Archive for 2008

Fires in California
June 30, 2008
News and Features Fires in California

For days in late June, wildfires across California blanketed the state with smoke. A shift in the winds over the area over the last weekend of June brought residents and firefighters a reprieve, however, and when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image on June 29, 2008, skies over the state were relatively clear.

Phoenix Scrapes to Icy Soil in Wonderland
June 27, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Scrapes to Icy Soil in Wonderland

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander scraped to icy soil in the "Wonderland" area on Thursday, June 26, confirming that surface soil, subsurface soil and icy soil can be sampled at a single trench.

Lava Holds Clues to Planet Formation
June 27, 2008
News and Features Lava Holds Clues to Planet Formation

An analysis of lava samples from Hawaii has given scientists a new tool for reconstructing planetary origins. The study will help us understand how planets form, and may help in the search for terrestrial planets beyond our solar system.

Phoenix Returns Treasure Trove for Science
June 26, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Returns Treasure Trove for Science

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander performed its first wet chemistry experiment on Martian soil flawlessly yesterday, returning a wealth of data that for Phoenix scientists was like winning the lottery.

Looking for Early Earth… On the Moon
June 26, 2008
News and Features Looking for Early Earth… On the Moon

Material from Earth’s first billion years, including possible evidence of early life, may be preserved in meteorites on the moon.

NASA to Attempt Historic Solar Sail Deployment
June 26, 2008
News and Features NASA to Attempt Historic Solar Sail Deployment

NASA researchers, thinking "out of the box" (or maybe "out of the rocket") have long dreamed of the possibility of sailing among the planets with sails propelled by sunlight instead of by wind. Except in works of fiction, though, no one has yet successfully deployed such a sail anywhere beyond Earth.

Largest Crater in Solar System
June 25, 2008
News and Features Largest Crater in Solar System

New analysis of Mars' terrain using NASA spacecraft observations reveals what appears to be by far the largest impact crater ever found in the solar system.

Mars Lander Puts Soil in Chemistry Lab
June 25, 2008
News and Features Mars Lander Puts Soil in Chemistry Lab

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander placed a sample of Martian soil in the spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory today for the first time. Results from that instrument, part of Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, are expected to provide the first measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of the planet's soil.

Fires in California
June 25, 2008
News and Features Fires in California

Eight thousand lightning strikes in less than 24 hours sparked hundreds of fires across California over the first weekend of summer 2008, according to an AP news report.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Puts Soil in Chemistry Lab, Team Discusses Next Steps
June 25, 2008
Press Releases

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander placed a sample of Martian soil in the spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory today for the first time. Results from that instrument, part of Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, are expected to provide the first measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of the planet's soil.

Epic Ebbs and Flows
June 24, 2008
News and Features Epic Ebbs and Flows

A new study shows that changes in sea levels and ocean sediments may be responsible for some of the greatest mass extinctions in history.The research sheds light on the connections between life and the environment of Earth.

Early Acid Rain
June 24, 2008
News and Features Early Acid Rain

A new study of ancient minerals shows that the earliest continents on Earth may have been scoured and destroyed by the planet's harsh climate. The study has also demonstrated that the Earth may have been habitable as early as 4.3 billion years ago.

Phoenix Prepares for Microscopy, Wet Chemistry
June 23, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Prepares for Microscopy, Wet Chemistry

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has delivered a scoop of Martian soil from the "Snow White" trenches to the optical microscope for analysis tomorrow, June 24, the 29th Martian day of the mission, or Sol 29.

Phoenix Shake and Bake
June 23, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Shake and Bake

In this interview, William Boynton talks about the TEGA instrument on the Phoenix Lander, and explains what it can tell us about the possibility for life on Mars.

More SuperEarths Discovered
June 22, 2008
News and Features More SuperEarths Discovered

Astronomers have announced a breakthrough in the field of extra-solar planets. They have identified 45 potential super-Earths,showing that these planets may be present around one out of every three solar-like stars.

