NASA Mission: Tucson catching Mars fever
Arizona Daily Star, AZ - 44 minutes ago
By Stephanie Innes Two weeks from Sunday, NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled to touch down on the red planet. The event is significant in Tucson ...
UA: Mars spacecraft dead on target Tucson Citizen
all 2 news articles

In our last PDS release, HiRISE made available our images (to date) of an area where the Mars Polar Lander is suspected to have crashed in 1999. MPL was the first mission to the high latitudes of Mars, but failed mysteriously, the first of two high-profile failures in America’s Mars program at the time. An assessment team found a number of potential causes of the crash; the condition of MPL, if found, may help to resolve what actually happened.

There is a large area covered at high resolution in these images. I think some of our team members have looked over the images but they have not found a trace of MPL. You may in fact be the first person to see MPL in the nearly ten years since it left Earth.

In the wake of MPL, NASA canceled a planned 2001 lander. The University of Arizona, which had a significant presence in both missions, proposed the Phoenix Mars Scout mission, “rising from the ashes” of these missions. Phoenix, as you might expect, it said to be very thoroughly tested. On 2008 May 25th, Phoenix will be landing in the high northern latitudes (above the equivalent of the Arctic Circle on Earth).

In this PDF document graciously provided by Tim Parker, you can see what various types of hardware look like to HiRISE. It also shows examples of cosmic-ray hits in order to distinguish them from real space junk.

Here are links to our web pages providing information and downloads for our images of the MPL site.

• PSP_002846_1040
• PSP_003690_1035
• PSP_004336_1035
• PSP_004402_1030
• PSP_004824_1030
• PSP_004969_1035
• PSP_005035_1030
• PSP_005114_1035
• PSP_005180_1035
• PSP_005325_1035
• PSP_005391_1030
• PSP_005470_1035
• PSP_005536_1030
• PSP_005602_1035
• PSP_005747_1035
• PSP_005813_1030
• PSP_005892_1025
• PSP_005958_1025

NASA
Intense Testing Paved Phoenix Road to Mars
NASA, DC - 1 hour ago
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin › Full image and caption When NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander descends to the surface of the ...

Talk about dedication! Volunteers in Russia are testing the ability of humans to breathe argon-enriched air, as part of a research program that simulates a manned trip to Mars. Researchers want to know if humans can survive breathing air similar to that found on Mars. Of the experiment one Russian scientist said, "Our [...]

Mars Probe Entourage Poised to Welcome Phoenix
Discovery Channel - 20 hours ago
May 9, 2008 -- The last time NASA dispatched a spacecraft to a polar region of Mars, it fell into a radio silence seconds before landing. ...

MARS PHOENIX: Update on mission and our LIVE special
Discovery Reports Canada, Canada - 1 hour ago
NASA engineers have adjusted the flight path of the Phoenix Mars Lander, setting the spacecraft on course for its May 25 landing on the Red Planet. ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — International planning is under way to reinvigorate plans for a Mars sample return mission, with researchers assessing science priorities and strategies to maximize the scientific output from such an undertaking.

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: The weather outlook for this month's touchdown of the Phoenix Mars Lander calls for a spring thaw — and maybe Martian mini-tornadoes as well.

A Mars spacecraft carrying a DVD of thousands of names was intended to increase public interest in space missions. But the unintended consequence was lasting space memorials to Donald Duck, John Lennon, Adolf Hitler and Malcolm X.

Reaching Mars is an unforgiving endeavor, with little room for error.

It may have taken the "right stuff" -- a macho blend of youthful bravado and reckless adrenaline -- to get the first people into space, but if you want to be an astronaut today, be warned, it's no longer a young man's game.

Many space missions use robots to explore. The rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still travelling around Mars, taking pictures and digging in the dirt. But could a robot identify alien life? How would a machine know the difference, for instance, between a rock and bacteria?

Discovery to air Mars landing live
Media In Canada, Canada - 2 hours ago
... Channel Canada plans to capture the next milestone in exploration of the Red Planet on May 25 at 7pm ET, when it will present Mars: The Phoenix Lands. ...

Canada's first mission to Mars is less than three weeks from its destination, with a package of instruments that will tell scientists about clouds, dust and weather on the Red Planet.

Phoenix Landing Area Viewed by Mars Color Imager
Space Fellowship, UK - 14 hours ago
NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled to land on the Martian northern plains near 68 degrees north latitude, 127 degrees west longitude on May 25, 2008. ...

NASA has scheduled a media briefing Tuesday, May 13, at 11 a.m. EDT, to discuss the challenges, risks and science opportunities of the scheduled May 25 landing of the Phoenix Mars Lander.

Mesas in the Nilosyrtis Mensae region of Mars appear in enhanced color in this image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Boynton Beach library, museum plan Mars educational event
Sun-Sentinel.com, FL - 31 minutes ago
Abramson said Landstrom would tell stories about Mars and other planets, and offer youth arts and crafts projects. At 8 pm, attendees will walk across the ...

BATESVILLE, Ark. - A biology professor at Lyon College and his students are looking in caves under the Earth's surface to help decide if life could exist on Mars.

Is There Life on Mars? Ask a Magnet.
Astrobiology Magazine - 6 hours ago
Summary (May 05, 2008): Magnetite, a type of iron oxide, is common on both Earth and Mars, and appears in many forms. On Earth, some of those forms are ...