Mars ‘flying-saucer’ EDL test successful

Posted on July 1, 2014 by rburnham

NASA has successfully conductedldsd20140629-440 near Hawaii the first of three tests for the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), developed to evaluate new landing technologies for future Mars missions. This initial test was to determine the flying ability of the saucer-shaped vehicle. The test also deployed two new landing technologies as a bonus. These will be officially tested in the next two flights… [More at link]

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Curiosity update: ‘Out of the ellipse’

Posted on July 1, 2014 by rburnham

Sols 673-675, June 27-30, 2014, update on Curiosity from U.S. Geological Survey scientist Ken Herkenhoff: “I’m MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead today, planning Sols 673-675 to get MSL through the weekend. It turned out to be…” [More at link]

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THEMIS: Hyperborei Cavi

Posted on July 1, 2014 by rburnham

Dunes of Hyperborei Cavi (THEMIS_IOTD_20140701)THEMIS Image of the Day, July 1, 2014. This VIS image shows Hyperborei Cavi — the low regions on the right side of the image. Dunes are found both in the lows and on the higher region on the left side of the image. The higher region is part of Hyperborea Lingula.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

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‘Early Mars’ topical website launched

Posted on July 1, 2014 by rburnham

early-mars-bannerThe Lunar and Planetary Insitute in Houston has launched a new website on the subject of early Mars. It will provide links to new papers, conference programs and abstracts, field-trip guides, and more.

The site’s introduction states, “The influx of new data received from recent spacecraft missions to Mars, the study of the SNC meteorites, recent progress in early climate modeling, the growing evidence of the role of water in the planet’s evolution, and the rapid pace of new discoveries about the origin and diversity of life on Earth have reinvigorated interest in both the conditions that prevailed on Mars during its first billion years of geologic history and their implications for the development of life.” [More at link] 

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Curiosity: Sol 674, June 29, 2014

Posted on June 30, 2014 by rburnham

Sol674_panoCuriosity tests the sand ripples for trafficability — and finds wheels slipping, in a Sol 674 (June 29, 2014) panorama (5372 × 1969 pixels, 1.8 MB) assembled by Damia Bouic using Navcam images. (Thumbnail image above cropped). Mount Sharp lies in the distance ahead for the south-pointing rover.

Sol 674 raw images (from all cameras), and Curiosity’s latest location map.

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HiRISE: Candidate landing site for 2020 mission

Posted on June 30, 2014 by rburnham

Candidate landing sitetumblr_n7zs12JL4R1rlz4gso1_1280 for 2020 mission in Kashira Crater. Beautiful Mars series.

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HiRISE: When ridges intersect

Posted on June 30, 2014 by rburnham

When ridges intersecttumblr_n7zru0Vkgn1rlz4gso1_1280. Beautiful Mars series.

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MAVEN mission status, June 27, 2014

Posted on June 30, 2014 by rburnham

Mission status updateMAVEN-illustration1, from David Mitchell, Project Manager, NASA Goddard: “MAVEN continues on a smooth journey to Mars. All spacecraft and instrument systems are operating nominally. This month has been a rather quiet period for spacecraft operations. A big focus in June was to rehearse, test, and in some cases stress, the team in preparation for MAVEN’s arrival at Mars in September….” [More at link]

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Opportunity field report: June 27, 2014

Posted on June 30, 2014 by rburnham

distanceSol 3705 (June 27, 2014) Rover Field Report by Larry Crumpler, MER Science Team & New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science: “Opportunity is still driving along a prominent ridge where orbital remote sensing detected the presence of an Al-OH feature. We are driving about 20 meters every few sols, and stopping to look at the local outcrops to see if we can find the source of what must be some fairly altered rocks either on the western rim of the 22 kilometer-diameter Endeavour…” [More at link]

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Curiosity update: ‘Women’s Curiosity Day’

Posted on June 30, 2014 by rburnham

Sol 672, June 27, 2014, update on Curiosity from MSL scientist Lauren Edgar: “Today we honored the contributions of women on the MSL team, with 75% of the operations roles filled by women! I was on duty as the Geology and Mineralogy… [More at link]

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