Expensive Hardware Lob. For every piece of hardware that returns useful information from the Lobbee's planet, the Lobber scores a point. For every piece of hardware sucessfully thwarted by the Lobbee (secret agent LGMs [two to a trenchcoat], IPBMs, "lasers", blowing sand in the lens, etc...), they score a point. Currently we are monitoring the Mars-Earth game which began in late 1960 and is still in progress. As far as we can tell, Earth has been the only Lobber, with scattered reports of a possibly thwarted Mars invasion of Earth in 1938. For those of you just tuning in, here is the play-by-play...

January 12, 2004

Op/Ed: America Leads Us to Mars The Washington Dispatch

On Saturday, January 3, a journey of over 300 million miles ended, while a jaunt of less than ¾ mile on a new world would soon begin that could provide an answer to a question that has plagued humans for millennia. NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers touched down on the red planet ending a journey of nearly six months. Shortly thereafter, the probe began to collect data that may indicate whether Mars had/has water and if life has ever existed on our interplanetary neighbor. Once again, this potentially gigantic leap in mankind’s knowledge, as is the case with nearly every major innovation and idea across disciplines, came courtesy of the United States.

January 11, 2004

China to Launch Next Manned Spacecraft in '05

China will launch its next manned spacecraft next year and it will carry more than one astronaut, a newspaper said Friday, nearly three months after the nation's first manned space shot was completed successfully.

January 03, 2004

Mars from every angle Montreal Gazette

After a seven-month epic voyage across interplanetary space, NASA's two exploration rovers are on final approach to Mars. Spirit takes the first plunge into the Martian atmosphere tonight while its twin, Opportunity, begins its perilous decent Jan. 25. With any luck, things will go more smoothly for NASA than they have for the troubled British Mars probe, the Beagle 2. For readers inspired to make their own, armchair journeys to the Red Planet, here's a guide to essential titles, most published within the past year:

January 02, 2004

Hope yet for Earth probes to reach Mars The Sydney Morning Herald

The score in the 2003-04 interplanetary cup now stands at Mars 2, Earth 1. This weekend our world gets its chance to level the game. Early last month, five spacecraft were closing in on the red planet. But then Japan declared that its Mars probe, Nozomi - Japanese for Hope - had malfunctioned and had no hope of entering Mars orbit. Then, on Christmas Day, Britain's Beagle 2 vanished while attempting to land, although optimistic officials say they have not given up hope it may be found. The only good news came when Beagle's mothership, the European-built Mars Express, slipped safely into Martian orbit. However, two more Mars landers, six-wheeled NASA rovers the size of a desk, are on their way.

December 30, 2003

The Night Sky … from Mars!

To see the surface of Mars, we rely on robots as our virtual eyes. To see the Martian night sky, we need a computer program. With the help of astronomy simulation software such as Starry Night Pro, earthlings can take a virtual journey to Mars. Our chosen landing spot in this simulation is Gusev Crater, the expected landing site of NASA's Spirit rover, one of two probes the agency has arriving in January. From here we can gaze into the Martian sky and see distant stars and not-so-distant planets, things surprisingly familiar and things utterly strange.

December 27, 2003

Cursed probes that have bitten the red dust The Guardian

Although Mars has an enduring fascination for scientists, it boasts a list of mission failures long enough to make anyone think twice about sending a multimillion-pound probe there. Missions to the red planet fail far more often than they succeed. Since 1960 there have been 35 missions, from the Soviet Union, the US and Japan. Two-thirds of them have been outright failures.

December 26, 2003

2004 shaping into a very Martian new year

With the arrival of Europe's first interplanetary probe at Mars and two more U.S. spacecraft on the way, the red planet will be under intense scrutiny for months as scientists attempt to figure out why a world flecked with evidence of an Earth-like past appears dead and dry. An even more compelling question is whether indigenous life ever took root on Mars, as many suspect but cannot prove. "If you look at the surface of Mars today, it's a desolate place. It's dry. It's cold. It's barren," said Cornell University astronomer Steven Squyres, who heads the science teams for two NASA rovers scheduled to land on Mars beginning next month. "It's not an inviting environment for life, and yet we see these tantalizing clues," he said.

December 23, 2003

Landers Approach Mars in Quest to Find Water, Evidence of Life

The skies around Mars are getting crowded, and traffic on the ground will soon increase, too. The United States and Europe are sending landers to the Martian surface to provide a broader and closer view of the Red Planet. A major goal is to find water and evidence of life.

December 20, 2003

Three probes hold promise of new insight into Red Planet

The fourth planet from the sun is frigid and nearly airless, treacherous and distant, but somehow alluring. Its desertlike terrain looks as if it were scooped from the American Southwest or the African Sahara. It is a mystery waiting to be solved. When Mars swung close to the Earth this summer, as close as it has been in 60,000 years, thousands of curious stargazers searched out the planet's uniquely reddish glow and pondered what it might be like to visit.

Tough question: Where to land?

If just getting to Mars is difficult, and most would agree it is, try finding a good parking spot once you arrive. More than 100 NASA engineers and scientists from around the country spent three years searching before settling on landing sites for Martian rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some sites were too rocky; some too dusty. Others were too steep, too windy or too cold. Engineers considered several sites too risky for landing, with lots of "bad" rocks that could damage the rovers on impact.

Race to Mars begins a distant search for life

One will sniff, dig and bake. Two others will roam, grind and bore. Together, they could revolutionize our knowledge of the red planet and extraterrestrial life. The robotic explorers from Europe and the United States are using entirely different approaches to the cosmic quest, which begin this month with launches that take advantage of an exceptionally close Earth-Mars alignment.

December 17, 2003

Mars brightens a bit Astronomy.com

Since August, Mars has been drifting farther away from us and getting dimmer in our sky as Earth pulls ahead of it in our course around the Sun. But a large, regional dust storm has popped up on the planet, causing Mars to brighten slightly again. The storm was first reported to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on December 13 by planetary observer Don Parker of Florida. According to IAU Circular 8256, issued on Sunday morning, the dust storm appeared to extend over 3,000 kilometers (over 1,800 miles) of longitude (in the east-west direction) and about 1,800 km (over 1,100 miles) in latitude (in the north-south direction). It covered most of Chryse Planitia (a low-elevation plain where Viking 1 landed), extending west into Candor Chasma and south into Eos Chasma and Margaritifer Sinus. On Sunday, observations by Parker revealed that the cloud seemed to be spreading even farther south and into Argyre Planitia.

December 16, 2003

UA Scientist Has Role in American and European Missions to Mars The University of Arizona

The United Kingdom and the United States are about to land separate missions on Mars, and a University of Arizona scientist has a role in both. Mars missions are fraught with risks and challenges. But with luck, both the European and NASA missions will return data, and Peter H. Smith will soon compare the results. Smith is a member of the science team for Britain’s Beagle 2 lander, which is riding aboard Europe’s Mars Express spacecraft. He's also on the team for NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover mission.

December 14, 2003

Astronaut launches Australian race for space The Sun-Herald

A space industry venture backed by Australian astronaut Andy Thomas has been set up in Sydney to compete for contracts worth billions of dollars. Nine private and public stakeholders have joined the Australian Space Network and others will be recruited next year. The network founders set three initial goals:  A Fedsat 2 satellite operating by 2005;  Australian instruments on Mars by 2010; and  Australian-produced microsatellites orbiting Mars by 2015. The network's aim is to bring the country's space professionals and companies together to compete for high-technology projects sponsored by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency.

December 13, 2003

X-ray view of the Red Planet

Another ESA mission is turning its gaze towards Mars. This recent image was taken by the X-ray observatory XMM-Newton. All bodies in our Solar System, including planets such as Earth and Mars, emit X-ray radiation. As far as we know, there are several possible sources of this radiation.

December 12, 2003

Spacecraft Draw Closer to Mars National Geographic News

Spacecraft from three different space missions are drawing closer to Mars. Over the next six weeks, landers and rovers are scheduled to touch down on the red planet's surface. Together with orbiting spacecraft, the probes will poke, scratch, sniff, and image the Martian environment for clues to the existence of past or present life. Mission scientists will clear a significant hurdle to see their spacecraft simply reach Mars.

December 10, 2003

Out-Of-This-World Traveling Exhibit Coming To The New Detroit Science Center

As NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers prepare to land on the red planet, The New Detroit Science Center will be bringing Mars to Detroit in the traveling exhibition MarsQuest, opening Saturday, Jan. 24, 2004. MarsQuest was developed by the Space Science Institute of Boulder, Colo., with major funding by the National Science Foundation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

December 09, 2003

Las Vegas Releases Odds For Mars Probe Trifecta-of-Failure NewsHax

Las Vegas odds makers have given the three Mars missions currently in route to the Red Planet 2:1 odds of all successfully failing. Probes from the U.S., Japan and the European Space Agencies are finally arriving at Mars in what is being billed as possibly the biggest "Trifecta of Failure" in recent memory.

