New NASA Mission to Take First Look Deep Inside Mars

NASA has selected a new mission, set to launch in 2016, that will take the first look into the deep interior of Mars to see why the Red Planet evolved so differently from Earth as one of our solar system's rocky planets.

The new mission, named Insight, will place instruments on the Martian surface to investigate whether the core of Mars is solid or liquid like Earth's, and why Mars' crust is not divided into tectonic plates that drift like Earth's. Detailed knowledge of the interior of Mars in comparison to Earth will help scientists understand better how terrestrial planets form and evolve.

"The exploration of Mars is a top priority for NASA, and the selection of Insight ensures we will continue to unlock the mysteries of the Red Planet and lay the groundwork for a future human mission there," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "The recent successful landing of the Curiosity rover has galvanized public interest in space exploration and today's announcement makes clear there are more exciting Mars missions to come."

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Spacewalk outside the space station on Monday

Flight Engineers Joe Acaba, Suni Williams and Aki Hoshide reviewed procedures for a U.S. spacewalk that Williams and Hoshide will perform on Aug. 30 while Acaba choreographs activities from inside the station. The pair will replace a faulty Main Bus Switching Unit – a distribution hub for the complex’s power system – on the station’s truss. They also will replace a camera on a robotic arm extension boom and route cables for the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory replacing Pirs.

Acaba spent time working on two experiments focused on colloids – very small particles suspended in another substance. The first was the Binary Colloidal Alloy or BCAT-C1, in which crew members photograph samples of colloidal particles as they phase separate and self-assemble into crystals that interact strongly with light.

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NASA Goddard Solar Scientists Receive 2012 NASA Honor Awards

The work NASA scientists and engineers conduct is often recognized around the world. However, it sometimes becomes even more of an achievement to be honored at home. That's exactly what happened to three individuals and one team in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Three heliophysicists—Spiro K. Antiochos, James A. Klimchuk, Douglas E. Rowland, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory Science Investigation Team recently received Agency Honor Awards to celebrate their unique contributions to NASA's mission. The awards acknowledged their great collaborations to advance heliophysics, contributing to the young research field of space weather that tracks how energy from the sun affects the space environment around Earth and potentially disrupts space technology.

The Agency Honor Awards are granted annually in a ceremony at NASA Headquarters and at each Center. Considered to be the Agency's most prestigious honor awards, each nominee goes through a careful selection process before the NASA administrator approves the final recipients.

The recipients were selected out of 73 individual and 11 group nominations submitted by Goddard's Science and Exploration Directorate. Spiro K. Antiochos, a member of the Space Weather Laboratory and an internationally recognized astrophysicist, received the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal. This award is given to both Government and non-Government researchers who have produced key scientific discoveries or made key contributions to their field.

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NASA’s Mighty Eagle Robotic Prototype Lander Flies Again at Marshall

The “Mighty Eagle,” a NASA robotic prototype lander, is soaring high again for a series of tests being conducted at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Since its last round of tests in 2011, the Mighty Eagle team has made significant updates to the guidance controls on the lander’s camera furthering its autonomous capabilities.

The three-legged "green" lander is fueled by 90 percent pure hydrogen peroxide and receives its commands from an onboard computer that activates its onboard thrusters to carry it to a controlled landing using a pre-programmed flight profile. It is 4 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter and, when fueled, weighs 700 pounds.

In this series of tests, which will continue through September, the lander prototype will autonomously fly and hover at 30 feet for two tests, and up to 100 feet for another two tests, and then move sideways, to safely land 30 feet away from the launch pad. The test demonstrates what it will take to perform the final descent of an autonomous controlled landing on the moon, asteroids or other airless bodies.

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Neil Armstrong makes progress in recovering from cardiac bypass surgery

Astronaut Neil Armstrong the first man to walk on the moon underwent cardiac bypass surgery on Tuesday just days after his 82nd birthday. His wife Carol has told friends that he is doing well and is expected to make a full recovery. Armstrong had a stress test on Monday that revealed four blockages in the arteries leading to his heart. Surgeons performed the bypasses the next day. In a bypass operation a blood vessel is removed from elsewhere in the body and attached to the circulatory system to route blood around a blockage.

Armstrong was the commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, which landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. In a statement posted on Face book, NASA administrator Charled Bolden wished Armstrong a quick recovery. “Neil’s pioneering spirit will surely serve him well in this challenging time, and the entire NASA Family is holding the Armstrong family in our thoughts and prayers,” he wrote.

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NASA Curiosity Rover installing smarts for driving

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will spend its first weekend on Mars transitioning to software better suited for tasks ahead, such as driving and using its strong robotic arm. 

The rover's "brain transplant," which will occur during a series of steps Aug. 10 through Aug. 13, will install a new version of software on both of the rover's redundant main computers. This software for Mars surface operations was uploaded to the rover's memory during the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's flight from Earth. 

