Phoenix's Robotic Arm Delivers Second Sample
	NASA confirmed that the robotic arm of the Phoenix Mars Lander delivered its second sample for analysis to the wet chemistry laboratory of the spacecraft. While the first sample test of the lander failed to detect any chemicals that may be essential to the appearance and evolution of life as we know it on the Red Planet, the results of the second test will act as a scale for the accuracy of the ones obtained during the first analysis perfo ... [read more >>]
	08 July 2008, 10:29GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Short Circuit Comes Back to Hunt Martian Lander
	The first investigation of the Phoenix Mars Lander on the Martian soil collected from its surroundings failed to detect any chemicals that may be essential to life at all, and although another seven single-use test ovens are expecting further analysis, the next experiment could just as well be the last one for the spacecraft. The problem, NASA researchers say, is that the short circuit suffered in the early days of the mission by ... [read more >>]
	03 July 2008, 06:21GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phoenix Back on Track - Soil Sprinkling Works
	After another couple of days of delay related to the unsuccessful attempt to deliver soil samples to the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, NASA reported that the Phoenix Mars Lander was again back on schedule and pursuing the primary tasks of its mission. In a press conference yesterday, mission controllers said that the shaking technique destined to reduce the clumpiness of the sample worked exactly as expected and as proof they released ... [read more >>]
	11 June 2008, 02:45GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Martian Lander Mission in Danger of Failing
	The mission of the Phoenix Mars Lander seems to have hit a snag last week after soil samples delivered by the robotic arm of the spacecraft failed to pass through the screen of the test oven of the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer instrument. The TEGA instrument is equipped with seven other such ovens, which could possibly have identical screens. If this is indeed the case and an alternative solution is not found, then the Phoenix mission ... [read more >>]
	10 June 2008, 06:50GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phoenix Fails to Make First Analysis of Martian Soil
	The Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer instrument, or TEGA for short, on board the Phoenix Mars Lander, failed to pass its first sample test after the Martian soil delivered by the robotic arm of the lander was unable to reach the instrument. Mission controllers said on Saturday that they would try to determine what went wrong in the days to come. The images show that the test oven of TEGA is almost fully covered with soil (see ... [read more >>]
	09 June 2008, 03:38GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phoenix Relays Back Images of Martian Dust Particles
	This is the highest resolution image ever sent back to Earth by the Phoenix Mars Lander featuring dust and sand particles. The image was captured by the camera of the optical microscope instrument on board the spacecraft and shows particles of dust as small as one-tenth of the diameter of the human hair. The mission of the Phoenix Mars Lander is to study whether or not the Red Planet as we know it was ever habitable for life. [ADMARK=1 ... [read more >>]
	06 June 2008, 03:19GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phoenix's Digging Mission Postponed
	The mission controllers of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander decided to delay the beginning of the digging operations for a day in order to better learn how to scoop samples of soil from the Martian surface. The lander was scheduled to start gathering soil sample for analysis today, but they decided that Phoenix must first carry out a test in which a scoop full of dust is delivered to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer. The sp ... [read more >>]
	04 June 2008, 07:04GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phoenix Digs Its First Scoop
	Phoenix Mars Lander, designed to carry NASA's 420 million US dollar three month mission to the Red Planet, which touched down on the surface just a little over a week ago, made its first dig test in the Martian soil on Sunday with the 2.4 meter long robotic arm, revealing brigh ... [read more >>]
	03 June 2008, 05:57GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Camera Shows Possible Ice Beneath Phoenix Mars Lander
	On Saturday, NASA and University of Arizona mission controllers revealed an image taken with the camera on Phoenix's robotic arm showing a white patch of soil under the lander, which the team members believe to be water ice. The patch is about one meter in diameter, seems to be bright white and is surrounded by the three legs of the lander. Previously, the team members had stated that they were hopping to find such a feat ... [read more >>]
	02 June 2008, 02:54GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phoenix Looks Beneath its Belly, Suffers Short Circuit
	The robotic arm of the Phoenix Mars Lander was used yesterday along with the camera attached to it to view the ground beneath the spacecraft and make certain that the soil is clear of any big rocks. The arm has also touched the ground of the landing area for the first time while one ... [read more >>]
	31 May 2008, 03:51GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Water May Not be Enough for Life on Mars
