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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity used its brush to clear away dust from part of a flat rock on Monday, marking the first time that the rover had used that particular tool, officials at the US space agency have announced. The Dust Removal Tool, which NASA officials describe as “a motorized, wire-bristle brush designed to prepare selected rock surfaces for enhanced inspection by the rover's science instruments,” is one...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com ESA announced on Thursday that Mars Express has taken images of a crater on Mars which may show evidence that the planet underwent fluctuations in its climate due to changes in its rotation axis. ESA's spacecraft used its high-resolution stereo camera at the Arabia Terra region of Mars on June 19, 2011 to image the Danielson and Kalocsa craters. Danielson crater is filled with layered sediments, and within the crater are peculiarly layered buttes, which...

A new Mars movie clip gives us a rover's-eye view of a bluish Martian sunset, while another clip shows the silhouette of the moon Phobos passing in front of the sun.America's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, carefully guided by researchers with an artistic sense, has recorded images used in the simulated movies.These holiday treats from the rover's panoramic camera, or Pancam, offer travel fans a view akin to standing on Mars and watching the sky."These visualizations of an alien sunset...

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has visited and photographed two craters informally named for the spacecraft that carried men to the moon 41 years ago this week.Opportunity drove past "Yankee Clipper" crater on Nov. 4 and reached "Intrepid crater" on Nov. 9. For NASA's Apollo 12, the second mission to put humans onto the moon, the command and service module was called Yankee Clipper, piloted by Dick Gordon, and the lunar module was named Intrepid, piloted by Alan Bean and commanded...

PASADENA, Calif., June 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rocks examined by NASA's Spirit Mars Rover hold evidence of a wet, non-acidic ancient environment that may have been favorable for life. Confirming this mineral clue took four years of analysis by several scientists. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) An outcrop that Spirit examined in late 2005 revealed high concentrations of carbonate, which originates in wet, near-neutral conditions, but dissolves in acid....

Rocks examined by NASA's Spirit Mars Rover hold evidence of a wet, non-acidic ancient environment that may have been favorable for life. Confirming this mineral clue took four years of analysis by several scientists.An outcrop that Spirit examined in late 2005 revealed high concentrations of carbonate, which originates in wet, near-neutral conditions, but dissolves in acid. The ancient water indicated by this find was not acidic.NASA's rovers have found other evidence of formerly wet Martian...

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 12, to discuss attempts to free the Mars rover Spirit from sandy soil where the venerable robot has been stuck for the past six months.The participants are:- Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program, NASA Headquarters in Washington- John Callas, project manager, Mars Exploration Rovers, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.- Ashley Stroupe, rover driver, Mars Exploration Rovers, JPL- Ray...

A second, lighter-weight test rover has entered the testing setup at JPL where rover team members are assessing strategy for getting Spirit out of soft soil where it is embedded on Mars.The rover team has begun using a test rover that does not carry a science payload or robotic arm, as do Spirit and Opportunity on Mars, and the primary engineering test rover at JPL. While the primary test rover's weight on Earth is greater than Spirit's weight on Mars, the second rover is even lighter on...

The Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera imaged a region close to Ma'adim Vallis, one of the largest canyons on Mars, finding craters, lava flows and tectonic features.After Valles Marineris, Ma'adim Vallis is one of the largest canyons on Mars. The region, lying south-east of Ma'adim Vallis, was imaged on 24 December 2008. The pictures are centered at about 29°S and 182°E and have a ground resolution of 15 m/pixel.Ma'adim Vallis is located between the volcanic region of Tharsis,...

The U.S. space agency says it's considering the best maneuvers for freeing the Mars rover Spirit, which has become immobilized in soft martian soil.The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said a diagnostic test conducted Saturday provided favorable indications about Spirit's left middle wheel. NASA engineers said the weekend test showed electrical resistance in the left middle wheel is within the expected range for a motor that has not failed.This is not a full exoneration of the...