December 08, 2003

Students send LEGO robots on mission to Mars The Bulletin

Leaning over the edge of a tabletop painted to resemble the surface of Mars and fiddling with a whirring robot made of LEGOs, David Houghton appears to be at play. Then the 11-year-old Obsidian Middle School student speaks, earnestly explaining his role in a robotics tournament held at Mountain View High School on Sunday.

December 07, 2003

Students tackle 'Mission Mars' The Denver Post

Amid the Top-40 music blaring from a speaker and more than 35 people cheering on the other side of the room, seven Kearney Middle School students stood up on the bleachers and yelled directions to their two teammates. It didn't help. Their teammates, in charge of guiding an autonomous robot through obstacles on a simulated Mars surface, heard too many conflicting messages. The team's second score was lower than its first.

December 06, 2003

Monkeying around on Mars Albany Democrat-Herald

In 20 years, the students gathered in the cafeteria of Westland Middle School on Saturday might be watching the first humans land on Mars as they huddle around their flat screen monitors. Or better yet, one of them might be stepping out of a spacecraft onto the red planet itself. For now, it's the stuff of daydreams and science fiction novels, but the elementary and middle school students who attended the FIRST LEGO League tournament in Corvallis are already making plans to visit Mars. Teams from across the state gathered at Westland to compete in a robotics event that combines computer programming with LEGO know-how, in a Mars-themed event.

December 05, 2003

Reception of Mars Spacecrafts by Radio Amateurs AMSAT

On 2003 Nov 16 and 22, radio amateurs using the 20m diameter antenna at Bochum, Germany (JO31OK) received signals from the Mars Express and Mars Odyssey spacecraft. So does this mean that such feats are beyond the ordinary amateur? Absolutely not! Here are some notes to confirm this. You too can receive Mars Express, even on a small dish.

December 04, 2003

NASA engineers, museum offer a mission to Mars on Saturday Rocky Mountain News

Mars fans can learn more about NASA's upcoming rover mission during Marsapalooza, a traveling educational show that hits the Denver Museum of Nature & Science on Saturday. Six scientists and engineers who helped create NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers will explain the mission. The show, which is aimed at young people and families, features hands-on activities and educational demonstrations.

December 03, 2003

Invading the “Death Planet”

Does that sound a little melodramatic when it comes to describing the difficulty of landing on Mars? Not according to Ed Weiler, NASA’s associate administrator for space science: He says he commonly refers to Mars as the “Death Planet,” in recognition of the fact that two-thirds of all Mars missions have fallen short of success.

November 27, 2003

The Maniacs are crazy about Mars The Times-Picayune

A team of Mandeville-area scientists, mathematicians, researchers, programmers and engineers has created a robot programmed to sweep the dust off the planet Mars, catapult rocks and explore the Red Planet's rough terrain. Since it is made of Legos, the robot itself probably won't ever make it to Mars. But space travel certainly is possible for these talented team members, at least when they are old enough for the trip.

Mars exploration challenges youngsters Clarke Times-Courier

Teamwork, initiative and imagination were used to produce a third place finish overall for the Robo Raiders, Classical Cottage School's hone schooling Lego Robotics Club, Nov. 15 in the FIRST Lego League Charlottesville regional tournament. They came in third out of 23 teams and qualified to advance to the state meet at Virginia Tech on December 7, 2003.

November 26, 2003

Wild About Mars The Planetary Society

On January 3, 2004 (Pacific Standard Time) Spirit, the first of two NASA Mars Exploration Rovers will bounce down on Mars and begin an amazing adventure. This historic event happens just one day after Stardust flies through comet Wild 2 to collect samples to return to Earth. What a remarkable weekend of space exploration! The Planetary Society invites you to join Buzz Aldrin, Ray Bradbury, Bill Nye the Science Guy, JPL mission scientists, and fellow space enthusiasts to witness Spirit's Landing LIVE and celebrate Stardust's encounter.

November 25, 2003

The Science Guy speaks The Battalion

Restless in their seats, hundreds of students from across Texas waited in eager anticipation. Some had arrived an hour early just to get the right spot to see their hero. The crowd clapped in unison, chanting "We want Bill!" Eventually, the wave broke out. And when "Bill Nye The Science Guy" stepped up to the podium in the middle of the floor, one would have thought he was at a Beatles reunion concert. Girls shrieked, boys pumped their fists and parents nodded their heads. "We're here tonight to celebrate technology," Nye said.

November 24, 2003

Solar Storms Rock Missions to Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, Mars Express, Beagle 2, and Nozomi Move in on Mars The Planetary Society

The record-setting solar storms that rained through the atmosphere earlier this month appear to have rocked both the American and European spacecraft en route to Mars, causing some temporary set-backs but no lasting damage. Japan's first mission to another planet, Nozomi, on the other hand, which suffered a crippling problem from a solar flare in 2002 seemed this time around to suffer more from a storm of exaggerated reporting than a flare from the Sun.

November 23, 2003

Students test robot creations Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Seventh-grader George Ferree had an intense look on his face. His robot built of LEGOs, The Titan, was exploring an obstacle course set up on a mock face of Mars. He got off to a good start in the second round of competition when Titan connected three habitation modules for 21 points, but when the small computer-programmed robot went to drop a red ball to be catapulted off the course, Titan dropped the ball just short of the launcher. The multi-colored Titan still backed up and bumped the contraption so it fired without the small ball. While he didn't get the full amount of points for this mission, he still tallied partial points for the task.

Students put Lego robots to the test on imaginary Mars The Holland Sentinel

Students filled the halls of Macatawa Bay School Saturday looking for their way to Mars. Their vehicle for the trip to the Red Planet? A Lego robot. Thirty-six teams of fourth- through eighth-graders strained their brains for West Michigan Lego Mania. The students mission was to create a device to be used on Mars. They were judged for clearing dust from a solar panel and freeing a Mars Rover from a sand dune. Mock Mars settings were set up where the students practiced and were judged.

November 19, 2003

NASA club presents findings from Mars The Saratogian

Saratoga Springs High School Science Teacher Charles Kuenzel and students involved in the school's NASA Club updated the Board of Education Tuesday with highlights of their recent trip to Arizona State University to study Mars.

Blockbuster Space Exhibit Launches World Premiere at Pacific Science Center

SPACE: A Journey To Our Future opens to the public on Saturday, November 22, 2003 at Pacific Science Center. The exhibit will be on display in Seattle until May 9, 2004. Space is made possible by General Motors, the SPACE Day Foundation and Lockheed Martin. The exhibit is produced by Clear Channel Exhibitions in educational collaboration with NASA and the NSTA and presented locally by SUBWAY Restaurants, KOMO TV and The Seattle PI and Infinity Radio Group.

November 13, 2003

State of the Union: Emerging Europe Resets Space Priorities

Calling for a more active role in exploration and research, the European Commission has adopted a plan that will boost spending on space programs and hopefully set a definite European course into space. The space action plan, a 60-page policy paper developed by the commission -- executive arm of the European Union (EU) -- highlights Europe's needs to ensure independent access to space, promote exploration and attract younger professionals to space-related professions.

October 30, 2003

School challenge: Launch mission to Mars The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sixth-graders at Meadowview Elementary School are launching a Global Surveyor to Mars this week. It's intense work and a chaotic experience, at best. As a mission manager, much responsibility falls on the shoulders of Shelbi Gould, 11.

October 24, 2003

New flag has Mars theme The Exeter News-Letter

The Stratham Memorial School has announced that the schoolwide theme for the year is Mars! The idea behind a schoolwide theme is to build on the Responsive Classroom model used throughout the school. It increases the feeling of community and connection that students of all ages have with one another. Over the course of this year, most of the grades will be studying space and Mars as part of their curriculum.

October 23, 2003

Gemstone outcrops found on Mars Ananova

Large outcrops of a gemstone mineral commonly used in jewellery have been found on the surface of Mars. On Earth, the mineral olivine takes the form of the brilliant green gemstone peridot. An instrument aboard a Nasa spacecraft spotted a 30,000 square kilometre area rich in olivine in the Nili Fossae region of Mars.

October 20, 2003

Students use Legos to develop skills Iowa City Press-Citizen

If there's anything Patrick McCaffery has known and enjoyed in his short life, it's Legos. He has a 5-gallon bucket nearly full of the plastic blocks stashed away at home. "My dad introduced me to Legos at a very young age," said McCaffery, a 10-year-old Regina Elementary fifth-grader. "They're just really fun. When I grow up, I want to be a game designer or a toy designer." Patrick now shares his love of Legos with 11 of his classmates in the Regina Lego club. Since mid-September, the group of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders has met twice a week for two hours to train for the 2003 US FIRST Lego League Challenge.

