Latest Opportunity rover Stories

NASA's Mars rover Spirit has had its odometer stuck on 4.8 miles for more than 18 months and has not transmitted any data or signals since March 2010. The Associated Press (AP) reports that Monday marks the rover's seventh year on the red planet and NASA doesn't know if Spirit is dead or alive, but is continuing to listen for any peep as the rover remains trapped in a sand trap. "There's a realistic possibility that Spirit may never wake up again," Dave Lavery, Mars rover program executive at...

On Dec. 16, 2010, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity reached a crater about the size of a football field-some 90 meters (295 feet) in diameter. The rover team plans to use cameras and spectrometers during the next several weeks to examine rocks exposed at the crater, informally named "Santa Maria."A mosaic of image frames taken by Opportunity's navigation camera on Dec. 16 shows the crater's sharp rim and rocks ejected from the impact that had excavated the crater.Opportunity...

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 Opportunity rover is getting important tips from an orbiting spacecraft as it explores areas that might hold clues about past Martian environments.Researchers are using a mineral-mapping instrument aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to help the rover investigate a large ancient crater called Endeavour. MRO's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) is providing maps of minerals at Endeavour's rim that are helping the team choose which area to...

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Mars Opportunity rover is getting important tips from an orbiting spacecraft as it explores areas that might hold clues about past Martian environments. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Researchers are using a mineral-mapping instrument aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to help the rover investigate a large ancient crater called Endeavour. MRO's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging...

More than one million people watched assembly and testing of NASA's next Mars rover via a live webcam since it went on-line in October.NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, is being tested and assembled in a clean room at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. The webcam, affectionately dubbed "Curiosity Cam" shows engineers and technicians clad in head-to-toe white smocks working on the rover.Metrics from the webcam's hosting...

PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 30, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than one million people watched assembly and testing of NASA's next Mars rover via a live webcam since it went on-line in October. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, is being tested and assembled in a clean room at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. The webcam, affectionately dubbed "Curiosity Cam" shows...

ESA and NASA have today issued an announcement of opportunity for scientific investigations on the 2016 ExoMars Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM).This solicitation requests:1. Proposals from science teams to conduct scientific analyses on the data acquired by the EDM's Engineering Sensors during the entry and descent phases.2. Proposals for complete science investigations that include an integrated payload or a sensor to be accommodated as part of the integrated payload to...

LONDON, Nov. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM Aviation will launch MRO Trends and Forecasts, an online briefing series, to report the latest statistics across the global MRO market, and to explore the outlook for the rapidly evolving MRO sector. The series will feature internationally renowned speakers, David Stewart, partner, Aerostrategy, and Paul Chen, director of business Development, OAG, with discussions to focus on economic trends and the resulting impact on airlines; performance of the...

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...