	As soon as it arrived on the surface of the Red Planet, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity investigating the south equatorial regions discovered evidence of the past existence of liquid water, fueling even further the idea that Mars was once able to support life. However, a new assessment of the conditions required for the appearance of life on a particular planet shows that liquid water alone is not enough to support life. ... [read more >>]
	30 May 2008, 07:05GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Sol 4: Phoenix Exercises Its Robotic Arm, Takes Pictures
	After restoring communication with the Phoenix Mars Lander through the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, mission control resumed the preparation of the spacecraft for its scheduled digging mission, destined to establish whether or not Mars was ever hospitable for life. During its fo ... [read more >>]
	30 May 2008, 05:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Martian Polygons Slightly Different than Expected
	Amongst some of the first images sent back by the Phoenix Mars Lander in the outcome of its landing on the surface of Mars on the evening of last Sunday lies this particular one, showing the now famous polygon patterns characteristic to the north polar plains of the Red Planet. In a ... [read more >>]
	27 May 2008, 09:41GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phoenix Prepares to Start Digging
	The Phoenix Mars Lander has now more than 24 hours on the Red Planet and it is still undergoing preparations for expected digging missions, which it will need to complete in the following months. As soon as it set foot on Martian soil, Phoenix went right to work and in approximately two hours after the landing it sent its first pictures back to Earth, revealing ... [read more >>]
	27 May 2008, 03:32GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

HiRISE Captures Phoenix During Descent
	On the evening of May 25, the Phoenix Mars Lander successfully touched down in the northern regions of the Red Planet. As it descended to the surface of Mars, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – monitoring the progress of the Phoenix spacecraft – captured this superb image of the lander during its final descent stages, as it was still attached to it parachute. This is the first ... [read more >>]
	27 May 2008, 02:46GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phoenix Lands on Mars - First Images
	On Sunday 16:53 PDT, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander assisted by a series of spacecrafts in the orbit of the Red Planet successfully touched down on the surface and has since transmitted a series of pictures of the north polar plains, which it will be investigating in the months to come. Initial measurements show that the spacecraft it tilted at only 0.25 degrees from the horizontal, meaning that it has cleared all the boulders in the surr ... [read more >>]
	26 May 2008, 02:54GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phoenix Mars Lander Expected to Touchdown Tomorrow
	Phoenix's nine month journey to the Red Planet is set to end tomorrow, May 25, with its landing in the north polar regions of Mars. Whether or not it manages to land remains uncertain until the spacecraft is safely on the ground, especially considering the relatively long list of failed missions to the Red Planet in the last two decades or so. Some say landing on Mars is hard, others however reckon that the spacecrafts were victims of ... [read more >>]
	24 May 2008, 04:05GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Spirit Stumbles Upon Pure Silica on Mars
	After a long hibernation period during its second Mars winter in the northern regions of the Home Plate, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is again on the move and is now investigating the Gusev Crater where it found what appears to be a deposit of pure silica similar to the one created around hydrothermal vents on Earth in the Yellowstone National Park, US. The discovery was made last year, although NASA couldn’t afford to make a ... [read more >>]
	23 May 2008, 05:35GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Life Can Grow Just About Anywhere
	Finding inhospitable places for life on Earth is extremely difficult; just about any location you can lay your eyes on is most likely populated to some extent with microbial life, if not with other living specimens. Researchers from the Mars Astrobiology Research and Technology Experiment, MARTE for short, have recently found such an inhospitable place in the ground beneath Rion Tito in Spain. The area was colonized nearly 2 million years ... [read more >>]
	22 May 2008, 10:00GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Mars Is Much Cooler than We Thought
	New radar investigations with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter probing the north pole of Mars revealed that the Red Planet is much colder than previously believed, meaning that any previous hope of finding liquid water near the surface of the planet has been shattered. Nevertheless, liquid water could still be available on Mars, only at larger depths than expected, where the temperatures would rise slightly in response to the proxim ... [read more >>]
	16 May 2008, 04:12GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Help Wanted, Looking for Lander Wreck