October 16, 2003

Program at college will bring Mars to Barstow The Desert Dispatch

The Barstow Community College gymnasium will be transformed into Mars this weekend during a hands-on NASA workshop open to the public. During "Barstow Space Days," residents can see a lightweight version of the Mars Exploration Rover in action, view mission holographic images, and learn about more than 18 past and current space missions -- like Genesis, Voyager, and Galileo -- from mission personnel.

October 03, 2003

A Dream Come True Tulare Advance-Register

It's quite a feeling when a dream finally comes true. After two years of talking, planning, begging for help, watching volunteers put in long hours, the ImagineU Children's Museum will open on Saturday. Children can go on to the Mars Yard, which got its finishing touches last weekend with the help of architect Dana Berry (also president of the museum board), builder Andy Anderson and volunteers Ben Owen, Daniel Reyna and Mark Koenig. They used Styrofoam, chicken wire and cement to create an authentic-looking Mars surface where children can steer remote-controlled rovers. Eventually, there will be a computer center where young astronauts can control the spacecraft.

October 01, 2003

SPACE.com Exclusive: Mars Agenda Needs Work, Report Concludes

NASA faces thorny technological problems and money woes in furthering its Mars exploration agenda over the years to come, SPACE.com has learned. A skyrocketing price tag for a Mars lander in 2009, planetary protection issues, approaches to collect Martian rock and soil for Earth return, and the overall scope of science investigations done at the red planet have been called to question. A Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) has flagged NASA regarding these and other concerns in plotting out future exploration plans of that puzzling planet.

September 30, 2003

NASA exhibit to touch down in Palm Springs The Desert Sun

Laser beams and plasma screens, interactive computers and something called lenticular lenses. They’re all part of NASA @ Your Library, an exhibit at Palm Springs Library detailing the high-tech world of space exploration through the eyes of the renowned space agency. On Oct. 10, Jet Propulsion Laboratory physicist Kevin Grazier will present "All About Mars," a 6 p.m. lecture on the red planet.

September 23, 2003

Mars didn't fall short Visalia Times-Delta

As the whole world watched last month, Mars swung closer to Earth than ever in recorded history. It was quite an event. Observatories all over were awash in a sea of visitors eager for a glimpse of the Red Planet as it passed. The Purcell Observatory in Tulare was certainly no exception, as record numbers turned up for a gander through the telescopes. Mars didn't disappoint. It might even have been showing off some. I've certainly never seen it look better. Neither has anyone else. Unfortunately, those who didn't see Mars at its absolute best in August won't get another chance for 284 years. Good news, though: The 2003 show isn't over!

September 18, 2003

Meade Instruments Reports Second-Quarter Fiscal 2004 Results Business Wire

Steven G. Murdock, president and CEO of Meade Instruments, said: "The Mars opposition had a positive impact on second-quarter results, driving an increase in sales of mid-priced and higher-priced telescopes. These increases, however, were offset by a significant decrease in small telescope sales due, in part, to conservative purchasing patterns by certain of our domestic dealers. Sales at the Simmons subsidiary, acquired in October 2002, came in as expected at approximately $8.0 million for the quarter.

Mars remains a big event

Just because the media hoopla peaked three weeks ago doesn't mean the Mars show is over. And it doesn't mean Brian Craven is through getting people excited about it. "Mars is still up there and the show is still good," said Craven, amateur astronomer and membership coordinator for the Brevard Astronomical Society.

September 16, 2003

National Space Exhibit Blasts Off

The exhibition, "SPACE: A Journey to Our Future," touches down at Seattle's Pacific Science Center on Saturday, November 22. Created in collaboration between NASA and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the SPACE exhibition is produced by Clear Channel Exhibitions. It was made possible by General Motors (GM) with additional support from the Space Day Foundation and Lockheed Martin. The 12,000-square-foot exhibition, one of the largest touring space exhibits ever developed, will be on display in Seattle through May 9, 2004. It will travel to other museums and science centers in several U.S. cities over the next five years. "We hope this exciting exhibit will help to inspire the next generation of explorers," Loston said. "We want to fuel the imagination and ignite the desire for discovery in the youth who will be our nation's next pioneers of air, space and Earth," she said.

September 11, 2003

Mars: The Show Continues Sky & Telescope

Now that Mars's record-breaking close approach is history (it happened on the night of August 26–27) is the show over? No way! Mars remains just as big and bright, for all practical purposes, during the first half of September. It will shrink and fade only a little until well into October. Moreover, in one way the show is getting better than ever! Every day Mars rises higher in the sky earlier in the night, which makes it easier to view at a more convenient hour.

For star-gazers, a once-in-60,000-years opportunity The Wellesley Townsman

future astronaut, students majoring in astronomy and astronomy enthusiasts stood in line at the Wellesley Observatory to view Mars make its closest pass to Earth in 60,000 years -and no one mentioned Martians. Last Friday night, hundreds of people cheerfully waited for hours to get a glimpse of the red planet named after the Roman god of war.

September 09, 2003

Mars through Amateur Eyes

Ed Grafton is like a one-man Hubble Space Telescope. Okay, so that accolade is perhaps a bit lavish. But few backyard astronomers have achieved Grafton's level of expertise when it comes to photographing planets. He took this picture of the red one from his back yard in Houston, Texas on Aug. 26. He used a 14-inch Celestron telescope.

September 08, 2003

A Lunar-Martian Tango Tonight

If Mars is in your mental rearview mirror following its close approach in late August, you might want to glance out your front window on the way home tonight. The red planet is set for another center stage appearance, this time in a celestial tango with the Moon. The two objects will be near one another in the sky tonight and again Tuesday. They will appear closest just before dawn Tuesday.

The Planet that Won't Go Away

Mars' closest approach to Earth was on August 27th--but the red planet is even easier to see now.

September 07, 2003

Mars's approach unearths find The Boston Globe

The week that Mars moved to its closest point to Earth in 60,000 years, one of the area's best-kept secrets was revealed. About 400 people thronged to Merrimack College in North Andover on Aug. 27 to view Mars through the high-powered telescope housed in the school's observatory. Ordinarily, just a handful of stargazers show up at the observatory on Wednesday evenings, when the domed room is open to the public.

Enthusiasm still high for Mars viewing The Post-Crescent

Fox Valley skywatchers haven’t seen the last of Mars, even though the planet has moved beyond its relatively close brush with Earth. Local astronomy enthusiasts say Mars actually will be better placed in the sky as it finishes out its roughly two-year pass this fall. It will appear smaller and dimmer but higher in the sky.

Eye on Mars The Times-Picayune

Neither cloudy skies nor a downpour of rain could dampen the enthusiasm of sky watchers assembled Aug. 29 at the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center. Looking through high-powered telescopes, binoculars and with the naked eye, they hoped to gain a glimpse of Mars as it made its closet pass to Earth in more than 50,000 years.

Students, families spend night stargazing The Modesto Bee

The heavens opened up over the playing field at Sacred Heart Catholic School, delighting astronomy buffs. Dozens of students and their parents turned out Thursday for a stargazing party put on by the Stockton Astronomical Society. They got a chance to gaze at Mars -- past its best viewing but still bright as it completes its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years -- as well as a half-moon and a host of constellations.

September 04, 2003

Space Imaging Mars Gallery Space Imaging

These two images of Mars were taken by Space Imaging’s IKONOS satellite as the red planet and Earth reached their closest proximity in nearly 60,000 years. At that point which occurred last week, Mars was 34.6 million miles (55.6 million kilometers) away. The first image (left) was taken on Aug. 26, 2003 at 21:40 GMT (3:40 p.m. MDT) as IKONOS came out of the eclipse of the Earth and orbited over our planet’s northern pole. The second image (right) was taken a little more than a half a Martian rotation later on Aug. 27, 2003 at 12:26 GMT (6:26 a.m. MDT). The Martian south polar ice cap is visible at the bottom of both images. The resolution of these images is approximately 67 km. IKONOS takes images of Earth at 1-meter resolution.

September 03, 2003

Mars was coloured by meteorites

Laboratory evidence is challenging theories that Mars' ruddy surface came from a past when the planet was awash with water, New Scientist says. Defenders of this hypothesis say Mars' reddish dust came from iron in rocks that over billions of years dissolved into the planet's oceans, lakes and rivers. But US scientist Albert Yen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has assailed this idea, noting a strange discrepancy between Mars' dusty topsoil and its rocks.

August 29, 2003

Close pass by Mars leaves big impression on Chinese people Xinhua News Agency

The rare occasion of Mars' closestpass to earth at the end of this month has left the people in China contemplate their distance from the rest of the world in astronomy research. The occasion, astronomers said, was as a touchstone of the Chinese people's science awareness. Many astronomy fans in the country joined their foreign peers from Aug. 27 to 29 to celebrate the Red Planet's mere separation of 55.6 million kilometers from earth, and experts said their enthusiasm indicated that Chinese people's eyes are no longer fixed only on their daily necessities.

