Latest Mars landing Stories

By Dan Whitcomb PASADENA, California (Reuters) - Jittery NASA scientists waited on Wednesday for the most advanced spacecraft ever sent to another planet to make its risky final approach to Mars, where it is due to return 10 times the data of all previous probes put together. NASA's unmanned Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has traveled some 300 million miles since leaving Earth in August, was due to enter its most delicate phase on Friday. It will try too ease into orbit around...

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A NASA craft carrying a $40 million camera created by University of Arizona scientists is set to orbit Mars on Friday.The camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is one of six instruments on the craft designed to examine Mars in unprecedented detail from low orbit. The mission is expected to gather more information than all previous Mars probes combined.The UA camera is a 145-pound device with a 20-inch primary mirror that will take ultra-sharp photographs of...

By Dan WhitcombPASADENA, California -- Jittery NASA scientists waited on Wednesday for the most advanced spacecraft ever sent to another planet to make its risky final approach to Mars, where it is due to return 10 times the data of all previous probes put together.NASA's unmanned Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has traveled some 300 million miles since leaving Earth in August, was due to enter its most delicate phase on Friday. It will try too ease into orbit around Mars, which has...

JPL -- NASA's Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been working overtime to help scientists better understand ancient environmental conditions on the red planet. The rovers are also generating excitement about the exploration of Mars outlined in NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. The rovers continue to find new variations of bedrock in areas they are exploring on opposite sides of Mars. The geological information they have collected adds evidence about ancient Martian environments that...

ESA -- ESA's Mars Express mission has been extended by one Martian year, or about 23 months, from the beginning of December 2005. The decision, taken on September 19 by ESA's Science Programme Committee, allows the spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet to continue building on the legacy of its own scientific success. Co-ordinated from the beginning with the Mars science and exploration activities of other agencies, Mars Express has revealed an increasingly complex picture of Mars. Since the...

LOS ANGELES -- The climate on Mars is showing a warming trend and recent images have shown the first evidence of seismic activity on Earth's neighbor planet, scientists said on Tuesday.New gullies that did not exist three years ago have been pictured on a Mars sand dune -- just another of what scientists say are surprising discoveries found by cameras aboard the 8-year-old Mars Global Surveyor that are changing notions about the climate and formation of Mars."To see new gullies and...

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday to dispatch a sophisticated NASA science probe on a journey to look for water on Mars. After two days of delays due to minor technical concerns, the 188-foot (57-meter) Atlas 5 booster, built by Lockheed Martin, blasted off its seaside launch pad on time at 7:43 a.m. (1143 GMT) and soared into clear skies over the Atlantic Ocean. "What a difference...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A spacecraft blasted off Friday into a golden early morning sky, beginning a mission to Mars to gather more data on the Red Planet than all combined previous missions. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter lifted off on an Atlas V rocket on a seven-month journey to Mars. The booster rocket shut down and dropped off into the Atlantic Ocean minutes into the launch. Seconds later, the second-stage rocket engine ignited. "Surveying for the deepest insights into the...

MIAMI -- NASA has delayed Wednesday's launch of an unmanned spacecraft to Mars because of a technical problem that might affect its launch vehicle, the agency said on Tuesday.The launch of the two-ton Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on top of a Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will be postponed for at least 24 hours, said spokesman George Diller.Engineers found a failure in the navigational controls of a similar Atlas V launch vehicle and need to make sure the...

Earth and Mars will have a breathtaking close encounter in October 2005.Science@NASA -- By the time you finish reading this sentence, you'll be 25 miles closer to the planet Mars. Earth is racing toward Mars at a speed of 23,500 mph, which means the red planet is getting bigger and brighter by the minute. In October, when the two planets are closest together, Mars will outshine everything in the night sky except Venus and the Moon. (You're another 50 miles closer: keep reading!)It's only May,...