Past Highlights

Curiosity Rover Preparing For Upcoming Activities

SPACE (5/8, Wall) continued coverage of how now that the Curiosity rover has resumed operations, it is "gearing up for lots of action in the coming weeks." Curiosity deputy project scientist Ashwin Vasavada of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said, "A couple of weeks to move to the site and drill, and then the experiments themselves can take also a couple of weeks - that's about the time scale we're looking at. …

New Panoramas Show Curiosity At Work

SPACE (5/1, Wall) reports, "Three spectacular new panoramas give an eye-popping look at NASA's Mars rover Curiosity hard at work on the Red Planet." Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo created the images, which "help paint a picture of Curiosity and its mission." Kremer said, "I chose these scenes because they vividly tell the story of what NASA seeks to accomplish with Curiosity in the search for signs of life on Mars as well as tell the science story of the entire mission at a glance - one pan

Curiosity To Reconnect With JPL Operators

The Pasadena (CA) Star-News (5/1, Figueroa) continues coverage of how the Opportunity rover entered safe mode last week even as all the rovers "are emerging from a month-long communications hiatus this week." The Curiosity rover is scheduled to become fully operational once it connects with Jet Propulsion Laboratory operators today. …

Curiosity Engineers, Scientists Getting Needed Time Off With Solar Conjunction

Curiosity Engineers, Scientists Getting Needed Time Off With Solar Conjunction. The Pasadena (CA) Star-News (4/5, Figueroa) reports how the Curiosity rover is now "operating under a stored set of commands" until May 1 because of a solar conjunction.

Kepler Reaction Wheel Still has Elevated Levels Of Friction

Kepler Reaction Wheel Still has Elevated Levels Of FrictionSpace News (4/5, Foust, Subscription Publication) reports, "A reaction wheel on NASA's Kepler spacecraft continues to experience elevated levels of friction after a brief rest period, but project officials say that does not necessarily imply an imminent failure that could jeopardize the spacecraft's planet-hunting mission." Keple

Kepler Supplies More Evidence Supporting General Relativity

Kepler Supplies More Evidence Supporting General Relativity. The Los Angeles Times (4/5, Mohan, 692K) "Science Now" blog reports, "NASA's Kepler space telescope has beamed back the latest evidence that light can be bent by gravity, an element of the theory of general relativity." While the result was not surprising, "the findings represent the first time the phenomenon

NPR's Science Friday - Curiosity Hits Paydirt: New Clues to Life on Mars

"Microbes may have once happily existed on the surface of Mars, according to chemical analysis of a sedimentary rock in the Red Planet's Gale Crater. NASA geologist and exobiologist David Blake discusses evidence for an ancient freshwater lake in the crater, and describes the mineral-chomping microbes that might have thrived there." http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/03/15/2013/curiosity-hits-paydirt-n...

NASA ROVER FINDS CONDITIONS ONCE SUITED FOR ANCIENT LIFE ON MARS

RELEASE: 13-20AR NASA ROVER FINDS CONDITIONS ONCE SUITED FOR ANCIENT LIFE ON MARS

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA's Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon -- some of the key chemical ingredients for life -- in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.

Curiosity Team Wins 2012 Collier Trophy

AOPA Pilot (3/14, Namowitz) reported on the same day NASA was announcing the first findings from Curiosity's drill, "the NASA/JPL Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Project Team learned that another pending question had been answered in the positive: The National Aeronautic Association announced that the team had won the 2012 Robert J.
Bob Rubin 1941-2013

In memorium - Robert H. Rubin 1941-2013

       

     

Remembrance Gathering for Bob Rubin, Space Science and Astrobiology Auditorium, Bldg. 245, 3 p.m.
POC: Sean Colgan, mailto:sean.colgan@nasa.gov
Ames employees are welcome to attend a remembrance gathering for Bob Rubin, April 12, at 3 p.m.

 

Bob's hometown was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed undergraduate and graduate studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.  His advisor, Robert Hjellming, was interested in the physics of H II regions – interstellar clouds of gas ionized by nearby hot stars. 