What they said about... Mars The Guardian

The tangerine glow of Mars, visible from Earth as it made its nearest approach to this planet for 60,000 years on Wednesday, united the newspapers across the world in wonder and contemplation.

Mars gazing phenomenon hits NZ New Zealand Herald

Mars gazers are flocking to New Zealand's observatories for a rare glimpse of the Red Planet in its closest orbit to earth for 60,000 years. Stardome Observatory in Auckland's One Tree Hill Domain has seen visitor numbers to its night-time shows treble since launching its Mars programmes two weeks ago.

Students work toward mission to Mars The Auburn Plainsman

Members of the Auburn University Student Space Program (AUSSP) are developing a series of satellites that will aid them in their quest to launch the first student-built satellite to Mars by the end of the decade.

Hong Kong star lovers fascinated by Mars eastday.com

Busy Hong Kong people laid aside their worries about job and making money temporarily Wednesday night and went outdoor to enjoy the mysterious red planet, Mars, as it came to the closest point to Earth in 60,000 years. However, the red star and its Hong Kong fans are still 55.76 million kilometers away from each other.

Hundreds pack observatory The Daily Evergreen

As a result of the combined efforts of WSU physics professor Guy Worthey and the Palouse Astronomical Society, WSU students and Pullman residents alike were seeing stars, and a historical glimpse of Mars, Wednesday night. Held at WSU's Jewett Observatory, the Mars viewing event attracted more than 1,000 attendees and lasted well into the following morning.

A view to remember Odessa American

As national astronomers gleefully look at new pictures of Mars via the Hubble telescope, Permian Basin residents will gather tonight at the Marian Blakemore Planetarium in Midland to gaze at the Red Planet. Mars, which is passing closer to earth now than it has in thousands of years, is easily visible in the southern sky for Permian Basin skygazers, said Gene Hardy, director of the planetarium at the Museum of the Southwest.

China aims to send probe to Mars by 2020 China Daily

China, not content with the closest views of Mars man has glimpsed since the Stone Age, is hoping to launch a space probe to the red planet by 2020, state newspapers said on Friday. The probe would orbit Mars and conduct tests on the planet's makeup and atmosphere, the Beijing Youth Daily quoted Liu Zhenxing, a fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Space Science and Applied Research Institute, as saying. China is planning to send an astronaut into space for the first time later this year and become the third country to accomplish that feat, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

Stargazers relish the chance to get a close look at Mars The Herald

Dozens of telescopes set up on the Sultan High School football field found their target Wednesday in the southeast at about 9:20 p.m. Appearing among twinkling constellations in the clear sky was a bright object that looked to the naked eye like another star, just a lot brighter than the others.

Mars watch canceled due to fire Missoulian

Mars will wait. "Everybody's so psyched to see Mars this week," University of Montana astronomer Diane Friend said Thursday. "But it will be just as spectacular well into September." In fact, the viewing could be better in September because the red planet will be higher in the nighttime sky, giving watchers less atmosphere to peer through, said Friend, who organizes and hosts summertime open houses at UM's Blue Mountain Observatory.

August 28, 2003

Mars viewing makes quiet observatory a star The Tennessean

Mars madness gripped stargazers in Nashville as Tuesday night passed into Wednesday morning and the planet Mars passed closer to the Earth than it had in 60,000 years. Rick Chappell, director of Vanderbilt University's Dyer Observatory, estimated that between 800 and 1,000 people turned up for the chance to look at the red planet through the observatory's 24-inch window onto the universe. Octogenarians, toddlers and those in between waited up to four hours in order to say they had been present at the cosmic event.

Mars Attracts! Earthlings Love the Red Planet

This week, the Red Planet is closer than at any time since Neanderthals roamed the forests of Europe, nearly 60 millennia ago. Anyone who takes the trouble to step out of the house in the late evening will see Mars hanging in the southeast like a pinkish, Christmas-tree light. It will be bright enough to throw shadows, although this particular trick will go unnoticed unless you’re someplace very dark. There are five planets we can see with our naked eyes, but no one doubts that the most appealing is -- and long has been -- Mars. Mars attracts. Why is this? What’s so special about this planetary neighbor?

Distant neighbor Mars edges closer, captures attention and imaginations

On Wednesday, at precisely 9:51 and 14 seconds GMT, the Earth and Mars narrowed the distance between them to its smallest in 59,618 years: a mere 34.647 million miles (55.758 million kilometers). Star-gazers around the world -- better equipped optically but probably no less dazzled than the Neanderthals of the time of the last close-encounter -- looked skyward as the red planet's orbit swung into stride with the Earth's.

August 27, 2003

Mars closer to the Earth tonight The Australian

MARS will be closer tonight than at any time in the past 60,000 years, but cloud cover could dim the planet's spectacular red glow in many parts of Australia. At 7.51pm AEST, Mars will be 55.76 million kilometres from Earth - about four times closer than usual.

Rendezvous with Mars: world gazes at planet "that still makes men dream"

Astronomers, professional and amateur, started gazing at Mars Wednesday hoping for a good look at the Red Planet as it moves closer to Earth than at any time since Stone Age Neanderthals roamed the world.

Mad for Mars: Stargazers Flock for a View The Washington Post

You may already know that 41 minutes before sunrise this morning, Mars drifted closer to Earth than it ever has in human history. A mere 34,646,418 miles separated the planets. The last flyby of this proximity occurred nearly 60,000 years ago, when perhaps a dreamy Neanderthal paused in the thankless grind of natural selection to behold the heavens.

Jakartans jostle for free tickets to see Mars

Hundreds of people jostled at the only observatory in the Indonesian capital Jakarta Wednesday for a free ticket to catch a glimpse of Mars as the Red Planet passes closer to Earth than at any time in the last 60,000 years. School children in uniform struggled with adults to get a ticket which will allow each of them to look at Mars for two minutes at the Jakarta Planetarium.

Mars Close Approach Astrobiology Magazine

Never previously in modern human history has Mars been as bright or as close to Earth as tonight. Look for it in the night sky, as it will be easily recognized by its red tinge. As with all planets, its light will also stand out from the background of stars, because it will not appear to flicker, but instead looks like a steady, bright object. An amateur's four-inch telescope may reveal the polar cap and some surface features.

Closest Martian encounter for 60,000 years The Guardian

No one in Britain will see the closest encounter in human history, because it will happen in daylight. But at 10.51 BST today, the planet Mars will be nearer Earth than at any time since 56,617BC. At that moment, the two will be 34,646,418 miles apart.

Distance Between Earth, Mars To Reach Absolute Minimum Today Novosti

Today on August 27th, the distance between the Earth and the Mars will reach its absolute minimum, which happens in the universe once in five thousand years. The moments when the planets come closer to each other are called "opposition" in the scientific world, academic secretary of the Astronomy Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Dmitry Ptitsyn recalled in an interview with a RIA Novosti correspondent.

Hubble Makes Best Mars Globe Photos Ever

The first of two highly anticipated Mars portraits from the Hubble Space Telescope was released this morning as the observatory's operators took advantage of a proximity to the red planet not equaled in 59,619 years. The color photograph includes Mars' Hellas Basin, a huge impact crater, and the southern polar ice cap is unmistakable. It is the most detailed full-globe shot of Mars ever obtained from Earth's vicinity.

Mars encounter will be "hostile" for India say astrologers

The proximity of the planet Mars, which will be its closest to Earth in almost 60,000 years on Wednesday, is likely to be "hostile" for India, astrologers warned. Lachhman Das Madan, chief of the Astrology Study and Research Institute in the capital New Delhi, said the Mars encounter was "a dark planetary configuration" and would unleash "negative energy."

Mars approach will make men randy, Portuguese astrologer warns

The proximity of the planet Mars, which will be its closest to Earth for almost 60,000 years on Wednesday, will make men more predisposed to having sex, a Portuguese astologer has warned. "Men will be sexually more active," Rui Lorga told daily newspaper A Capital. "But it will not be just them, obviously women will also feel the influence of Mars, however in a more subtle way," he added.

Mars movements spark huge rise in German "UFO sightings"

As the planet Mars has moved to its closest point to Earth in around 60,000 years, the number of "UFO sightings" in Germany has soared, a researcher said Wednesday. "I'm hearing some of the most outrageous claims at the moment," said Werner Walter, who heads Germany's CENAP centre tasked with investigating reports about unidentified flying objects.

Astronomers flock to observatories as Mars closes in, hope for clear skies

Tens of thousands of astronomers in Asia got a close-up look at Mars as the Red Planet passed closer to Earth than at any time in the last 60,000 years Wednesday, although cloudy weather prevented many from witnessing the spectacle.

