Mars Curiosity has spotted an odd little feature in a nearby Martian rock. Shown above, at first glance any red-blooded skeptic would assume that’s a piece of the EDL package. But NASA scientists aren’t sure. For now it’s been dubbed the Flower: [Read more…]
In the wake of the somewhat disappointing news about Mars Curiosity this week, there are reports of another rover in the works. That got me to think’n! We’re getting good at building these things and we might be on the cusp of a generalized rover design that would work in many places all over the solar system. A standardized, scalable and adaptable primary architecture and power train married to one of several reliable EDL packages that could turn this century into an age of discovery on par with the one kicked off by Columbus 500 years ago. Hey, a boy can dream. [Read more…]
First a researcher on the Mars Curiosity mission lit up the science blogosphere when he said the rover had found something ‘earth shaking’ for the ‘history books’ during Thanksgiving Week. Then NASA back peddled and clammed up leading to all sorts of speculation. Finally, news made the rounds last week that Curiosity hadn’t found much of interest and it was just an excited researcher happy that the soil sampling and analytical tools were operating as designed. NOW — there are reports the rover may have found some carbon compounds, but they’re not gonna say what they are tomorrow: [Read more…]
I just received this email from AAS press office Dr. Rick Feinberg on the findings of Mars Curiosity. The gist of it is speculations of a major find on Mars are incorrect. Full email below: [Read more…]
Most Americans are emerging bleary-eyed from a tryptophan induced coma today and grudgingly marching back to work after a glorious extended weekend. In this twittering multimedia digital world many stories compete for a slot on our rested minds. The scary looming fiscal cliff and backroom dealings in DC that might fail to ease us down its gentle slope, the political back-and-forth back stabbing continues unabated as Republicans wrestle with ballot box defeat and Democrats continue to come out of the decades long reflexive crouch. It would be easy to miss what could turn out to be the most important story of the season. Right now its mere speculation over tantalizing hints, past and present, centered not on the third rock from the sun, but a more enigmatic planet, the fourth world out. NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover may have found something interesting in the arid frozen soil of the Red Planet. Right now the smart money is on a substance called methane. [Read more…]
The TRUTH is out there. I WANT to believe …
I’m sorry there is no update. Just lots of speculation. Because of the way it was initially presented to the media and subsequent backtracking by NASA it’s impossible to know if we should be hopeful or cynical: [Read more…]
Update: NASA isn’t saying what it is, still. But they have scheduled a presser for 3 Dec. Talk about firing up the rumor mill. By then Fox News will probably have a graphic up showing Obama-esque Martians coming for your guns.
Is this it? We don’t know. No one’s saying what it is outside of the instrument that reported the find: [Read more…]
Mars Curiosity landed in the right place alright! Just a few steps from touchdown the one ton rover snapped this image showing what planetary geologists (Areologists?) say is a lead pipe cinch for an alluvial fan, i.e., freely flowing water: [Read more…]
The creator of this one provides some details at TPM. Amazing pic of the sun below [Read more…]
The penny in this image is part of a camera calibration target on NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on Mars September 9, 2012. Credit AFP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
After a nail-biting entry and descent followed by firing off a few breathtaking images inside Gale Crater, Curiosity is about to begin the mission it was designed so well for. Prospecting for ancient biotic gold: [Read more…]