	The Mars Polar Lander was a robotic mission to Mars, scheduled to land near the south polar region of the Red Planet and conduct scientific investigations related to the clime, the soil and the ice in that respective area. In 1999, the probe finally reached Mars and began its descent towards the surface. Contact was lost during landing, probably due to a high speed impact with the surface and after nine year the MPL is still missing. Si ... [read more >>]
	13 May 2008, 06:52GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Magnetite Deposits May Hide Martian Life
	Magnetite is a naturally occurring compound on Earth and some quantities can even be produced by bacteria on our planet. Considering that magnetism can be detected relatively easy with the help of instruments produced with the current technology, a future mission to the Red Planet could find and return magnetite mineral back to Earth in order to be studied for any evidence of bacteria or other life forms similar to terrestrial magnetite pr ... [read more >>]
	09 May 2008, 04:59GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA Considers Landing a Manned Mission on Near Asteroid
	2000SG344 is a Near Earth Object only 40 meters in diameter which passes periodically through the vicinity of our planet at speeds as high as 44,8 kilometers per hour. Astronomers estimate that in the next six decades or so, the asteroid will approach Earth considerably but it will not intersect the orbit of the planet. If it were to do so, the energy released during the impact would be equivalent to about 83 times that released ... [read more >>]
	08 May 2008, 10:21GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Dust Devils are No Threat to Phoenix Lander
	NASA's Phoenix Mars lander is expected to touchdown on the Red Planet on May 25 in a north polar region known as "Green Valley". In anticipation for the event, NASA has been using its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to make periodical observations of the designated landing spot and on April 20, the MRO spotted two dust vortices – often called dust devils – towering one kilometer high into the Martian atmosphere, sweeping across ... [read more >>]
	08 May 2008, 04:10GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Where Are Earth's Moons?
	A planet roughly the size of Mars is on a collision course with the Earth. Eventually, the two planets collide and the Moon and the Earth are created in the outcome. Or at least that's what the Moon formation model says that happened some 4.5 billion years ago. But there is something missing. The Moon is here, the Earth is here, but where is the additional debris if there was any? A new model based on the current Moon for ... [read more >>]
	06 May 2008, 03:15GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Urey Instrument to End the 'Life on Mars' Debate
	Is there, or has there ever been life on Mars? Well, we've been studying Mars for nearly four decades and the answer is nowhere to be found. Simply put, there is no direct proof of life on the Red Planet but neither is there evidence to exclude such possibility. The ESA on the other hand plans to put an end to this question once and for all by launching in 2013 the ExoMars mission, which will carry an instrument able to establish whet ... [read more >>]
	05 May 2008, 07:00GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Questions to How Martian Sand Dunes Form Still Open
	It is almost unbelievable that Mars, having barely any atmosphere, is able to create sand storms so powerful that they are visible from the surface of our planet. During these storms sand is being lifted high into the Red Planet's atmosphere and dropped only to stir up other dust particles present of the surface of the planet. Aside from having a thin atmosphere, Mars also has very weak winds, which further deepens the mystery to how ... [read more >>]
	29 April 2008, 10:55GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Possible Hot Springs Found on Mars
	It is possible that there may have been much weather on Mars in its distant past. If true that hydrothermal springs could have easily appeared on its surface; and where there are hydrothermal springs, there is a good change that life is as well. There have been several claims in the past that hot springs were spotted on Mars, however they haven't been confirmed yet. Now, the high-resolution camera on board the Mars Reconnais ... [read more >>]
	25 April 2008, 06:07GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Opportunity Crippled by Another Mechanical Failure
	The four-year mission in the harsh Martian environment is leaving yet another imprint on one of NASA's twin rovers. While Spirit is currently hibernating in the northern region of the planet, Opportunity is still on route to exploring Victoria Crater's Cape Verde. The voyage to the cliff was recently stopped by a faulty motor which is powering the rover's robotic arm. The problems with the motor had actually began ... [read more >>]
	25 April 2008, 03:04GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Mars Could Have Been Through Ice Ages
	Mars is often viewed as a planet that has been climatically active in a distant past, having flowing water on its surface as early as 3.5 billion years ago. At some point in time around this date, Mars' clime took a turning point rendering it much as the way we see it today. New discoveries made with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that Mars' clime may have been in fact much more active than previously thought, a ... [read more >>]
	24 April 2008, 05:40GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Mars: Planet of the Apes
