[Tuesday, August 1, 2006] This picture is a composite of daily global images acquired at Ls 93 deg during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 93 deg occurs in mid-August 2006. The picture shows the Tharsis face of Mars.

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[Tuesday, August 1, 2006] After the most recent drive, Opportunity is sitting about 25 meters (82 feet) from the rim of Beagle Crater.

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[Tuesday, August 1, 2006] Spirit remains healthy and continues to make progress on computer upgrades and scientific research, despite winter temperatures colder than any yet experienced during the rover's two and a half years on Mars.

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[Wednesday, August 2, 2006] The 2006 HMP Lunar Medical Contingency Simulation demonstrated that an injured suited crewmember could be safely extracted from difficult terrain, similar to what might be expected in a lunar EVA, and transported to a remote site for medical care.

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[Thursday, August 3, 2006] The priorities for NASA are clear. In the wake of the Columbia tragedy, our national leadership realized that human spaceflight is today one of those strategic capabilities that define a nation as a superpower.

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[Thursday, August 3, 2006] This image shows an impact crater on the martian northern plains. This crater is roughly the size of the famous Meteor Crater in Arizona on the North American continent.

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[Thursday, August 3, 2006] This image shows a group of gullies formed on the equator-facing wall of a north mid-latitude crater. Gullies such as these might have formed from the erosive forces of liquid water.

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[Saturday, August 5, 2006] The objective of AMASE is to characterize the geology, geophysical features, biosignatures, and possible life forms of volcanic centers, warm springs, and perennial rivers, settings thought to be analogous to sites on ancient Mars.

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[Sunday, August 6, 2006] NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe.

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[Sunday, August 6, 2006] "The purpose of TES is to measure the thermal infrared energy emitted from Mars. This technique can tell much about the geology and atmosphere of Mars. TES data will provide the first detailed look at the composition of Mars."

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[Sunday, August 6, 2006] After traversing the sandy plains of Meridiani to Beagle Crater, Opportunity investigated a patch of outcrop pavement thought to be representative of the Martian surface.

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[Sunday, August 6, 2006] Spirit has finished acquiring images for the "McMurdo panorama" and began adding some finishing touches around the edges. The rover is healthy and continues to make progress on its winter science campaign of observations on Mars.

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[Sunday, August 6, 2006] This image shows a bowl-shaped crater on the martian northern plains with a mysterious radiant pattern of zones with and without boulders and rocks. The rocky areas are seen as dark dots, the rock-free areas lack these spots.

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[Sunday, August 6, 2006] This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a small, dust-mantled volcano on the plains east of the giant martian volcano, Pavonis Mons.

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[Sunday, August 6, 2006] This image shows a chain of clustered and battered craters. These formed by secondary impact. That is, somewhere to the south (beyond the bottom of this image), a large impact crater formed.

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[Monday, August 7, 2006] "The last two days have been very busy with instrument testing, gathering last minute supplies and attending an arctic training course. The cold temperatures here pose a serious challenge to our instruments."

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[Monday, August 7, 2006] This image shows a flow or landslide feature on a hillslope facing north (toward top/upper right) that is buried on both ends. Both the uphill portion of the slide and the bottom end of the slide, or flow feature, is buried.

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[Tuesday, August 8, 2006] This picture is a composite of daily global images acquired at Ls 93 degrees during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 93 degrees occurs in mid-August 2006. The picture shows the Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum face of Mars.

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[Wednesday, August 9, 2006] Like the fabled tortoise that, in the race with the hare, moves slowly yet accomplishes much, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has continued to make progress little by little, while essentially running in place.

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[Wednesday, August 9, 2006] This image shows a knob of light-toned, layered rock exposed by erosion in the Iani Chaos region of Mars. Owing to its similarity to other light-toned rock outcrops on Mars, this may be a remnant of a once more extensive sedimentary rock formation.

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[Wednesday, August 9, 2006] If no one has asked you about it yet, they probably will. A bogus e-mail chain letter, sometimes titled "Mars Spectacular," has been circulating around the Internet, as it did two years ago.

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[Thursday, August 10, 2006] This image shows two mesas on the northern plains of Mars. "Mesa" is the Spanish word for "table," and that is a very good description of the two elliptical features captured in this MOC image.

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[Thursday, August 10, 2006] The launch of the Mars Phoenix Lander is just a year away. The spacecraft will be aiming for the martian north pole, and if it lands successfully it will dig in snow and ice in one of the few places on Mars where scientists think life could be preserved.

