Obama and NASA: realism. Gather.com ... problem with the Obama NASA budget? Nope. It's realism as far as I am concerned. Bush blandly asserted in his second term, of course we can go to Mars, ...

Mike Moran celebrated his 21st birthday on Mars. Sort of. The Beverly Hills man is part of a six-member team taking part in a research expedition at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. Moran is the chief astronomer for the crew. “This mission is going well so far,” he wrote from the station. “We're at Sol 10 right now (a sol is a Martian day) and the crew and I have almost completely adjusted to living and working in the Hab.” Funded by The Mars Society, Moran and the other crew members spent two weeks living in a model habitat near Hanksville, a small desert town that once served as a supply post for Butch Cassidy. Their mission was to conduct experiments and test equipment, as if they were on Mars.

In August 1999, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Advanced Projects Design Team (Team X) studied a robotic mission to determine the ages of the volcanic and sedimentary rock layers in the walls of Valles Marineris, the great martian canyon system. The Mars Stratigraphy Mission (MSM), as it was called, would see a lander similar to that planned for the 2001 Mars Surveyor Program lander mission leave Earth atop a Delta 7925 rocket in April 2007 and land on Mars in October 2009. It would steer itself to a precision landing at 14° south latitude, 68° west longitude, no more than 10 kilometers from the Valles Marineris southern rim. The MSM lander would deploy a specialized rover with three spherical inflatable "wheels." Throughout the surface mission, the solar-powered rover would communicate with Earth via a communications satellite in equatorial Mars orbit. The rover would need no more than 50 days to travel to the canyon rim. Once there, it would anchor the end of a tether to the ground and, paying out the tether behind it, rappel into the six-kilometer-deep canyon.

NASA Solicitation: Mars Mission Organics Detection Instrument Space Ref (press release) This notice is issued by the NASA/ARC to post a Request for Information (RFI) via the internet, and solicit responses from interested parties. ...

Echo Pilot

Moon Base Alpha: If Not US, Then Who? FOXNews Aldrin, speaking to FoxNews.com, says the next step for NASA should be to create a long-term plan for more ambitious efforts -- visiting Mars or a nearby ... Mission correctionBoston Globe NASA JSC Advanced Planning Office Blog: Out there. ThatawaySpace Ref (press release) Obama to Moon Base: Drop Dead!TG Daily WTOC -American Chronicle -Associated Content all 41 news articles »

Reuters

Slashed NASA budget would leave the US no longer a space leader Houston Chronicle It's debatable whether Constellation was the best solution to President George W. Bush's vision of “Moon, Mars and Beyond,” but it was far better than the ... Obama's commercial plans for NASA after shuttle leave many in doubtMiamiHerald.com STAFF EDIT: Economy tough on SpiritDaily Free Press (subscription) Bolden: NASA needs a big rocket — and jobs at KSCOrlando Sentinel Spaceflight Now -RedOrbit -NewsOK.com all 1,852 news articles »

msnbc.com

Orion can Launch Safely in 2013 says Lockheed Universe Today President Obama has proposed to completely cancel NASA's Project Constellation to send humans to the Moon, Mars and Beyond, thus calling into question ... Proposed cuts to NASA programs put next moon mission on holdDaily Free Press (subscription) Obama Gets Space Funding RightWall Street Journal The right way forward on space explorationWashington Post Space News -Patriot Post all 124 news articles »

Mars or Bust Huffington Post (blog) Scientists have been itching to bring a Mars rock back to Earth. But it keeps proving to be a mission too far for NASA's engineers and budgeters. ...

Telegraph.co.uk

Bolden: NASA needs a big rocket — and jobs at KSC Orlando Sentinel CAPE CANAVERAL — With Mars as the "ultimate" destination, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden told ... NASA To Study Seeds In SpaceRedOrbit Space mission cuts will cost us scientistsTaipei Times NASA Readying Space Shuttle For Pre-Dawn LaunchFOXNews Spaceflight Now -Space News -Universe Today all 1,033 news articles »

msnbc.com

Space mission cuts will cost us scientists Taipei Times NASA also plans to develop ways of refueling spacecraft in space to cut the costs of taking them there. This might be the best way eventually to get humans ... Proposed cuts to NASA programs put next moon mission on holdDaily Free Press (subscription) Boosters flare in space debatemsnbc.com Will NASA Send Robots to the Moon with "Project M?"Universe Today Wall Street Journal -National all 147 news articles »

ABC News

NASA To Study Seeds In Space RedOrbit ... Mars, on the station by spinning plants at various speeds inside a centrifuge. The International Space Station Non-Exploration Projects Office at NASA's ... Latest NASA crossroads is familiar territory for spaceSpaceflight Now British astronaut Nicholas Patrick prepares for Nasa space launchTelegraph.co.uk NASA says focus is on launch, not shake-up | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/06/2010Philadelphia Inquirer Daily Mail -Palm Beach Post all 611 news articles »

Sen. Nelson urges Obama to 'crack the whip' Gainesville Sun He tempered his comments Friday, lauding the president for increasing NASA funding but suggesting Obama needed to set a goal for a manned mission to Mars. ... What if senators represented people by income or race, not by state?Washington Post all 5 news articles »

The Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera has imaged craters both young and old in a new view of the southern highlands of Mars.

Washington Post

NASA Photos Show Pluto Looking Reddish and Very Bright The Spoof (satire) The planet Mars is an unsympathetic witness to the illness of Pluto and has stated, "He masqueraded for many years as a REAL planet, so he deserves what he ... Hubble takes first pics of Pluto's surfaceDigitalJournal.com Pluto images show a dynamic worldLos Angeles Times New Hubble images reveal Pluto's dynamic surfaceChristian Science Monitor Beliefnet.com (blog) -BBC News -Wired News all 389 news articles »

Recent drives by the Spirit rover from Jan. 14 to Feb. 4, 2010 (Sols 2145 to 2165) moved the center of the rover approximately 13.4 inches (34 centimeters) backwards. Since Jan 26 (sol 2157), drive commands have concentrated on placing Spirit into a favorable tilt toward the sun as the Martian winter approaches.