The Curiosity rover is back to work on Mars after being idle for a couple of weeks while NASA JPL engineers figured out what caused a brief electric short during an operation with the sample drill: over Arm Delivers Rock Powder Sample – NASA JPL.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its robotic arm Wednesday, March 11, to sieve and deliver a rock-powder sample to an onboard instrument. The sample was collected last month before the team temporarily suspended rover arm movement pending analysis of a short circuit.

The Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) analytical instrument inside the rover received the sample powder. This sample comes from a rock target called “Telegraph Peak,” the third target drilled during about six months of investigating the “Pahrump Hills” outcrop on Mount Sharp. With this delivery completed, the rover team plans to drive Curiosity away from Pahrump Hills in coming days.

“That precious Telegraph Peak sample had been sitting in the arm, so tantalizingly close, for two weeks. We are really excited to get it delivered for analysis,” said Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

…area at the base of Mount Sharp on Mars includes a pale outcrop on the right, “Pahrump Hills,” where NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover worked for nearly six months, and the “Artist’s Drive” route toward higher layers of the mountain….

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Mentioned here earlier the findings that indicate Jupiter’s moon Ganymede has an ocean beneath a thick crust of ice. Now comes a new report that Saturn’s moon Enceladus periodically shoots out sprays of hot water from its own underground ocean : Spacecraft Data Suggest Saturn Moon’s Ocean May Harbor Hydrothermal Activity – NASA JPL

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first clear evidence that Saturn’s moon Enceladus exhibits signs of present-day hydrothermal activity which may resemble that seen in the deep oceans on Earth. The implications of such activity on a world other than our planet open up unprecedented scientific possibilities.

“These findings add to the possibility that Enceladus, which contains a subsurface ocean and displays remarkable geologic activity, could contain environments suitable for living organisms,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “The locations in our solar system where extreme environments occur in which life might exist may bring us closer to answering the question: are we alone in the universe.”

Hydrothermal activity occurs when seawater infiltrates and reacts with a rocky crust and emerges as a heated, mineral-laden solution, a natural occurrence in Earth’s oceans. According to two science papers, the results are the first clear indications an icy moon may have similar ongoing active processes.

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Alpha Centauri B, just next door at 4.3 light years distnace from us, has at least one planet near our size, though it is close to the sun and out of the habitable zone: Closest exoplanet is remarkably Earth-sized – Science/AAAS.

… as other astronomers report in work submitted to The Astrophysical Journal, computer simulations of the planet’s history indicate that the orbit isn’t face-on, which in turn means the world is only one to three times as massive as Earth. This implies that the planet may have a terrestrial composition. Before you snap up any real estate here, though, be forewarned that the planet’s day side is hot enough to melt lead.

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A brief pictorial history of the (dwarf) planet Pluto: Pluto’s long, strange history — in pictures – Nature News & Comment

Pluto and its Moons.

Meanwhile, the New Horizons probe closes in on Pluto for its fly-by in July: A Record Day for New Horizons – New Horizons

Next exit: Pluto!

After more than nine years in space, on a voyage taking it farther to its primary destination than any mission before it, NASA’’s New Horizons spacecraft is within one astronomical unit of Pluto – meaning it’s closer to Pluto than the Earth is to the Sun.