spacetoday.net: space news from around the webin association with SpaceNews


NASA selects landing sites for Mars rovers
Posted: Fri, Apr 11, 2003, 7:01 PM ET (2301 GMT)
Mars Exploration Rover (NASA/JPL) NASA has chosen a crater that may have once hosted a lake and an outcropping of hematite as the landing sites for the agency's two Mars rovers scheduled for launch this year. Officials said they had selected Gusev Crater as the landing site for the first Mars Exploration Rover (MER), scheduled for launch on May 30, and Meridiani Planum as the site for the second MER, scheduled for launch on June 25. Gusev Crater, about 15 degrees south of the Martian equator, is thought to be the site of an ancient lakebed, while Meridiani Planum, two degrees south of the equator, has deposits of hematite, a mineral that usually forms in the presence of liquid water. Scientists and engineers chose the sites after a long site selection process which attempted to identify locations on the Martian surface that were both of scientific interest as well as safe for the rovers. The first rover is scheduled to land at Gusev on January 4, 2004, and the second will land at Meridiani three weeks later.
<<previous article   next article>>
news in brief
Rocket Lab opens Launch Complex 3 for Neutron
Posted: Sat, Aug 30 10:33 AM ET (1433 GMT)

Two launch companies win contracts for European program
Posted: Sat, Aug 30 10:28 AM ET (1428 GMT)

SpaceX flies Falcon 9 booster for 30th time
Posted: Sat, Aug 30 10:27 AM ET (1427 GMT)

news links
Friday, September 5
Eutelsat Unifies Brand, Keeps OneWeb Constellation Name
ViaSatellite — 7:05 am ET (1105 GMT)
Pentagon Doubling Down on Alternatives to GPS That Aren’t in Space
Air and Space Forces Magazine — 7:03 am ET (1103 GMT)


about spacetoday.net   ·   info@spacetoday.net   ·   mailing list