Using its Mast camera, the Curiosity rover observes the Martian moon Phobos eclipse the other moon Deimos: NASA Rover Gets Movie as a Mars Moon Passes Another – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Category Archives: Mars
Mars Society Conference starts Friday + Inspiration Mars contest
The Mars Society is holding the 16th Annual International Mars Society Convention, August 15-18 at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
I don’t see a program on line yet but here is the list of Plenary Speakers.
The presentations will be webcast on line at 16th Annual International Mars Society Convention on Livestream between Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 11:00am EDT and Sunday, Aug 18, 2013 6:00pm EDT
===
Here is a message I got about an announcement to be made on Friday at the conference:
Mars Society to announce Inspiration Mars contest
WHAT:
Officials with the Mars Society will make an announcement and share details regarding a contest related to the Inspiration Mars mission.
WHEN:
Friday, Aug. 16, 2013 at 1 p.m. (MST)
WHERE:
16th Annual International Mars Society Convention
The University of Colorado, Boulder
UMC, Glenn Miller Ballroom
Boulder, Colorado 80309
WHO: Spokespeople include:
- Dr. Robert Zubrin, president, Mars Society
- Dennis Tito, executive director, Inspiration Mars
- Taber MacCallum, program manager, Inspiration Mars
Video: This Week @ NASA – One Year on Mars!
The latest This Week @NASA video focuses first on Curiosity’s first year on Mars:
Caption:
So what can a planetary rover do with a year on Mars? All NASA’s Curiosity rover did was beam back over 190 gigabits of data, more than 36-thousand images and zap 75-thousand-plus laser shots at science targets … and oh by the way, it also completed the mission’s main science goal by finding evidence that life was possible on Mars in the past. The agency celebrated the one year anniversary of Curiosity’s landing on Mars with live events from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory — featuring rover team members. And at NASA Headquarters — a discussion about how Curiosity and other robotic projects are benefitting future human space exploration. Also, Maven Arrives, Garver Leaving NASA, Great Ball of Fire, Supply Ship Arrives Safely, Carbon Copy, The First Barrel Segment and more!
FISO: NASA’s planetary protection policy for Mars exploration – Cassie Conley
The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. Both slides (pdf) and audio (mp3) are available for the talk, NASA’s Planetary Protection Policy for Mars Exploration – Planetary Protection Part 2 – Cassie Conley, NASA HQ – August 7, 2013
Conley talks about how to avoid contaminating Mars with earth bacteria before we know if there are any native Martian bacteria and vice versa. Don’t see any discussion of the exchange of life forms between earth and Mars via debris expelled via large impacts. (See Martian meterorites.)
Video: Curiosity Rover team members report on first year on Mars
Here’s a video of a panel discussion about the Curiosity rover’s first year on Mars.
Curiosity Rover team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., re-live the dramatic Aug. 6, 2012 landing and the mission’s achievements to date in an event aired on NASA Television and the agency’s website. In the year since inspiring millions of people worldwide with its one-of-a-kind landing in a crater on the Red Planet, Curiosity has achieved its primary scientific objective; finding evidence that ancient Mars could have sustained microbial life and has returned invaluable scientific data and images.
===
Here is a gallery of some of Curiosity’s best pictures: Rover’s First Year: The Best Pictures and Videos From Curiosity’s Time on Mars – Wired Science