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[Friday, August 11, 2006] About a month before the 129th anniversary of its discovery, on 10 July 2006, Mars Global Surveyor was pointed away from the martian surface, out toward distant Deimos.

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[Sunday, August 13, 2006] This image shows gullies - all of which head at the same level - on a south mid-latitude crater wall. At the 6 meters (~20 feet) per pixel scale at which this image was obtained, the gullies almost appear as if they are the product of a "weeping layer".

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[Sunday, August 13, 2006] This image shows dried streambeds - martian gullies - in the mountainous central peak region of Hale Crater. Some scientists have suggested that the fluid which carved these gullies was liquid water.

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[Monday, August 14, 2006] NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe.

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[Monday, August 14, 2006] Spirit has now survived the rover's second Martian winter solstice -- the shortest day of the year with the least amount of sunlight and solar energy. Spirit is healthy and continues to make progress on its winter science campaign.

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[Monday, August 14, 2006] While Opportunity was collecting images with the panoramic camera on the rover's 902nd sol, a spacecraft anomaly caused the rover's fault protection software to interrupt operations, place the rover in a safe state, and reboot the flight software.

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[Monday, August 14, 2006] This image shows an unconformity in a sequence of layered material in the martian north polar region. MGS MOC has been examining many similar examples of unconformities created by erosion in the polar region this year.

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[Wednesday, August 16, 2006] This picture is a composite of daily global images acquired at Ls 93 degrees during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 93 degrees occurs in mid-August 2006. The picture shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars.

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[Wednesday, August 16, 2006] This image shows some dark slope streaks in the Phlegra Dorsa region of Mars. Of particular interest is the split streak near the center of the image, which diverted around a rounded hill as the material was sliding down the slope.

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[Wednesday, August 16, 2006] Every spring brings violent eruptions to the south polar ice cap of Mars, according to researchers interpreting new observations by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.

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[Sunday, August 20, 2006] This image shows a modest-sized meteor impact crater in the Elysium Planitia region of Mars. The dark spot inside the crater is, most likely, a patch of windblown sand and silt.

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[Sunday, August 20, 2006] This image shows a ring marking the location of a nearly-filled, nearly-buried impact crater on the martian northern plains. Remnants of bright, seasonal frost occur in some polygonal cracks on the plain.

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[Sunday, August 20, 2006] This image shows the contact between an area of light-toned rock and an expanse of darker-toned materials on the floor of Coprates Chasma.

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[Sunday, August 20, 2006] This image shows a layered slope in the martian north polar region, being exposed by the removal of an overlying, smoother material seen in the lower third of the image.

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[Monday, August 21, 2006] NASA recently held a Constellation Space Suit Systems (CSSS) Industry Day to discuss he design, development, certification, production, and sustaining engineering of a space suit system to meet the needs of the Constellation Program.

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[Monday, August 21, 2006] Opportunity is healthy and on the road to "Victoria Crater." Spirit drove 35.67 meters (117 feet) from "Beagle Crater" to a small sand dune, or ripple, to examine the dune with the robotic arm.

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[Monday, August 21, 2006] Spirit is healthy and continues to make progress on its winter science campaign. Spirit is finishing the "McMurdo mega-panorama" by acquiring touch-up images. Spirit is nearly complete with the coverage of the ground around the rover.

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[Monday, August 21, 2006] This image shows an unconformity in an exposure of north polar layered material, at which older layers were cut-off and eroded before a new suite of layers was deposited above them.

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] NASA JPL manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in cooporation with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing.

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] Note: "The TES spectrometer is currently being used intermittently. At this time we're no longer producing daily images or movies of 15 micron atmospheric temperature or dust opacity"

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] his picture is a composite of daily global images acquired at Ls 93 deg during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 93 deg occurred in mid-August 2006. The picture shows the Elysium/Mare Cimmerium face of Mars.

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] Recent data from space missions reveal that there are ongoing climatic changes and erosive processes that continuously modify surface features of Mars.

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] We report measurements of the evaporation rate of water under Mars-like conditions (CO2 atmosphere at 7 mbar and 0°C) in which small temperature oscillations about the freezing point repeatedly formed and removed a thin layer of ice.

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] Deposition of terrestrial microbes or their biosignature molecules onto the surface of Mars could negatively impact life detection experiments and planetary protection measures.