CheMin analyzes first drilled sample on Mars

CheMin analyzes first drilled sample on Mars

Left image:  At the center is the hole in a rock called "John Klein" where the Curiosity rover conducted its first sample drilling on Mars. The sample-collection hole is 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) deep.

The First Annual ARC Space Science and Astrobiology Symposium

The First Annual ARC Space Science and Astrobiology Symposium 
March 12, 2013
Building 3
8:30am - 5:30pm
 
We hope you have made room on your calendar for the First Annual ARC Space Science Symposium -- it is shaping up to be an invigorating day of science talks and poster sessions.
 
Two 1-hour lectures were chosen by a nomination process and a lecturer selection committee.

Curiosity Rover To Start Analyzing Its First Sample

The CBS Evening News javascript:mediaPopup('http://media.bulletinnews.com/playclip.aspx?clipid=8cfddc6fc0ea6fb&pub=nasa#20130221114551143232218166')  (2/20, story 9, 0:25, Pelley, 5.58M) reported, "We...saw some powerful images today from Mars." Discussing the Curiosity rover mission, "NASA said today that it scooped up about a tablespoon of powdered rock which will now be analyzed to determine what's in it. Curiosity is looking for signs that Mars once had the conditions to support life."
 

Kepler Telescope Finds Exoplanet About The Size Of The Moon

The AP http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/20/smallest-planet-yet-found-outside-solar-system/  (2/21, Chang) reports scientists using the Kepler telescope data have discovered a planet about the size of the moon, although the exoplanet, called Kepler-37b, "orbits too close to its sun-like star and is too sizzling to support life." It was discovered by Thomas Barclay of the Ames Research Center and it "took more than a year and an international team to co

Curiosity Rover To Soon Ingest Rock Sample

The Cleveland Leader http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/20192  (2/17, Kent) reports, "NASA's Mars Curiosity rover successfully drilled into Martian rock for the very first time without any complications, and is now readying to ingest the rock sample that it picked up about a week ago. The mission's chief scientist, Joh Grotzinger, says that he expects this to happen very shortly." Grotzinger commented, "We have to first confirm that the powder has moved up the drill stem.

Curiosity's Drilling Providing Tools For Future Mars Missions

New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23161-curiositys-first-drilling-hints-at-martian-mining.html  (2/13, Grossman) reports Curiosity's first drill on Mars this past weekend "could lay the groundwork for future Mars explorers to build structures or even to mine the Red Planet." Louise Jandura of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said, "Drilling anywhere is hard, but drilling on a rover kicks it up a notch." JPL drill engineer Avi Okon added, "We've built up a good b

Photographer Develops Interactive Panorama From Curiosity Images

Photographer Develops Interactive Panorama From Curiosity Images. The Wired http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/02/curiosity-drill-panorama/  (2/12, Mann, 798K) "Wired Science" blog reports on the Curiosity rover's first drill, noting, "With this incredible interactive panorama, you can stand right beside the rover and see both its amazing environment and the fruits of its labor." It was developed by photographer Andrew Bodrov of Estonia, "whose previous Curiosity panorama showed the rov

Curiosity Collecting First Samples For Analysis

NBC Nightly News javascript:mediaPopup('http://media.bulletinnews.com/playclip.aspx?clipid=8cfd5df3196b33b&pub=nasa#20130211120609143232218166') (2/10, story 8, 0:15, Holt, 7.86M) reported, "The Mars Rover Curiosity did something that had never been done before. It drilled a hole into the rocky surface of the planet and is now collecting the powdered results for analysis. It's an area that shows signs if it was once under water, could potentially reveal evidence that life once existed on Mars."
FINESSE

FINESSE Explorer selection site review

Tom Greene attended the FINESSE Explorer mission selection site review, held at JPL on February 7. FINESSE is competing with TESS to be the next NASA Explorer astrophysics mission. Both missions study extrasolar planets; TESS would find them, while FINESSE would characterize their atmospheres.

Curiosity Makes "Mini Drill Test" Into Rock

 The AP (2/8) reports, "The Curiosity rover has drilled a test hole in a Martian rock in preparation for the real thing." NASA released images yesterday of the results of the "mini drill test" which it commanded Curiosity to make before full drilling operations.

The BBC News (2/8, Amos) notes that "soon, Curiosity will be