Quaking astrologers spell disaster as Mars bears down on Earth

Death and destruction will stalk the Earth as Mars, bringer of war, terrorism and disaster, rumbles Wednesday to its closest point to our planet for 60,000 years, awestruck astrologers warn. While stargazers excitedly grab their telescopes for an unprecedented glimpse of the Red Planet, soothsayers insist the focus should instead be on survival, as Earth's violent celestial neighbour rampages ominously close

California's cutting-edge telescopes prepare for Mars-gazing

California's observatories and planetariums on Wednesday were preparing telescopes for hundreds of astronomy buffs seeking to zoom in on Mars as it makes its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years.

For that perfect Mars pic, French stargazers marry optics and the Internet

As Mars span towards its closest rendezvous with the Earth since the Stone Age on Wednesday, a group of French enthusiasts counted on off-the-shelf Internet technology to get that perfect snap to show their grandchildren. Although the team at the Ludiver observatory at La Hague, near Cherbourg on the Normandy coast, were mounting a continuous Mars-watch, they also hooked up a simple off-the-shelf webcam to their 60-centimeter optical telescope.

Earthlings revel in Mars close-up

The last time the red planet was this close to Earth 60,000 years ago, man lived in caves. No wonder when Mars and Earth synchronized their orbits a few minutes before 6 a.m. EDT Wednesday -- bringing them closer to each other than at any time in recorded history -- thousands of people around the globe went outside to take a peek.

US stages "Mars Parties" for close encounter

Americans held "Mars Parties" and flocked to observatories that were specially opened to mark Earth's close encounter with the Red Planet on Wednesday. Shops reported a run on telescopes as the public sought out Mars, which was an estimated 55.76 million kilometres (34.65 million miles) from Earth.

Hubble Space Telescope's Viewing Plans For Earth's 'Close Encounter' With Mars

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope made observations of the planet Mars on August 26 and 27, when Earth and Mars were closer together than they have been in the last 60,000 years. As Hubble's high-resolution images of the Red Planet are received at the Space Telescope Science Institute and are digitally processed by the Mars observing team, they will be released to the public and news media via the Internet. The Hubble images are the sharpest views of Mars ever taken from Earth. They reveal surface details as small as 17 miles (24 km) across. Though NASA's Mars-orbiting spacecraft can photograph the Red Planet in much finer detail, Hubble routinely serves as a "weather satellite" for tracking atmospheric changes on Mars and for probing its geology on a global scale.

August 26, 2003

New Mars Photo Called Sharpest from Earth

A new ground-based image of Mars is being touted as one of the sharpest ever taken from Earth. Astronomers took advantage of Mars' historic close approach, the nearest in about 60,000 years, to photograph the red planet with the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii. The result is "perhaps the sharpest image of Mars ever made from the ground," said Jeremy Bailey of the Anglo-Australian Observatory and the Australian Center for Astrobiology at Macquarie University in Sydney.

Mars Makes History: Closest to Earth Aug. 27

As if executing a cosmic air kiss, Earth and Mars will come as close as they desire in the wee hours of Wednesday during an historical event that has captivated the attention of skywatchers around the globe. The two planets will be separated by 34,646,418 million miles (55,758,006 million kilometers) at 5:51 a.m. ET (1051 GMT) on Aug. 27.

Earth to Mars: Come Closer

Jupiter may be king of the mythological gods. But, among the planets, it's Mars' time to shine. When it draws closer to Earth than it has in some 60,000 years Wednesday, it will be brighter than any planet except Venus. And, since Venus makes only a fleeting appearance at sundown, it won't steal the Red Planet's show. At 5.52 a.m. eastern daylight time Aug. 27, Mars will be a "mere" 34,848,754 miles away. That's 1,188 miles closer to Earth than Mars came in 1924.

Best view of Mars in 60,000 years CBC News

A once-in-a-lifetime planetary event is drawing Canadians out of their homes late at night to look up this week. Mars and Earth will reach their closest encounter in 60,000 years. The beauty of the show is the red planet shines so brightly that city dwellers can't miss it despite the street lights, so long as they know where to look.

Mars extraordinarily close to Earth tonight San Francisco Chronicle

Astronomers -- both amateur and professional -- are likely to be out in force if Bay Area skies remain clear tonight and Wednesday night, when the planet Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. At 2:51 a.m. PDT Wednesday the orbit of Mars will carry it within 34,646, 437 miles of Earth. Mars is already brighter than any other object in the night sky save the Moon.

August 25, 2003

Training an Eye on Mars Washington Post

At 2 o'clock on a recent morning, Bob Bunge ambled into the inky darkness of his Bowie back yard and prepared to meet an old friend. He swung the end of a massive home-built telescope skyward, gazed over the branches of a silver maple tree, then zeroed in on Earth's nearest neighbor. "Mars is as bright as I've seen it in my 23 years of amateur astronomy," he said, marveling at the detail he could spot on the Red Planet: the shimmering southern polar ice cap, and the alternating bands of darkness and lightness that gave Mars the mottled look of an overripe orange.

Close encounter, by celestial standards San Francisco Chronicle

Sixty thousand years ago, the Neanderthal people and early modern humans must surely have watched a faint but familiar point of light in the southeastern sky grow brighter and brighter until its brilliant topaz-yellow light outshone everything in the nighttime heavens save the moon. We will never know what those people may have thought or feared, because they left no record among their rare artifacts. But today we do know what they were seeing: It was the distant planet Mars, flying on its elliptical track around the sun and closing its gap on Earth's orbit while it appeared to blaze in brightness as the two planets neared.

Science fiction author's birthday celebrated with Mars viewing Sarasota Herald-Tribune

It was an opportunity too perfect to let pass: the 83rd birthday of science fiction writer Ray Bradbury came as Mars made its closest approach in nearly 60,000 years. Members of the Planetary Society marked the occasions with a party Saturday at their Pasadena headquarters. Then 150 guests went to the Mt. Wilson Observatory, where they peered through a five-foot telescope at the Red Planet celebrated in Bradbury's stories.

Mars Animated

Jefferson Teng wanted to make a longer movie of Mars. "Unfortunately I had to wait for Mars to show up above my house roof," he said. "My laptop storage capacity is another problem." So all we get is this remarkable series of images, spanning two hours and 39 minutes on Aug. 12. Teng used 5.1" refractor telescope and a digital camera to capture an image every five minutes.

Mars: The Solved and Unsolved Mysteries

More eyes are glued to Mars this week than has probably been the case since Orson Welles and his Mercury Players scared folks with his radio rendition of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. This is a good week to take a look: Mars will be closer on Wednesday, Aug. 27 than ever in recorded history. The buzz has been elevated to mania as all manner of media -- from the New York Times to Entertainment Weekly -- have latched onto a story first reported last November by SPACE.com.

Interview with Elon Musk HobbySpace

HS: As I understand it, you were initially interested in funding a Mars mission but the high cost of launching such a mission led you to develop your own launcher. Are you actively planning a Mars mission for the Falcon or its heavier follow-on derivatives? Don't know if the payload weight matches the launcher, but it would be cool if you launched the AMSAT-DL led P5-A Mars mission. A private launcher sending an AMSAT spacecraft to Mars would definitely signal a new era in space exploration! Musk: No, right now I'm just focused on building a high quality launch vehicle and a top notch space technology company in SpaceX. At some point, I might do the Mars Oasis mission, but that would be a separate, philanthropic venture. My original motivation for MO was based on the notion of "where there is a will, there is a way". However, I now think it is the other way around. As evidenced by the attention given the Shuttle tragedy, the dream of space is an integral part of the American identity. So if people think that there is a way to get to space, they will take that path. We need to show that it exists.

4 boys die in a car crash after viewing Mars Mainichi Interactive

Four boys died in a car crash in the predawn hours of Monday after apparently viewing Mars, police said. Investigators suspect that the car was speeding at the time of the accident, and are trying to determine the exact cause of the crash.

Hubble to Photograph Mars at Close Approach

The Hubble Space Telescope will be pointed at Mars this week to make two color photographs of the red planet during its historic close approach to Earth. The pictures are being billed, in advance, as the best pictures of Mars ever taken from Earth or its vicinity. "The Hubble pictures will provided the sharpest views of Mars ever seen by a telescope located at Earth," said Ray Villard, news director at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates Hubble. "Though the Mars orbiters routinely yield stunning close-up views, we'll be treated to a gorgeous pole-to-pole global snapshot of the planet."

Close Encounters with Mars

At 09:51 universal time (UT) on August 27th, Earth makes its closest approach to Mars in nearly 60,000 years. The two worlds, center-to-center, will be just 56 million kilometers apart--a short distance on the scale of the solar system. The last people to come so close to Mars were Neanderthals. Magazine articles, newspapers, and TV shows have touted the encounter for months. But they all omitted one detail: Which part of Earth?

August 24, 2003

Our best look at Mars, ever

The wandering of the planets will bring Mars closer to Earth this month than at any time in nearly 60,000 years. It will be a last-chance proposition for all alive today: Mars won't be as close again until August 28, 2287.