"We designed the mission from the start to be able to upgrade the software as needed for different phases of the mission," said Ben Cichy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., chief software engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory mission. "The flight software version Curiosity currently is using was really focused on landing the vehicle. It includes many capabilities we just don't need any more. It gives us basic capabilities for operating the rover on the surface, but we have planned all along to switch over after landing to a version of flight software that is really optimized for surface operations." 

A key capability in the new version is image processing to check for obstacles. This allows for longer drives by giving the rover more autonomy to identify and avoid potential hazards and drive along a safe path the rover identifies for itself. Other new capabilities facilitate use of the tools at the end of the rover's robotic arm. 

While Curiosity is completing the software transition, the mission's science team is continuing to analyze images that the rover has taken of its surroundings inside Gale Crater. Researchers are discussing which features in the scene to investigate after a few weeks of initial checkouts and observations to assess equipment on the rover and characteristics of the landing site. 

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NASA's Commercial Crew Program Progressing for Future of U.S. Human Spaceflight

transportation system to low Earth orbit. 

Through innovative partnerships with commercial rocket and spacecraft developers, NASA is making great strides to advance America's next human space transportation systems.

In 2010, President Barack Obama set the agency on a course to provide new transportation into space for its astronauts, while expanding human presence beyond low Earth orbit and enabling new missions of exploration across the solar system.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) was formed to facilitate the development of a U.S. commercial crew space transportation capability with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the International Space Station and low Earth orbit. 

With support from CCP, U.S. industry is building new commercially developed spaceflight capabilities and enabling new jobs, all of which could ultimately lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers. 

NASA expects to bridge the American spaceflight gap left by the retirement of the Space Shuttle Program and begin buying seats on U.S. commercial space systems near the middle of the decade. 

Before NASA would begin using a commercially developed system to transport its astronauts to and from the Space Station, the system must be certified as meeting NASA’s safety requirements throughout an entire mission cycle. Certification of commercial systems for NASA transportation missions will be pursued in a future, separate phase under the CCP.

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Statement by the President on Curiosity Landing on Mars

Tonight, on the planet Mars, the United States of America made history.

The successful landing of Curiosity – the most sophisticated roving laboratory ever to land on another planet – marks an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future.



 It proves that even the longest of odds are no match for our unique blend of ingenuity and determination.

Tonight’s success, delivered by NASA, parallels our major steps forward towards a vision for a new partnership with American companies to send American astronauts into space on American spacecraft. That partnership will save taxpayer dollars while allowing NASA to do what it has always done best – push the very boundaries of human knowledge. And tonight’s success reminds us that our preeminence – not just in space, but here on Earth – depends on continuing to invest wisely in the innovation, technology, and basic research that has always made our economy the envy of the world.

I congratulate and thank all the men and women of NASA who made this remarkable accomplishment a reality – and I eagerly await what Curiosity has yet to discover.

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Curiosity Rover landing on Mars and sending images to Earth

After its first day on Mars, NASA's rover Monday sent back to Earth stunning images of its crater landing site and the mountain it aims to climb in the hunt for signs of life. 

The landing of the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory and nuclear-powered robot Curiosity late Sunday opened a new chapter in the history of interplanetary exploration by touching down on the Red Planet. 

 

The one-ton mobile lab is the largest rover ever sent to Mars, and its high-speed landing was the most daring to date, using a rocket-powered sky crane to lower the six-wheeled vehicle gently to the Martian surface. 

Numerous images of the car-sized rover and its alien surroundings have come back to NASA since the landing occurred at 10:32 pm Sunday on the US West Coast (0532 GMT Monday). 

 

 

 

 

New images of the rover's descent, taken from the vehicle itself, were shown on NASA television, strung together in a video that depicted the spacecraft's heat shield deploying and dust kicked up before the rover landed wheels down. 

Other black and white images show the rover's shadow and Mount Sharp in the distance, a mountain it aims to conquer as part of its two-year mission to explore Mars and analyze sediment layers that are up to a billion years old. 

The images so far tend to be small, but high-resolution images are expected in the next couple of weeks.

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What to Expect When Curiosity Starts Snapping Pictures

If a group of tourists piled out of a transport vehicle onto the surface of Mars, they'd no doubt start snapping pictures wildly. NASA's Curiosity rover, set to touch down on the Red Planet the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (early morning EDT), will take a more careful approach to capturing its first scenic views.

The car-size rover's very first images will come from the one-megapixel Hazard-Avoidance cameras (Hazcams) attached to the body of the rover. Once engineers have determined that it is safe to deploy the rover's Remote Sensing Mast and its high-tech cameras, a process that may take several days, Curiosity will begin to survey its exotic surroundings.

"A set of low-resolution gray scale Hazcam images will be acquired within minutes of landing on the surface," said Justin Maki of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Once all of the critical systems have been checked out by the engineering team and the mast is deployed, the rover will image the landing site with higher-resolution cameras."

