Stumbling across Human Artifacts on Mars and the Moon

February 9, 2004 – 12:00 am

The recent photo MER-B (Opportunity) took of its backshell and parachute on the Martian plains might remind you of a find made by Apollo 12, the second human landing on the Moon. Astronauts Bean and Conrad landed their ship about 600 feet away from the Surveyor 3 spacecraft that had arrived a couple of years [...]

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Opportunity (MER-B) on the soil, fines, whatever you call that stuff.

January 31, 2004 – 12:00 am

A dozen wheels on Mars.

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Remembered Under Other Skies

January 29, 2004 – 12:00 am

Last year, after Columbia fell to pieces above us, Ken MacLeod wrote in Ansible:

Husband, McCool, Anderson, Brown, Chawla, Clark, Ramon.
Komarov, Grissom, White, Chaffee, Dobrovolsky, Volkov, Patsayev, Resnick, Scobee, Smith, McNair, McAuliffe, Jarvis, Onizuka.
These names will be written under other skies.

Since the Mars rovers have landed, all those names, except for the Soviets, have been.

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Oliver Morton’s Mars Blog

January 24, 2004 – 12:00 am

[ via Martian Soil ] Oliver Morton, from The Economist, who wrote one of my favorite books from last year, Mapping Mars, has a weblog.

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The Face on Mars Trail

January 22, 2004 – 12:00 am

David Grinspoon had this as a slide at his lecture last week.
Hike length is approximately 5.5 km or 3.6 miles one way, with a total elevation gain of nearly a thousand feet. Rating…. easy at start and midsection, with some very steep sections. Take plenty of water and oxygen.

This will make more sense if you [...]

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Last Photo from MER-A

January 22, 2004 – 12:00 am

NASA and JPL have been quiet about this last image received from the Rover before it stopped responding to commands.

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Mars Scorecard

January 16, 2004 – 12:00 am

The state of play in the Expensive Hardware Lob.

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Top 10 Reasons for Bush to Invade Mars

January 16, 2004 – 12:00 am

Mars welcomes their new, carbon-based, conservative masters.
10. American troops sure to be greeted as liberators.

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Innana Goes to Mars

January 7, 2004 – 12:00 am

My friend the Badger compares the discarded boosters, cruise stage, aeroshell, etc. used to get a package on Mars to the ancient goddess Inanna shedding her symbols of authority to get to the Underworld.
I’m always amazed by how Badger’s mind works.

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First Post from Spirit

January 3, 2004 – 12:00 am

Photo of photos from Spirit (MER 1) at Gusev Crater, Mars. Yes!
Update:

Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

My friend Beth says in a comment to a friend’s blog:
[w]hat a fine time to be raising a child. “Look, child, we put a big truck on mars with a radio and it’s talking to us!”

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MER One has Landed!

January 3, 2004 – 12:00 am

Susan Kitchens is in Pasadena, blogging the first of the two Mars Rovers’ landings. She reports that it’s landed in Gusev Crater, and we’re watching it on the NASA TV feed.
No video from Mars, as it’ll take awhile for the rover to deploy, but Hell yeah baby! w00t!
Many, many congratulations to the Mars Exploration Rover [...]

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Mars Verite, or Point Break at Mach 25

March 23, 2003 – 12:00 am

Dan Maas, a Cornell undergraduate, made an impressive computer animation to help promote the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover mission. The virtual camera conveys the speed of a launch atop a Delta II, catching it as it shoots past several POVs. The landing sequence is thrilling as well. The payload, even after deaccelerating from the initial [...]

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