August 22, 2003

Telescope sales boom in Japan as Mars closes in

As Mars drifts its closest to Earth for 60,000 years, Japanese amateur astronomers are snapping up telescopes, globes of the Red Planet and some are even heading to Arizona to watch the spectacle. On August 27, Mars -- the fourth planet from the Sun -- will shine red and orange and as bright as Jupiter, the giant of our solar system.

Mars Fever at Full Pitch, Telescopes in Short Supply

The looming proximity of Mars has fueled a frenzy of public and media interest as people around the globe make plans to see the neighboring world closer than ever in recorded history. Telescopes are flying off store shelves faster than you can say "little green men" and are in short supply globally. Meanwhile, hundreds of Mars parties and other events are slated for this weekend and through next week. At 5:51 a.m. ET (1051 GMT) on Aug. 27, Mars will be nearer to Earth than it has been in 59,619 years. A similar opportunity won't occur again until the year 2287.

Mars and Earth: The Top 10 Close Passes Since 3000 B.C.

We are in the home stretch of the historic 2003 close encounter with the planet Mars, which occurs officially at 5:51 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Aug. 27. Earth has been approaching Mars ever since Aug. 10 of last year. At that time Mars was situated on the opposite side of the Sun at a distance of 248 million miles (400 million kilometers) from the Earth. When it finally emerged into the morning sky some weeks later, Mars was shining no brighter than a mundane second magnitude star. But we have been slowly creeping up on Mars ever since, catching it on the inside of a celestial racetrack around the Sun.

August 21, 2003

McMahon takes a little trip -- to Mars CTV

It's not every day I take a vacation on Mars. The moons of Jupiter, the spiral arms of a distant galaxy, the hypnotizing rings of Saturn -- all are more reliable destinations when it comes to the ever-important wow-factor. So who could blame an amateur astronomer for looking elsewhere when it's time to get away from it all? But tonight, I’m starting a two-week stretch of gazing at this normally unimpressive orange dot, and nothing else. The draw is a celestial performance with an opening act that included a slew of rocket launches and a headliner that promises the best view of the Red Planet in 60,000 years.

Mars' approach spurs CfA 'Fever' Harvard Gazette

The Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is offering a viewing of Mars at its Oak Ridge Observatory in Harvard, Mass., this Sunday (Aug. 24). For one night only, a drawing will give 40 lucky sky-watchers - weather permitting - a chance to view Mars through the 61-inch-diameter Wyeth reflector (the largest optical telescope east of the Mississippi). A 16-inch reflector and other telescopes will be available to all other guests. CfA will offer tours of the observatory from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., followed by public viewing from 8:30 to 10 p.m. The rain date is Aug. 25. The Oak Ridge Observatory is at 40 Pinnacle Road.

NASA seeks Mars requests Federal Computer Week

As Earth comes closer to Mars this month than it has in nearly 60,000 years, NASA will give the public an unprecedented opportunity to suggest places on the Red Planet that an orbiting spacecraft should photograph. Operators for the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are taking suggestions online for new images from the Mars Orbiter Camera. Information about how to submit requests can be found on the new Mars Orbiter Camera Target Request Site, at http://www.msss.com/plan/intro.

No place like dome

It was 1969 and Neil Armstrong had just become the first man to set foot on the moon. A space enthusiast placed a small advertisement in a local newspaper asking for people who were interested in astronomy. A handful of men answered, resulting in the formation of the Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society.

August 20, 2003

Hubble To Snap Mars In Best Bi Annual Photo Op In 60,000 Years

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) will make observations of the planet Mars on Aug. 26-27, when Earth and Mars will be closer together than they have been in the last 60,000 years. As soon as Hubble's high-resolution images of the Red Planet are received at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and are digitally processed by the Mars observing team, they will be released to the public and news media via the Internet.

August 19, 2003

A brighter Mars sparks marketing

The biggest Mars encounter in more than 50,000 years is under way, and that has sparked an upsurge in products related to the Red Planet, ranging from books to telescopes. MARS MANIA is on the rise along with the Red Planet, which is heading toward an unusually close pass with Earth on Aug. 27. The two planets will be about 34.65 million miles (55.75 million kilometers) away from each other — as close as they’ve been since around the year 57,617 B.C. (the precise date is still under debate). Astronomers say the next time they’ll come that close again will be on Aug. 28, 2287.

August 18, 2003

Approach of Mars has Earth looking up NorthJersey.com

Paul Contursi has his heart set on people going to Mars. For now, he will have to settle for the next best thing. On Aug. 27, Mars will swing nearer to Earth than it has been in almost 60,000 years, affording a rare, close-up peek at our colorful next-door neighbor. "Everybody with a telescope will be out that night, if the weather's good," said Contursi, president of the Mars Society of New York, half of whose 150 members are New Jerseyans.

August 17, 2003

Mars Watch: Where is the Red Planet Now?

On Aug. 27, 2003, Mars will be less than 34.65 million miles (55.76 million kilometers) away -- closer to our planet than it’s been in nearly 60,000 years. The view will be stupendous. Track Mars’ growing brightness with SPACE.com's exclusive Mars viewing maps and charts.

Mars Will Not Kill You

On Aug. 27, Mars will be closer to Earth than in nearly 60,000 years. This "close approach," as it's being billed, has some folks worried about potential dangers here on our planet. One SPACE.com reader asks: "Will it be dangerous when Mars gets that close to Earth? It has me a little worried." Others have e-mailed to say they heard there would be earthquakes or other disasters. One of the many rumors going around says the two planets will collide. The true gravity of the situation is benign. There is absolutely nothing to worry about.

August 15, 2003

Close Encounter Tech Central Station

This year Mars and the earth will be extraordinarily close -- on August 27 the earth will sweep closer than 35 million miles to Mars. It's enough to give earthlings Mars Fever. Not since the deep ice of the last glaciation swept across much of cold northern Europe and North America, not since the wooly rhinoceros ran through southern France, not since modern man's close relative Neandertalensis dominated the caves of western Europe, not for more than 59,000 years has Mars been so near the earth.

August 12, 2003

Astronomers Ready for Close Encounter of a Mars Kind National Geographic News

On August 27, the orbits of Earth and Mars will bring the two planets the closest they have been in nearly 60,000 years. For the weeks surrounding this celestial event, the red planet will be the brightest star in the night sky. Precisely 34,646,418 miles (55,758,006 kilometers) will separate Earth and Mars during the event. Mars won't approach the Earth as closely again for another 284 years, at which time it will approach even closer, according to astronomers.

August 11, 2003

Help Ray Bradbury Celebrate a Martian Birthday The Planetary Society

Ray Bradbury, the celebrated science fiction author, has taken millions of people on imaginative journeys to Mars through his work for over half a century. Now Mars is coming to Bradbury, so to speak, when the planet draws closer to Earth than it has been in over 50,000 years. To celebrate the opposition of Mars on August 27 and Bradbury's 83rd birthday on August 22, The Planetary Society is gathering birthday greetings from well-wishers around the world to present to Bradbury in a giant birthday card. Anyone can join in sending these greetings by visiting The Planetary Societyís web page at http://planetary.org/bradbury. The deadline for birthday greetings is August 20.

August 08, 2003

See Mars a Mere 186 Light-Seconds Away

Communicating with spacecraft at Mars always involves a wait. Depending on how far apart the planets are, it can take up to 21 minutes to get a signal from Earth to the red planet, resulting in a round-trip time of more than 40 minutes. The lag can be agonizing for an engineer trying to steer a surface probe or debug a software problem. On Aug. 27, when Mars is closer to Earth than ever in human history, the one-way travel time of light and radio signals will be just 3 minutes and 6 seconds. Astronomers love to measure cosmic distances in light-years. In this case, you can think of the distance between the two planets as being 186 light-seconds.

August 01, 2003

It’s prime time for the Red Planet

Just ahead of a historically close approach to Earth later this month, Mars has become the “star” of the night. For months visible only during morning hours, the Red Planet begins August rising around 9:45 or 10 p.m. local daylight time and peeks above the horizon about four minutes earlier each night. Mars is now the third-brightest object in the nighttime sky, after the moon and Venus. To the unaided eye, Mars is by far the brightest “star” in the late-evening sky. Venus is currently too near the sun to be visible.

July 29, 2003

Marshalling Martian Water Tables Astrobiology Magazine

Using orbital spectral data, Los Alamos scientists are able to view the apparent water content of martian soil. Their findings suggest that in some regions of the Red Planet, a pound of soil could release a half-pound of water if the ice-rich dust and rocks were placed in an oven.

July 25, 2003

Reverse Course! Mars Motion Soon to be Backward

As Mars has grown closer and brighter daily for several months, it has gradually moved easterly in relation to background stars in the pre-dawn sky. That's about to change as the red planet begins to backpedal in our sky, moving steadily westward. Astronomers call this backward motion "retrograde." The shift comes as Mars is gradually becoming visible in the late evening, too, just in time for the historic close approach to Earth that will occur in late August.