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] Carbonates have been spectroscopically identified in martian dust. However no outcropscale exposures of carbonate have been detected anywhere on Mars to date.

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] Several locations have been identified on Mars that expose bulk, coarsely crystalline gray hematite. These deposits have been interpreted as being sedimentary and formed in aqueous environments.

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] The relatively recent discoveries that liquid water likely existed on the surface of past Mars and that methane currently exists in the martian atmosphere have fueled the possibility of extant or extinct life on Mars.

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] Two terrestrial environments that have been proposed as analogs for the iron oxide precipitation in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars include the Rio Tinto precipitates and southern Utah marble concretions.

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[Tuesday, August 22, 2006] "Dark spiders" on the surface of Mars might be explained by seasonal temperature changes that melt surface ice and salt, causing erosion, according to a provocative new theory presented in the August 2006 issue (Volume 6, Number 4) issue of Astrobiology

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[Wednesday, August 23, 2006] This image shows light-toned, layered, sedimentary rocks in a crater in the northwestern part of Schiaparelli basin. The repetition of these horizontal layers suggests the sediments could have been deposited in an ancient crater lake.

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[Thursday, August 24, 2006] It doesn't just matter how much radiation an astronaut is exposed to, time and the order in which charged particles strike human cells are important factors as well. That's the main finding of a study simulating radiation exposure.

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[Thursday, August 24, 2006] This image shows dark sand dunes in Arkhangelsky Crater, named for A. D. Arkhangelsky (1879 - 1940), an influential, early Russian geologist.

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[Friday, August 25, 2006] This image shows part of a dune field in Chasma Boreale, the large north polar trough. The bright material covering the dunes is frozen carbon dioxide.

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[Friday, August 25, 2006] Spirit continued to make progress on the rover's winter campaign of science observations, acquiring microscopic images and data about rock composition with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

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[Friday, August 25, 2006] Opportunity is healthy and located only 218 meters (715 feet) from the rim of "Victoria Crater." Opportunity's odometer clicked past the 9-kilometer (5.5-mile) mark as it drove 237.81 meters (780 feet) during the week.

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[Friday, August 25, 2006] NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recently stopped to analyze an exposure of rock near "Beagle Crater," on a target nicknamed "Baltra."

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[Friday, August 25, 2006] NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has analyzed the brushed and ground-into surfaces of multiple rocks using the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, which measures the abundance of major chemical elements.

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[Sunday, August 27, 2006] In October 1980, Mutch died on the slopes of Mount Nun in the Himalayas, following a climbing accident while descending from the 23,410-foot summit. At the time he was on leave from Brown, serving as NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science.

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[Sunday, August 27, 2006] This image shows layered material exposed on a slope in the north polar region. An unconformity is visible in the middle/upper left of the image, where layers are abruptly truncated.

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[Monday, August 28, 2006] Planetary scientists have discovered the highest clouds above any planetary surface. They found them above Mars using the SPICAM instrument on board Mars Express. The results are a new piece in the puzzle of how the Martian atmosphere works.

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[Tuesday, August 29, 2006] This image shows layers exposed in a trough in the martian north polar region. At the time the picture was acquired, the entire scene was covered by seasonal carbon dioxide frost.

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[Tuesday, August 29, 2006] This picture is a composite of daily global images acquired at Ls 93 deg during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 93 deg occurred in mid-August 2006. The picture shows the north polar region of Mars.

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[Tuesday, August 29, 2006] NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has begun the final and fastest-paced portion of its "aerobraking" process of using friction with the top of Mars' atmosphere to shrink the spacecraft's orbit.

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[Wednesday, August 30, 2006] This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows crescent-shaped, scooped-out hollows where wind has eroded the local bedrock in the Apollinaris Sulci region.

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[Wednesday, August 30, 2006] Nearly six months after it entered orbit, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has concluded its aerobraking phase. The spacecraft had been dipping in and out of the red planet's atmosphere to adjust its orbit.

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[Wednesday, August 30, 2006] These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, show the region of Kasei Valles, one of the biggest outflow channel systems on Mars. Kasei is the Japanese word for the planet Mars.

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[Thursday, August 31, 2006] This image shows streaks and scratch marks made in a thin coating of dust on the martian surface in the southern hemisphere. These streaks were made by passing dust devils during the summer season.

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