Maki led the development of Curiosity's 12 engineering cameras -- eight Hazcams at the front and back of the rover, and four Navigation cameras (Navcams) at the top of the rover's "look-out" mast. All the engineering cameras acquire black-and-white pictures from left and right stereo "eyes," which are merged to provide three-dimensional information. Half of the cameras are backups, meaning there's one set for each of the rover’s A- and B-side redundant computers.

The very first images are likely to arrive more than two hours after landing, due to the timing of NASA's signal-relaying Odyssey orbiter.

They will be captured with the left and right Hazcams at the back and front of the rover, and they will not yet be full-resolution (the two images arriving on Earth first are "thumbnail" copies, which are 64 by 64 pixels in size). The Hazcams are equipped with very wide-angle, fisheye lenses, initially capped with clear dust covers. The covers are designed to protect the cameras from dust that may be kicked up during landing; they are clear just in case they don't pop off as expected.

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Mars Orbiter Repositioned to phone Home Mars Landing

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has successfully adjusted its orbital location to be in a better position to provide prompt confirmation of the August landing of the Curiosity rover.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft carrying Curiosity can send limited information directly to Earth as it enters Mars' atmosphere. Before the landing, Earth will set below the Martian horizon from the descending spacecraft's perspective, ending that direct route of communication. Odyssey will help to speed up the indirect communication process.

NASA reported during a July 16 news conference that Odyssey, which originally was planned to provide a near-real-time communication link with Curiosity, had entered safe mode July 11. This situation would have affected communication operations, but not the rover's landing. Without a repositioning maneuver, Odyssey would have arrived over the landing area about two minutes after Curiosity landed.

A spacecraft thruster burn Tuesday, July 24, lasting about six seconds has nudged Odyssey about six minutes ahead in its orbit. Odyssey is now operating normally, and confirmation of Curiosity's landing is expected to reach Earth at about 10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5 (early Aug. 6, EDT and Universal Time), as originally planned.

"Information we are receiving indicates the maneuver has completed as planned," said Mars Odyssey Project Manager Gaylon McSmith of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Odyssey has been working at Mars longer than any other spacecraft, so it is appropriate that it has a special role in supporting the newest arrival."

Two other Mars orbiters, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the European Space Agency's Mars Express, also will be in position to receive radio transmissions from the Mars Science Laboratory during its descent. However, they will be recording information for later playback, not relaying it immediately, as only Odyssey can.

Odyssey arrived at Mars in 2001. Besides conducting its own scientific observations, it has served as a communication relay for NASA's Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers and the Phoenix lander on the Martian surface. NASA plans to use Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as communication relays for Curiosity during that rover's two-year prime mission on Mars.

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Chief Technologist Praises Kennedy Advances

A heat shield partially made from Martian or lunar soil, lighting that lets plants grow in space and specialized containers that keep astronauts from getting infected by biological experiments were some of the ideas shown to NASA's chief technologist during his two-day visit to laboratories at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

Although known for pioneering tools and techniques to prepare payloads and launch spacecraft successfully, the space center and its partner Space Florida also operate labs for scientists performing cutting edge research in other fields.

"It's very exciting to be here at Kennedy Space Center because one of the best parts of my job is thinking about the future," said Mason Peck, NASA's chief technologist. "That's one of the reasons I wanted to do this in the first place." 

Peck, who has been in his NASA post for six months, has been visiting NASA centers across the nation to see up-close what developments are under way. The trips are important for a variety of reasons, but Peck said there is a certain element of fun in seeing such things, too. 

"If you really want to geek out about technology, which is what I like doing, you have to come to a place like KSC," Peck said. 

The Morpheus lander that is to start flight tests soon at the Shuttle Landing Facility was also shown to Peck, along with an Atlas V rocket that United Launch Alliance is prepping for a future mission. 

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NASA Funded Research Shows Existence of Reduced Carbon on Mars

NASA-funded research on Mars meteorites that landed on Earth shows strong evidence that very large molecules containing carbon, which is a key ingredient for the building blocks of life, can originate on the Red Planet. These macromolecules are not of biological origin, but they are indicators that complex carbon chemistry has taken place on Mars.

Researchers from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington who found reduced carbon molecules now have better insight into the chemical processes taking place on Mars. Reduced carbon is carbon that is bonded to hydrogen or itself. Their findings also may assist in future quests for evidence of life on the Red Planet. The findings are published in Thursday's online edition of Science Express.

"These findings show that the storage of reduced carbon molecules on Mars occurred throughout the planet's history and might have been similar to processes that occurred on the ancient Earth," said Andrew Steele, lead author of the paper and researcher from Carnegie. "Understanding the genesis of these non-biological, carbon-containing macromolecules on Mars is crucial for developing future missions to detect evidence of life on our neighboring planet."

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