NASA’s Mars rover, Curiosity, has resumed science investigations after fully recovering from a computer glitch that put its main computer out of action, forcing engineers to switch the rover to a redundant main computer, on February 28. “We are back to full science operations,” said Curiosity Deputy Project Manager Jim Erickson of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, on March 25. Curiosity [...]
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Curiosity Rover Exits ‘Safe Mode’
Source: NASA PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has returned to active status and is on track to resume science investigations, following two days in a precautionary standby status, “safe mode.” Next steps will include checking the rover’s active computer, the B-side computer, by commanding a preliminary free-space move of the arm. The B-side computer was provided information last [...]
Bolden Addresses Hearing On Asteroid Threats
A U.S House of Representatives hearing was held March 19th, 2013 covering the recently popular subject of asteroids and meteorite strikes. The hearing, titled “Threats from Space: A Review of U.S. Government Efforts to Track and Mitigate Asteroids and Meteors”, was held before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. The text below is an excerpt from a prepared statement from NASA Administrator, [...]
Curiosity Update: Ancient Mars Was Capable of Supporting Life
A JPL press conference held on March 12th has announced the latest findings from the Mars Curiosity mission. The rover, currently located on a flat rocky outcrop dubbed “John Klein”, located in the Yellowknife Bay area within Gale Crater, initiated the first use of its drill tool in February. Geological features and the presence of minerals at the site have [...]
NASA Launches Trajectory Browser to Map Interplanetary Missions
The Mission Design Center at NASA Ames has published an online tool to perform preliminary analysis of deep space missions to a celestial body. “The Trajectory Browser website is best used as a first-cut tool to assess the existence of trajectories to small bodies and planets and provide ball-park values on launch date, duration and trajectory requirements,” said Cyrus Foster, an [...]
JAXA Schedules New Asteroid Sampling Mission for 2014
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is preparing a new asteroid mission following the success of Hayabusa1, the first round-trip asteroid mission that retrieved samples of the asteroid Itokawa in 2005. “We hope to find the key of the creation of the solar system and the birth of life,” said Professor HiItoshi Kuninaka, head of the team developing Hayabusa2. The new [...]
Sutter’s Mill Meteor Fastest, Most Diverse Ever
On April 22, 2012, the western United States witnessed a fireball streaking across the sky, followed by a sonic boom. Within hours, professional and amateur collectors were out hunting for the valuable carbonaceous chondrite meteorite fragments that littered the ground across the Sierra Nevada mountains. Now, the first paper has been published on the meteorites and the meteor has been declared [...]
Noncooperative Capture Start-up Catches NASA, DARPA
Altius Space Machines has entered an unfunded Space Agreement Act with NASA for development of a Compact Stowable Manipulator (CSM) for the Orion crew vehicle. The Colorado based startup is already under contract with US Defense Advanced Research Projects (DARPA) for services relating to the Phoenix spacecraft designed to recycle orbiting satellites. The two collaborations provide advancements in the capture [...]
Have Your Say on Mars Exploration, NASA Urges
Interested in Mars? Fascinated by the possibility of a human landing or a sample return from the Red Planet? Have a brand new idea for how to detect water or trace life? Or just want to give your opinion about the whole Mars Exploration thing? NASA is giving you a platform in the form of the NASA Mars Forum that is [...]
Rare Meteorite Crashes Through Oslo Roof
Rune Thomassen and his family were visiting their cabin near the urban holiday park “kolonihage” in Norway last weekend, and were surprised to find a hole in the roof. They were even more surprised to discover it had been caused by a 585-gram meteorite, sitting a few meters away. After examining the cabin, Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard, an astrophysicist at [...]