New Map of Water Ice on Mars

A new global map of Mars shows likely locations of water ice based on observations of hydrogen made by NASA's Odyssey spacecraft. The presence of hydrogen is a strong indicator that water -- most of it almost surely frozen -- exists near the surface of Mars, embedded in the soil. Liquid water might exist on the red planet, but no data so far has provided firm indications. The new map is based on more than a year's worth of Odyssey data, much of which has already been announced. The purpose is to show the extent of frozen water on Mars in a visual format. Bill Feldman, a Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher who led the observations, called the map "breathtaking."

July 24, 2003

On the Flightpath to Mars (Report #2) The Planetary Society

Mars Express Returns First Data; Nozomi Cruises On; Opportunity Corrects Trajectory

July 23, 2003

Radon leaks could reveal water on Mars New Scientist

Sniffing for puffs of radioactive radon gas could be the easiest way to find water lurking metres beneath the Martian soil. We already know there should be plenty of water on Mars. Probes have found water vapour in the Martian atmosphere and ice on the surface at the poles. And NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft recently detected traces of hydrogen, almost certainly bound up in ice near the surface.

Capturing Phobos

Mars' moon Phobos is unlike Earth's Moon in most ways. For starters, it zips around Mars three times a day. Phobos practically hugs its host -- orbiting just 3,728 miles (6,000 kilometers) away. Our Moon averages 238,900 miles (384,402 kilometers) of distance. From Mars, Phobos would appear about one-third as big as Earth's Moon. If you stood on Phobos, Mars would fill almost the entire sky, astronomers say.

July 22, 2003

Mars Mysteries: Scientists Await New Surprises

The message from Mars is clear. After decades of collective scrutiny by robotic orbiters and landers, the red planet is a bewildering world still holding tight details as to its warmer and wetter past and conditions active today. A new wave of robotic spacecraft is en route to the red planet. Scientists are hopeful that this armada of hardware may be a turning point in unlocking the secrets of Mars, particularly the role of water in the planet’s past -- and even today -- to nourish life.

July 17, 2003

Photos of Rare Mars-Moon Encounter

Skywatchers across North America saw a rare nighttime encounter between the Moon and Mars during the early morning hours today. Under clear skies here, the two objects were so close as to almost appear to touch. Mars hung just off the right shoulder of the Moon at 4:30 a.m. local time, high in the southern sky. The planet was vividly red in contrast to the powerful white face of the Moon.

July 16, 2003

Sixth International Mars Conference Set To Meet

Next year, if all goes well, NASA's two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, along with the British rover Beagle 2, will begin streaming back reams of data about the Red Planet, much to the delight of Mars researchers everywhere. That data won't be available in time for scientists attending the Sixth International Conference on Mars at the California Institute of Technology, July 20-25, but small matter. Data from two earlier orbiter missions, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), launched in 1996, and the Odyssey, launched in 2001, will give those attending the conference an opportunity to review and debate some of the key questions and controversies that have matured as a result of this flood of information.

July 15, 2003

Earth Cruising Toward Mars Flirtation Discovery News

Earth is speeding toward a rare astral rendezvous with Mars, placing the two as close to each other as possible and giving amateur astronomers an unparalleled view of the Red Planet. The two planets are racing toward each other at a rate of about 30 kilometers every five seconds, until they are as close as they ever can be on August 27.

July 14, 2003

Where is Mars Now?

On Aug. 27, 2003, Mars will be less than 34.65 million miles (55.76 million kilometers) away -- closer to our planet than it’s been in nearly 60,000 years. The view will be stupendous. Track Mars’ growing brightness with SPACE.com's exclusive Mars viewing maps and charts, updated monthly.

July 13, 2003

Moon Occults Mars Sky & Telescope

During the predawn hours of Thursday, July 17th, the waning gibbous Moon will cover Mars for skywatchers in southeastern Florida, the Caribbean, and parts of Central and South America. Because the planet’s disk will be 19.6" across, its disappearance on the Moon’s dark limb will take almost a minute (or even longer where the Moon’s limb approaches at a slant). The planet’s reappearance will also be gradual.

July 11, 2003

Moon Near Mars in Sky July 16-17, Eclipse for Some

Every once in a while, something will appear in the sky to attract the attention of even those who normally don’t bother looking up. It’s likely to be that way in the after-midnight hours of Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, July 16-17 when the Moon will appear very close to the now-brilliant planet Mars. For a lucky few, the Moon will actually pass in front of the red planet.

July 09, 2003

The World Goes to Mars Astrobiology Magazine

The quartet of science missions headed to the Red Planet is now complete, with the successful Monday launch of the last Mars Exploration Rover, called Opportunity. Not since 1976, have multiple landers explored Mars simultaneously. Their confluence in December and January promises a look at whether the emerging picture of a 'warmer and wetter' Mars can be probed up-close.

July 03, 2003

China Accelerates Mars Program Slashdot

China has announced it intends to accelerate its Mars program, using experience and expertise from its fledgling lunar program. Following China's proposed Moon missions, the first phase would send a Mars orbiter to examine and survey the Red Planet; the second phase will involve wheeled robotic probes like China's Mars Explorer roving vehicle prototype, used to collect and analyze rock samples; and the third phase will involve returning spacecraft from the planet and establishing a permanent automated base on Mars. This puts the China-India space race and the China-USA space race in a very different light.

June 27, 2003

Permafrost Odyssey Astrobiology Magazine

Analysis of the changing seasons on Mars has revealed northern latitudes with significant water ice. In some places, inferences from detection of hydrogen suggest up to ninety percent water content.

Race to Mars: Track the Robots En Route

Three spacecraft are well on their way to Mars. Closest to Earth is Nozomi, a troubled Japanese orbiter. Spirit is the first of two NASA rovers. Express is a European orbiter/lander combo.

June 26, 2003

Planetary Society declares August 27, 2003 - Mars Day Planetary Society

On August 27, the planet Mars will be closer to Earth than it has been in more than 50,000 years. To celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime event, The Planetary Society is declaring to the world that August 27, 2003 be Mars Day. The Society will mark this occasion with special events around the world, including an 83rd birthday party for a man whose name is now synonymous with the Red Planet - Ray Bradbury, author of the famous The Martian Chronicles. Bradbury's birthday comes the same week as this historic Mars opposition.

June 25, 2003

Mars invades E.V. telescope sales East Valley Tribune

For people interested in seeing Mars up close, Aug. 26 and 27 present an opportunity rarer than once in a lifetime. On those dates, the Red Planet will be the closest it has been to Earth in 50,000 to 70,000 years, depending on the computer model. The enthusiasm, stoked by Saturday's scheduled launch of a second land rover to Mars, has sparked telescope sales at shops such as Photon Instruments in Mesa. Elsewhere in the Valley and the state, stores and observatories are gearing up for what is called the Mars opposition.

June 24, 2003

As Mars Gets Closer, Amateurs Take Pictures

Amateur astronomers around the world are taking advantage of Mars' proximity to photograph the red planet as it moves closer to Earth each day. On August 27, Mars will be closer to Earth than ever in recorded human history.

NASA Orbiter Eyes Phobos Over Mars Horizon

Images from the Mars Orbiter Camera aboard NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor capture a faint yet distinct glimpse of the elusive Phobos, the larger and innermost of Mars’ two moons. The moon, which usually rises in the west and moves rapidly across the sky to set in the east twice a day, is shown setting over Mars’ afternoon horizon.

June 19, 2003

China to accelerate Mars program, but aims for Moon first

China plans to accelerate preparations for a mission to Mars, using its lunar program to gain the experience and expertise needed to join the world's elite space nations, state press said Thursday. While senior space scientists said a Mars probe was still years away, they plan to step up preparations.

June 13, 2003

The Summer of Mars: What You'll See, How to Observe

This summer Mars will come closer to Earth than at any time in tens of thousands of years. The planet will arrive at opposition to the Sun on Aug. 28, when it will rise at sunset and set at sunrise, as seen from Earth. This opposition occurs less than two days before Mars passes through the perihelion point of its orbit, when it is closest to the Sun. The minimum distance of Mars from Earth will be less than 34.65 million miles (55.76 million kilometers) at 5:51 a.m. EDT on Aug. 27, when the planet’s apparent disk diameter will be as great as 25.1 arc seconds, the absolute maximum possible. All that means the red planet will be bigger and brighter than you've ever seen. But what will you actually see?

June 07, 2003

Destination: Mars NPR

Every two years or so, Mars and the Earth are in just the right positions to make it possible to send a spacecraft from here to there. As NPR's Joe Palca reports, now is that golden time.