NASA Launches Ocean Satellite to Keep a Weather, Climate Eye Open
June 20, 2008
News and Features NASA Launches Ocean Satellite to Keep a Weather, Climate Eye Open

A new NASA-French space agency oceanography satellite launched today from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on a globe-circling voyage to continue charting sea level, a vital indicator of global climate change.

Apollo Relic Reveals its Secrets
June 20, 2008
News and Features Apollo Relic Reveals its Secrets

Imagine landing on the Moon, climbing down the ladder of your spacecraft, and looking around the harsh lunar landscape—to see another, older spacecraft standing only 200 yards away.

We Are Meteorites
June 20, 2008
News and Features We Are Meteorites

Molecules important for the origin of life have been positively identified in a meteorite. Scientists have confirmed that raw materials for the first molecules of DNA and RNA have been discovered in the Murchison meteorite.

Bright Chunks at Phoenix Site Must Have Been Ice
June 19, 2008
News and Features Bright Chunks at Phoenix Site Must Have Been Ice

Dice-size crumbs of bright material have vanished from inside a trench where they were photographed by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander four days ago, convincing scientists that the material was frozen water that vaporized after digging exposed it.

Ocean on Enceladus May Be Short-Lived
June 18, 2008
News and Features Ocean on Enceladus May Be Short-Lived

Three years ago, surprising evidence came out for an ocean underneath the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. But a new report indicates just how hard it may be to keep water from freezing on this tiny moon.

Finding New Material in Old Comets
June 18, 2008
News and Features Finding New Material in Old Comets

Researchers have found a new mineral, named Brownleeite, in material that likely came from a comet. The mineral was discovered in interstellar dust grains captured at high altitude in the Earth's atmosphere.

ExoMars Sweet Spot
June 17, 2008
News and Features ExoMars Sweet Spot

A device the size of a credit card is being developed to perform multiple laboratory tests on the surface of Mars. The 'lab-on-a-chip' will be included on the European ExoMars rover, and will be used to search for signs of life on the red planet.

Floods in the U.S. Midwest
June 17, 2008
News and Features Floods in the U.S. Midwest

Take just three days apart, these images illustrate the rapid rise of water levels on the Mississippi River. The glut of water that had swelled Iowa’s rivers drained in to the Mississippi, raising water levels to dangerous levels. The National Weather Service reported major flooding—record flooding in some cases—at gauges on the Mississippi from Iowa nearly to St. Louis, Missouri.

Phoenix Makes First Trench in Science Preserve
June 17, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Makes First Trench in Science Preserve

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander began digging in an area called "Wonderland" early Tuesday, taking its first scoop of soil from a polygonal surface feature within the "national park" region that mission scientists have been preserving for science.

Ebb and flow of the sea drives world’s big extinction events
June 16, 2008
News and Features Ebb and flow of the sea drives world’s big extinction events

If you are curious about Earth's periodic mass extinction events, such as the sudden demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, you might consider crashing asteroids and sky-darkening super volcanoes as culprits.

Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs Deeper
June 16, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs Deeper

One of the ovens on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander continued baking its first sample of Martian soil over the weekend, while the Robotic Arm dug deeper into the soil to learn more about white material first revealed on June 3.

Deep Hydrogen
June 16, 2008
News and Features Deep Hydrogen

Molecular hydrogen provides energy for many bacteria, in hot springs at Yellowstone and in rocks several kilometers beneath the surface. How did molecular hydrogen get inside these deep rocks, and what does this tell us about the origin of life on Earth?

NASA Mission Poised to Help Us Gauge Our Rising Seas
June 16, 2008
News and Features NASA Mission Poised to Help Us Gauge Our Rising Seas

In economics, there's a metaphor that says "a rising tide lifts all boats," meaning overall improvement in the economy benefits everyone. While that's a good thing in economics, when it comes to our oceans, rising seas are a growing problem for all of us.

