Latest NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Stories

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Curiosity rover is in a position on Mars where scientists and engineers can begin preparing the rover to take its first scoop of soil for analysis. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Curiosity is the centerpiece of the two-year Mars Science Laboratory mission. The rover's ability to put soil samples into analytical instruments is central to assessing whether its present location on Mars, called...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have announced the most precise measurement yet of the Hubble constant, or the rate at which our universe is stretching apart. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Hubble constant is named after the astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who astonished the world in the 1920s by confirming our universe has been expanding since it exploded into being 13.7 billion...

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a news conference at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) Thursday, Sept. 27, to present science findings from the Curiosity rover's mission to Mars' Gale Crater. The news conference from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., will be carried live on NASA Television, the agency's website and on Ustream. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Curiosity, also known as the Mars...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft has revealed the giant asteroid Vesta has its own version of ring around the collar. Two new papers, based on observations from the low-altitude mapping orbit of the Dawn mission, show volatile, or easily evaporated, materials have colored Vesta's surface in a broad swath around its equator. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The volatiles were released from minerals likely...

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has driven up to a football-size rock that will be the first for the rover's arm to examine. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Curiosity is about 8 feet (2.5 meters) from the rock. It lies about halfway from Curiosity's landing site, Bradbury Landing, to a location called Glenelg. In coming days, the team plans to touch the rock with a spectrometer to determine its...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills highlighted the contributions of small businesses to the success of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars during a Google+ Hangout Wednesday with ATA Engineering, headquartered in Herndon, Va. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) ATA Engineering partnered with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team to test...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the combined power of NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes, as well as a cosmic magnification effect, astronomers have spotted what could be the most distant galaxy ever seen. Light from the young galaxy captured by the orbiting observatories first shone when our 13.7-billion-year-old universe was just 500 million years old. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The far-off galaxy existed...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills will speak about the contributions of small businesses to the success of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover mission during a Google+ Hangout at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 19. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) Bolden and Mills will discuss ATA Engineering, which partnered with NASA's Jet...

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Mars Curiosity team is almost finished robotic arm tests in preparation for the rover to touch and examine its first Martian rock. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Tests with the 7-foot (2.1-meter) arm have allowed the mission team to gain confidence in the arm's precise maneuvering in Martian temperature and gravity conditions. During these activities, Curiosity has remained at a site it...

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) data have given scientists the clearest evidence yet of carbon dioxide snowfalls on Mars. This reveals the only known example of carbon dioxide snow falling anywhere in our solar system. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Frozen carbon dioxide, better known as "dry ice," requires temperatures of about minus 193 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 Celsius), which...