June 06, 2003

Geologist at ASU gains fame with Mars The Arizona Republic

Scientists rarely get research published on the cover of the world's premier science journals. For Phil Christensen, though, it's becoming commonplace. The Arizona State University geologist and internationally known Mars researcher had his second major science cover story published Thursday, four days before NASA sends a new rover to explore the Red Planet. "It's one thing to get in the journal (Science or Nature), but to get on the cover is another thing," Christensen said.

May 30, 2003

Trio of Red Planet Robots Set for June Sendoff

Europe's Mars Express, toting the British-built Beagle 2 lander, remains set for launch June 2 and is to be the opening volley in a salvo of Mars robotic spacecraft heading outward to that compelling world during the coming weeks. Meanwhile, as Mars Express awaits departure, NASA's dual Mars Exploration Rovers are being prepped for sendoff. Now simply labeled MER-A and MER-B, the first craft is slated for dispatch from Florida's Space Coast no earlier than June 8. The second rover is to roar skyward on June 25.

May 29, 2003

NASA has Mars missions planned through decade SpaceFlight Now

The Mars Exploration Rovers represent the next step in an ambitious, on-going program to explore the Red Planet, to map out its structure, composition and meteorology and to determine whether it ever harbored life. "We think we have a hell of a program," Garvin said. "It's going to be exciting. I think we're going to find some remarkable stuff."

May 27, 2003

Scientists Eager To Get On Board ExoMars

For centuries, mankind has wondered whether alien life exists on another planet in our solar system. One of the most promising places to discover signs of life beyond Earth is the planet Mars, and scientists around the globe are clamouring for an opportunity to participate in ExoMars, an exobiology mission which is being planned as part of ESA's pioneering Aurora Programme. Earlier this year, ESA issued a call for ideas for the Pasteur instrument payload that will be carried on the ExoMars rover. The response has been remarkable, with some 580 investigators from 30 countries expressing the desire to participate in this exciting mission.

May 22, 2003

Digging Mars The Christian Science Monitor

Mars beckons, and planet Earth is set to respond. On June 2, the European Space Agency is set to launch Mars Express/Beagle 2 to the red planet, followed by a NASA mission that involves sending two rovers on June 5 and 25. These robotic geologists are designed to scrutinize soil and rocks for clues to the history of the planet's climate. Together, the missions represent a vital step in the quest to answer the question: Did Mars ever offer an environment capable of nurturing life?

May 20, 2003

A Deep Space Exploration Extravaganza Set To Unfold

Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. are ramping up for an era of unprecedented space exploration. The Lab is poised to launch and direct a fleet of space probes that will, among many other things, crash into the heart of a distant comet, snatch particles of the solar wind, rove across Mars to search for evidence of liquid water, and descend through the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan to explore what reminds many scientists of an early Earth.

May 14, 2003

Eyes on Mars Ithaca Times

This summer, an alien world will approach Earth closer than it has since Neanderthals roamed our planet, over 60,000 years ago. This celestial body, half the size of Earth, has a surface area equivalent to all the dry land of our world. It is a place where the air pressure is as thin as it is 20 miles above Earth's surface and the average ground temperature makes Antarctica seem comparatively balmy. Deadly ultraviolet radiation from the Sun constantly bathes the planet unchecked by any natural protection as on Earth.

May 12, 2003

Fickle Planet

When two rovers are launched to Mars this June, one thing NASA engineers hope they'll never have to confront is silence. It was a painful silence that set in at Mission Control last December as the Columbia made its fateful descent to Earth. Silence also reigned as NASA controllers — and much of the world — breathlessly awaited the touchdown of the Mars Polar Lander in December 1999. But thanks to intensive preparation and the reliance on old, dependable models, NASA scientists say they have reason to be confident they'll be hearing the beeps and churns of communication from two land rovers once they touch down on Mars.

Mars in 2003: Which Side Is Visible? Sky & Telescope

It is not enough to describe the 2003 apparition of Mars as unique. In late August, as if beckoning us to touch its enchanting, exotic shores, the red planet will reach magnitude –2.9 and will dominate the southern sky with its fiery coloration. Finally, on the night of August 26-27, Mars will be closer to Earth — if by only a little — than at any time in some 60,000 years. The centers of the two planets will then be only 55.758 million kilometers (34.646 million miles) apart.

Space Exploration Extravaganza Begins in 2003 and 2004 My Wise County

Unmanned space probes are being launched to the moon, a comet, an asteroid, the planets Mars, and Mercury and probes will orbit and land on Saturn -- all within the next 18-months as an solar system exploration extravaganza unfolds. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japanese space agency have a fleet of space probes either set to be launched or now in route to explore the frontier of solar system space. The fleet may prove to be the most exciting time in space exploration since the "Grand Tour of the Planets" by the Voyager space probes flew past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in the late 20th Century.

May 06, 2003

NASA Brings 'Mars at the Mall' to Florida May 9 and 10 AScribe Newswire

Part of Merritt Square Mall in Merritt Island, Fla., will take on an unearthly tone during two "Mars at the Mall" days presented by NASA on May 9 and 10 to celebrate Florida's role as America's gateway to Mars. The event, complete with a 3-D martian mural, models of NASA Mars rovers and a gallery of Mars pictures, will share excitement about two new rover missions to Mars scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral in June. Preparations for launch are under way at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

May 05, 2003

Russia, US agree to explore Mars together

Russia and the United States have agreed to launch a joint programme of Mars exploration, officials said here Monday after talks between the heads of the US and Russian space agencies. The two countries "have agreed to begin joint exploration of Mars and carry out joint unmanned interplanetary station flight programmes," Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for Russia's Rosaviakosmos space agency, told the Interfax news agency. "In addition, it was decided that Russia can take part in US space tenders," Gorbunov added.

Mars mission agreed

The Russian and US space agencies have agreed to co-operate on a joint unmanned mission to Mars and expand the development of other joint interplanetary probes. The announcement came after talks in Moscow between the heads of the two agencies, Nasa administrator Sean O'Keefe and his Russian counterpart Yuri Koptev, about the International Space Station (ISS).

April 22, 2003

Amazing Mars: Wind Plays Starring Role in 11,664 New Mars Images

The barren and windswept landscape of Mars comes into clearer focus with NASA's release of thousands of new photos from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft. The pictures show tornado-like "dust devils" marching across the Red Planet, storms brewing and changing with the seasons, and strangely shaped dunes that result from sand blowing monotonously in the wind.

April 21, 2003

Mars in the Morning: The Moon Makes Finding Red Planet Easy This Week

This summer, spotting Mars will be a breeze as the planet inches closer to Earth than ever in human history. Meanwhile, finding the Red Planet right now is still a bit challenging. But this week the Moon will serve as a great natural guidepost. The Moon will be near Mars the next three mornings (Tuesday through Thursday) in the southeastern sky. It's a great opportunity for casual skywatchers to find Mars beyond any doubt. Those looking for a challenge can use the pairing to then look for the planet Uranus or even Neptune.

March 25, 2003

European Space Agency Plans Mars Mission

The European Space Agency will send an unmanned mission to Mars in 2009 to put a roving vehicle on the planet to search for evidence of life, the agency said Tuesday. The ESA hopes the mission, known as ExoMars, also will provide new insight into the planet's surface and atmosphere. The trip is part of ESA's preparation for eventual manned missions to Mars.

MDA Awarded $2.3 Million Study Contract for Mission to Mars Canada NewsWire

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (TSX: MDA) announced today that the company's subsidiary, MD Robotics, has been awarded a $2.3 million (CDN) contract by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to fulfill a CSA commitment to NASA to jointly develop concepts for the NASA- led Mars Science Laboratory mission.

March 20, 2003

Red Planet Out Of Scope For Red China Spacecraft For Now

China would not set sight to explore Mars before 2015, Wen Wei Po in Hong Kong reported on Mar. 9. Instead the country would focus on unmanned exploration of the Moon during this period. Luan Enjie, Administrator of the Chinese space agency China National Space Administration (CNSA), said that planetary exploration would be part of the deep space exploration that China would carry out in the next ten years.

March 19, 2003

NASA Upbeat on Space Exploration

A NASA official says the coming year should bring some breakthroughs in space exploration as the agency moves beyond the tragedy that claimed the lives of seven astronauts. The unmanned, and possibly manned, flights are planned for this year. Charles Elachi, director of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA's leading center for planetary research says, while investigators are seeking the cause of Columbia's failure, NASA continues its quest at space centers like JPL in Pasadena, California.

March 15, 2003

NASA's Odyssey marks one year in orbit around Mars

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has transformed the way scientists are looking at the red planet. "In just one year, Mars Odyssey has fundamentally changed our understanding of the nature of the materials on and below the surface of Mars," said Dr. Jeffrey Plaut, Odyssey's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

March 09, 2003

Spying the 'red planet' up close United Press International

Earth's orbit is carrying it to a rendezvous with a planetary neighbor in August that is virtually unprecedented in all of human history. On Aug. 27, Earth and Mars will share what in celestial terms could be considered a face-off