Solstice Moon Illusion
June 16, 2008
News and Features Solstice Moon Illusion

On Wednesday night, June 18th, step outside at sunset and look around. You'll see a giant form rising in the east. At first glance it looks like the full Moon. It has craters and seas and the face of a man, but this "moon" is strangely inflated. It's huge!

Resistant Transistors
June 13, 2008
News and Features Resistant Transistors

Transistors made from a new kind of material are now being tested in space. The durable new technology could benefit long duration missions to planets like Mars and aid in completing science objectives like the search for signs of life in our solar system.

Phoenix Delivers Soil Sample to Microscope
June 12, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Delivers Soil Sample to Microscope

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander sprinkled a spoonful of Martian soil Wednesday onto the sample wheel of the spacecraft's robotic microscope station, images received early Thursday confirmed.

GLAST Off!
June 11, 2008
News and Features GLAST Off!

Today, NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST for short) left Earth onboard a Delta II rocket. "The entire GLAST Team is elated," reported program manager Kevin Grady of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center shortly after the rocket's liftoff from Cape Canaveral. "The observatory is now on-orbit and all systems continue to operate as planned."

Low Frequency Aliens
June 11, 2008
News and Features Low Frequency Aliens

A new type of radio telescope may aid in the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life. The LOFAR telescope could be used to detect signals directed toward Earth, and might even pick up 'leakage radiation' from radio and TV transmitters if they're being used by civilizations around nearby stars.

NASA Lander Will Sprinkle Martian Soil for Microscope to View
June 10, 2008
News and Features NASA Lander Will Sprinkle Martian Soil for Microscope to View

The team operating NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander plans to instruct the spacecraft in the next few days to use its Robotic Arm to sprinkle a spoonful of Martian soil onto a wheel that will rotate the sample into place for viewing by the spacecraft's Optical Microscope.

GLAST is Ready to Go!
June 10, 2008
News and Features GLAST is Ready to Go!

In a final meeting of scientists, engineers, technicians and officials, NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) received the final “Ready to Go!” from all teams. GLAST is scheduled to launch on a United Launch Alliance’s Delta II Heavy rocket with a launch window from 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 11.

Floods in the U.S. Midwest
June 10, 2008
News and Features Floods in the U.S. Midwest

Heavy rains in early June 2008 soaked the U.S. Midwest, leaving swollen rivers in their wake. By June 8, 2008, the National Weather Service had issued flood warnings for numerous counties throughout Indiana and Illinois. The lower Wabash, White, and East Fork White watersheds had all been affected by the deluge, according to National Weather Service bulletins.

Making Heads or Tails of Early Life
June 10, 2008
News and Features Making Heads or Tails of Early Life

Researchers have modeled a primitive cell, or protocell, that is capable of building, copying and containing DNA. The study could help us understand how the earliest cells on Earth formed and evolved.

NASA Plans to Visit the Sun
June 10, 2008
News and Features NASA Plans to Visit the Sun

For more than 400 years, astronomers have studied the sun from afar. Now NASA has decided to go there.

Making Sense of Mars Methane
June 09, 2008
News and Features Making Sense of Mars Methane

Research on methane at a Mexican salt flat could help reveal the source of methane that has been detected in the atmosphere of Mars. But first scientists have to decipher the unique – and seemingly contradictory - isotopic signature of the Mexican methane.

Phoenix Mars Lander Testing Sprinkle Technique
June 09, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Mars Lander Testing Sprinkle Technique

Engineers operating the Robotic Arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander are testing a revised method for delivering soil samples to laboratory instruments on Phoenix's deck now that researchers appreciate how clumpy the soil is at the landing site.

Phoenix Sifts for Samples
June 08, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Sifts for Samples

On Sunday, Sol 14 of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission, mechanical shakers inside the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer will attempt to loosen clumped soils on the device's screens to allow material to fall into the oven for analysis later in the week.

