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mars

Mars rover gets smarter with age...and software

NASA's rover Opportunity is getting smarter through software.

Celebrating its seventh year investigating the surface of the Red Planet, Opportunity is now able to make its own choices about which rocks it should investigate further and which ones it should leave alone, according to a NASA report on Tuesday.

Thanks to a new software upload, Opportunity's computer can analyze the photos taken with its wide-angle camera and isolate rocks that meet specific criteria. It can then determine whether specific rocks are worthy of close-up shots through its narrow-angle, color-filtered camera.

The new software called Autonomous Exploration for Gathering … Read more

Buzz Out Loud Podcast 1153: iPad? Yes. Apple named it iPad.

We recorded right after Steve Jobs finished his 90-minute announcement of the Apple iPad, Apple's new tablet computer. It's variably impressive depending on who you are, but will anyone buy it? We discuss. Also, it's over for the Mars rover Spirit. At least the roving part is over, but it's still alive and doing science.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1153

Apple iPad tablet http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10440943-260.html

After three months, only 35 subscriptions for Newsday’s Web site http://www.observer.com/2010/media/after-three-months-only-35-subscriptions-newsdays-web-site… Read more

Mars rover no more, but Spirit lives on

NASA's Mars rover Spirit isn't dead yet, but it has reached its final resting place.

After months of unsuccessful attempts at freeing the rover from a sandtrap, NASA on Tuesday said it has decided to make the best of the situation and instruct it to conduct scientific experiments from its current location.

The rover became trapped last April when one of its wheels broke through a crusty Martian surface and dug into the fine, powdery soil beneath it. After many so-called extraction activities, including wiggling the wheels and rotating them very slowly, NASA scientists have decided to stop … Read more

Mars rover Spirit's days may be numbered

One of NASA's seemingly immortal Mars rovers might soon be at the end of its days.

The Spirit rover had been cruising around the Red Planet, along with its companion, Opportunity, since they both arrived six years ago this month. (Spirit landed on January 3, 2004, while Opportunity landed on January 24 of that year.) Their mission to send back photos and data about the Martian surface was expected to last a mere 90 days. Instead, the two traveling research bots blew away all expectations, continuing their treks year after year.

However, scientists warn that Spirit's most recent … Read more

New proof of life on Mars? Sadly, no

A stunning new image taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter creates an optical illusion. The image might look like rows of trees on the Martian surface. But in actuality, they are probably veins of basaltic sand along sand dunes, Candy Hansen, a member of the MRO team, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

This isn't the first time images from the Red Planet have piqued the public's interest. Images released last year appeared to show forests of trees; in 2008, NASA released an image that appeared to be a person sitting on a rock but turned out to be … Read more

Buzz Out Loud Podcast 1144: What's Google really doing in China?

Due to some Gmail attacks, Google has said it will remove its filters and possibly pull out of China altogether. There's definitely a lot more going on behind the scenes of this than we know, but we try to get to the heart of the matter as the nation of China negotiates with the nation of Google. We also discuss Facebook's requirement that you scan your hard drive to reactivate a hacked account, and we look forward to Martians coming this year. Yay for Martians!

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) … Read more

NASA hopes to free Mars rover from 'sand trap'

After months of tests and analysis, engineers plan to beam commands to NASA's Spirit Mars rover Monday, kicking off a long-awaited attempt to free the hardy craft from the talcum powder-like soil of a hidden crater that trapped it last April.

"Spirit's facing the most challenging situation it's seen yet on the surface of Mars," Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars exploration program, said Thursday. "We know a lot of people around the world...view Spirit with great affection, exploring the Red Planet along with it, experiencing the excitement, seeing new and exciting … Read more

Piloting a lunar rover

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--For a few minutes Thursday, as I steered one of NASA's K10 intelligent robots across a small field of rocky, sandy terrain, I could almost imagine myself piloting the rover across the surface of Mars or the moon.

Until, that is, I realized I had pretty much no idea what I was doing, and saw that my struggles to steer the rover forward were actually sending it backward. Given that this little robot is worth at least as much as a mid-range Mercedes, I was relieved to see the eagle-eyed scientist standing a few feet away … Read more

Water detected on the moon, buried ice on Mars

Data from a comet-bound NASA probe, a robotic mission to Saturn, and a U.S. instrument aboard an Indian spacecraft have provided clear evidence that at least trace amounts of water exist on the moon's surface, researchers said Thursday.

While scientists have long suspected that water ice from comet impacts is trapped in cold, permanently shadowed craters near the moon's poles, the new data indicates that water molecules form and dissipate across broader areas, even in lunar daylight.

While the data represent a major surprise and a "really profound discovery," one scientist said, researchers cautioned that … Read more