	Laika preceded the first manned spaceflight; why can't macaques preceed the first manned flight to Mars? According to Russian scientists, they can and they will. The first living being to the Martian system will most likely be a monkey, not a man. The reason is very simple and easy to guess; radiation poses too great of a risk for human astronauts to be sent into long space missions, such as a manned mission to the Red Planet. &qu ... [read more >>]
	14 April 2008, 10:14GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phoenix Mars Lander Prepares for Landing
	In anticipation of the expected landing of the Phoenix Mars Lander on 25 May, NASA engineers applied a trajectory correction to the flight path. Further modifications to the flight path are expected after the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter photographs the designated landing area. The Phoenix spacecraft will most likely land in a polar region known as "Green Valley," a flat valley about 100 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide shap ... [read more >>]
	11 April 2008, 10:59GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

How Shooting Stars Appear
	From time to time, brief streaks of light may appear, moving rapidly across the night sky and disappearing just as quickly. We generally call these luminous phenomena 'shooting stars’; however, they have nothing in common with stars, except maybe a slight resemblance. In fact, shooting stars are meteoroids that burn into the atmosphere due to the heat generated through friction while traveling at high speeds. Generally, they range in ... [read more >>]
	10 April 2008, 08:43GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Phobos Pictured in Color and 3D
	Mars' largest and closest moon, Phobos, was recently photographed with the help of the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, during a fly-by through its vicinity. 3D color images of the small moon reveal a material rim around its biggest surface structure, the Stickney crater, measuring 9 kilometers in diameter. "Phobos is of great interest because it may be rich in water ice and carbon-rich materi ... [read more >>]
	10 April 2008, 04:02GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Robots, the Spearhead of Space Exploration
	Why are we so fascinated with the Moon? I mean just look around you, the universe is more than the Earth and its large satellite. Mars, Venus and Mercury are just around the corner, why are we so reluctant at sending a manned mission to any of these planets? The truth is that space missions are extremely dangerous and very expensive, that’s why we prefer sending robots instead. And frankly, sending a manned mission to Mars won't make ... [read more >>]
	04 April 2008, 06:05GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Meteor Shower Spotted on Mars
	Meteor showers occur on Earth every year. Some individual meteors streaming through the Martian atmosphere have been observed as well, however this is the first time when a full meteor shower is detected. By tracking the paths of the comets passing through the vicinity of Mars, UK scientists believe that they can predict meteor showers on Mars the same way meteor showers are predicted back here on Earth. "Just as we can predict me ... [read more >>]
	02 April 2008, 04:59GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Manned Mission to Mars Grounded. Radiation Risk too High
	On Earth, we are protected against radiation by the powerful magnetic field of the planet, however in space it’s an entirely different ballgame. Radiation can severely damage or even destroy living cells inside the human body. Even on the space station, which receives a fair share of protection from Earth's magnetic field, astronauts feel the damaging effect of radiation, such as white flashes of light in their eyes, caused by high-en ... [read more >>]
	01 April 2008, 07:38GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Google Plans 100,000 People Colony on Mars
	Google and Virgin Group have just signed a deal in order to launch Virgle Inc., a joint venture supposed to help the two companies reach an incredible goal: establish and maintain human communities on Mars. According to a press release rolled out by Google, the Virgle plan starts with the Virgle Pioneer selection, expected to take place between 2008 and 2010, the first journey being scheduled for 2016. Moreover, the two companies ... [read more >>]
	01 April 2008, 04:36GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Search for Alien Life, a Search for Cellulose
	According to University of North Carolina researchers, the search for extraterrestrial life forms does not necessarily require the find of the actual life forms. Evidence of its existence could be just as rewarding. They reveal that life on Earth could have actually appeared 200 million years earlier than previously believed. One of the most abundant biological material produced by plants, algae and bacteria on Earth is cell ... [read more >>]
	31 March 2008, 03:46GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

UK's Biggest Meteorite Impact Discovered
	According to researchers from the Oxford and Aberdeen universities, about 1.2 billion years ago, a relatively large object entered Earth's atmosphere and fell towards the regions of north-west Scotland, to create the biggest meteorite impact on the territories of the United Kingdom. The exact location of the crater created by the meteorite is thought to lie somewhere near the town of Ullapool, as scientists found evidence of ... [read more >>]
	26 March 2008, 07:49GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA's Newest Concept Vehicle