How Low Can Life Go?
June 06, 2008
News and Features How Low Can Life Go?

A novel, ultra-small bacterial species has been found at a depth of nearly two miles within the ice of a Greenland glacier. The ability of this organism to survive in such a unique environment will help us understand how life could survive elsewhere in the solar system.

Highest Resolution View Ever From Mars
June 05, 2008
News and Features Highest Resolution View Ever From Mars

A microscope on NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander has taken images of dust and sand particles with the greatest resolution ever returned from another planet.

Biological Stowaways on Mars
June 05, 2008
News and Features Biological Stowaways on Mars

Astrobiologists hope to find evidence for life on Mars. Sending spacecraft from Earth to study the planet could introduce biological contamination, however, and lead to a false detection of alien life. New research adds to these concerns with evidence that ATP -- an energy-storage molecule vital to life on Earth -- could survive for months or even years onboard a martian probe.

Chaiten Volcano Erupts
June 05, 2008
News and Features Chaiten Volcano Erupts

After its initial eruption on May 2, 2008, Chile’s Chaitén Volcano remained active in the days and weeks that followed, releasing a near-constant plume and blanketing the region in ash. On May 31, 2008, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite passed overhead and captured this image.

Cassini sees collisions of moonlets on Saturn's ring
June 04, 2008
News and Features Cassini sees collisions of moonlets on Saturn's ring

A team of scientists led from the UK has discovered that the rapid changes in Saturn's F ring can be attributed to small moonlets causing perturbations. Their results are reported in Nature (5th June 2008).

Two of the Milky Way's Spiral Arms Go Missing
June 03, 2008
News and Features Two of the Milky Way's Spiral Arms Go Missing

For decades, astronomers have been blind to what our galaxy, the Milky Way, really looks like. After all, we sit in the midst of it and can't step outside for a bird's eye view.

Swimming in the Gene Pool
June 03, 2008
News and Features Swimming in the Gene Pool

Scientists have discovered numerous pieces of foreign DNA in the genome of a freshwater animal. The study sheds new light on the mechanisms behind the evolution of life.

Phoenix Retesting Release of Martian Soil
June 03, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Retesting Release of Martian Soil

Engineers and scientists operating NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander decided early today to repeat a practice test of releasing Martian soil from the scoop on the lander's Robotic Arm.

Phoenix Scoops up Martian Soil
June 02, 2008
News and Features Phoenix Scoops up Martian Soil

One week after landing on far-northern Mars, NASA Phoenix spacecraft lifted its first scoop of Martian soil as a test of the lander's Robotic Arm.

2008 Hurricane Seasons Begin
June 02, 2008
News and Features 2008 Hurricane Seasons Begin

Both the eastern Pacific and Atlantic hurricane seasons of 2008 were inaugurated within a few days of each other in late May and the first days of June. That these two “season openers” occurred in the same week wasn’t simply a coincidence: they were related.

Hunt for Superearth Planets Underway
June 02, 2008
Press Releases

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scientist, Dr. Drake Deming, will present an update on the EPOXI mission on June 2, 2008 at the 212th American Astronomical Society in St. Louis, MO. The mission which uses the Deep Impact spacecraft has begun its search for "super Earth" planets.

Amino Acids: In Hot Water
June 01, 2008
News and Features Amino Acids: In Hot Water

Meteorites shower the Earth with amino acids. A new project is exploring how long amino acids could survive on asteroids, meteorites, and the early Earth. The results could help scientists pinpoint how and where life on our planet began.

NASA's Phoenix Lander Makes an Impression on Mars
June 01, 2008
News and Features NASA's Phoenix Lander Makes an Impression on Mars

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander reached out and touched the Martian soil for the first time on Saturday, May 31, the first step in a series of actions expected to bring soil and ice to the lander's experiments.

Archive Summary