May 2004 Top Stories
»» Proximity-1 Communications Protocol Enables High-Speed Communication at Mars
[Monday, May 03, 2004] Proximity-1, a communications protocol developed by the CCSDS, was instrumental in the success of a recent first-ever demonstration of in-orbit communication between NASA's Rover Spirit and ESA's Mars Express (MEX) orbiter.
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»» NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Polar Color
[Monday, May 03, 2004] This nighttime visible color image was collected on January 1, 2003 during the Northern Summer season near the North Polar Troughs.
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»» Study May Cast Doubt on Some 1996 NASA Evidence of Past Life on Mars
[Wednesday, May 05, 2004] The scientific debate over whether a meteorite contains evidence of past life on Mars continues to intensify, with colleagues of the team that announced the possibility in 1996 revealing new findings that may cast doubt on some of that earlier work.
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»» Mars Rover Arrival at Deeper Crater Provides a Tempting Eyeful
[Thursday, May 06, 2004] Scientists and engineers celebrated when they saw the first pictures
NASA's Opportunity sent from the rim of a stadium-sized crater that
the rover reached after a six-week trek across martian flatlands.
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»» Leading Space Groups Agree: It's Time For The Moon, Mars And Beyond
[Monday, May 10, 2004] In an unprecedented show of unity, 13 of the nation's premier space
advocacy groups, industry associations and space policy organizations have teamed up to support the effort to refocus NASA's human space activities toward exploration.
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»» ESA Mars Express Status Report 11 May 2004
[Wednesday, May 12, 2004] The deployment of the MARSIS radar booms has been moved from the second half of April to the beginning of May. This activity had to be postponed due to new antenna deployment simulation results.
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»» Opportunity Inspects Stone Ejected From Crater
[Monday, May 17, 2004] Opportunity has begun sampling rocks blasted out from a stadium-sized impact crater the rover is circling, and the very first one may extend our understanding about the region's wet past.
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»» NASA Mars Rover Spirit Destination: 'Columbia Hills' from Orbit
[Friday, May 21, 2004] This view of the "Columbia Hills" in Gusev Crater was made by draping an image from the Mars Orbiter Camera on Mars Global Surveyor orbiter over a digital elevation model that was derived from two Mars Orbiter Camera images.
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»» NASA Office of Exploration Systems Intramural Call For Proposals - Human & Robotic Technology 2004
[Saturday, May 22, 2004] This Call for Proposals solicits research and technology development proposals from NASA investigators in support of the following H&RT Programs: Advanced Space Technology, Technology Maturation, and Innovative Technology Transfer Partnerships
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»» Beagle 2: lessons learned and the way forward
[Monday, May 24, 2004] A report was submitted to the UK Minister for Science and Innovation and the Director General of ESA on 21 April and accepted. No single technical failure or shortcoming was unambiguously identified but a few credible causes for Beagle 2 loss were highlig
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»» Lessons Learnt From Beagle 2 and Plans to Implement Recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry
[Monday, May 24, 2004] The Mars Express spacecraft, carrying the Beagle 2 lander, was launched on 2 June last year, arriving in the vicinity of Mars in December. The separation of Beagle 2 from Mars Express occurred on 19 December.
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»» ESA Mars Express Image: Arsia Mons volcano in 3D
[Wednesday, May 26, 2004] This image of the Arsia Mons shield volcano was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board Mars Express and shows a spectacular zone of collapse features on the southern flank of the giant shield volcano Arsia Mons.
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»» Discovery of tiny microbes in ancient Greenland glacier may define limits for life on Earth
[Wednesday, May 26, 2004] The discovery of microbes in a 120,000-year-old ice sample taken from 3,000 meters below the surface of a Greenland glacier may help to define the limits for life on Earth as well as elsewhere in the universe, such as on cold planets like Mars.
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»» Opportunity Adopts 'Deep Sleep' Mode to Conserve Power
[Thursday, May 27, 2004] NASA's solar-powered Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is beginning
on Thursday what controllers expect to be frequent use of an overnight
"deep sleep" mode to stretch the robot's power supply.
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»» The Odyssey of NASA Mars Odyssey's 10,000 Orbits
[Thursday, May 27, 2004] Odyssey deserves her own praise and applause this Saturday as she reaches a major milestone. At 5:29 p.m. PDT on May 22, 2004, Odyssey is scheduled to complete her 10,000th science mapping orbit around the red planet.
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»» NASA Mars Spirit Rover Image: The Columbia Hills in Color
[Monday, May 31, 2004] Spirit used its panoramic camera to take the images that make up this full-resolution mosaic of the "Columbia Hills." Spirit acquired these images when it sat less than one kilometer (0.62 miles) away from its target, the base of the hills.
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