	NASA's new lunar rover prototype is somehow different from the Martian rovers we are familiar with today. Unlike Spirit and Opportunity, NASA's Chariot will not conduct scientific missions. On the contrary, it will be used as a 'workhorse' on the lunar surface, building roads, trenches or as a drilling rig on the Moon. The build of the Chariot was completed in the month of September last year and has been into ... [read more >>]
	26 March 2008, 04:48GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Bad News for Twin Martian Rovers
	Although still healthy and working round the clock of the surface of the Red Planet, NASA's twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity may soon find themselves hibernating for a undefined amount of time. If mechanical and software problems won't disable them permanently, NASA will surely do so. According to a NASA Headquarters press release, the Mars Exploration Rover program operating the two robots will receive a budget cut o ... [read more >>]
	25 March 2008, 05:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Salt Deposits Found on Red Planet
	Images relayed back to Earth in 2001 by the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS for short, on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, seem to have recently fallen back into the scientists' attention. Hundreds of small depressions on the surface of Mars reveal salt deposits similar to those found on Earth when water evaporates. The study was conducted at the University of Hawaii by researcher Mikki Osterloo ... [read more >>]
	21 March 2008, 04:53GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Rocky Planets: Same Shape, Different Materials
	The model of planet formation in our solar system is currently very simple and easy to understand. All planets formed from the same materials inside the matter disk spinning around the Sun, thus spawning four most inner rocky planets and four gas giants. The raw material for the four inner planets is believed to have been mostly similar to that found inside chondrite meteorites and asteroids orbiting within the asteroid belt between Mars a ... [read more >>]
	20 March 2008, 04:42GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Soda Might Have Powered Geysers on Mars
	On Earth, there are two distinct ways through which water may erupt from beneath the surface into columns stretching as high as 45 meters or more. The first is by pushing water up into the air with steam coming from the deep underground. The second uses the force provided by carbon dioxide gas making its way to the surface. Scientists say that Mars could have had such geysers back in its past, however they must have been much more spectacu ... [read more >>]
	18 March 2008, 11:04GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Mars' Promethei Planum Probed by MARSIS
	The Promethei Planum was previously a subject of study for ESA's Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera, which probed it back in September 2005, while being in a high orbit around the Red Planet. Now, new observations conducted with the Mars Advanced Radar for Ionoshpere and Subsurface Sounding, or MARSIS for short, reveals that south pole is covered with a layer of ice exceeding 3,500 meters in thickness. The images ... [read more >>]
	18 March 2008, 06:53GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Mars' Volcanic Past Exposed
	Although Mars doesn't look much like a planet ravaged by volcanic activity in the past, it is clear that it had to go through such a stage in its history. Now, new observations conducted with ESA's Mars Express spacecraft reveal the actions of lava flows and water on the surface, and how these molded the Martian landscape as we see it today. The High Resolution Stereo Camera, HiRISE, on-board Mars Express, shows that Mars suffere ... [read more >>]
	14 March 2008, 11:04GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Dry Lake Bed Found on Mars
	It's no secret now, Mars is thought to have been much hotter in its past, basically meaning that it could also have had liquid water on its surface at some point in time. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ESA's Mars Express routinely return evidence of what seems to be gullies or lake beds possibly created by the erosive action of water. The HiRISE camera equipping the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals new i ... [read more >>]
	07 March 2008, 04:33GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Mars and Venus More Alike Than Previously Thought
	Have you ever noticed how both Mars and Venus are ranked as planets rather similar to Earth, but never to each other? The ESA believes it's about time it put an end to this situation and gave the task to both the Mars Express and the Venus Express, to conduct simultaneous probing investigations to establish whether or not the two planets can be compared with each other. Well, at least in the matter of the atmosphere, that is. When ... [read more >>]
	05 March 2008, 10:32GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Avalanche on Mars!
	The unique event has been observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter with the High Resolution Imaging Experiment, HiRISE for short, on February 19, during a scan of a region of the Red Planet's surface near the north pole. This is the first image of an avalanche ever surprised on Mars! The image released yesterday by NASA clearly shows how a cloud front is moving away from the base of a slope covered with a mix of d ... [read more >>]
	04 March 2008, 03:22GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia