![Spotlight on Mars](images/subtitle_RecentNews.jpg) |
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![Read the update 'Second Test Rover Added to Driving Experiments'](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20090821a/two_rovers_090821_th100.gif) |
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Second Test Rover Added to Driving Experiments
A second, lighter-weight test rover has entered the testing setup at JPL where rover team members are assessing strategy for getting Spirit out of soft soil where it is embedded on Mars. >>
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![Read the update 'Spring Training for the Rover Science Team'](./spotlight/images/20090819a_MSL_retreat_th100.gif) |
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Spring Training for the Rover Science Team
Just as baseball players must train together before the season starts, the science team for "Curiosity" must be in top shape to operate the rover's 10 science instruments when it lands on Mars in 2012. >>
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![Read the update 'Planned Rover Test to Run a Week or More'](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20090813a/VanKirk-Townsend-Nguyen-090812_th100.jpg) |
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Planned Rover Test to Run a Week or More
Mars rover team members are planning a long-duration experiment with the test rover at JPL beginning next week. >>
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![Read the release 'Mars Orbiter Shows Angled View of Martian Crater'](./mro/gallery/press/20090812a/Victoria-oblique-22_th100.jpg) |
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Mars Orbiter Shows Angled View of Martian Crater
The high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned a dramatic oblique view of the Martian crater that a rover explored for two years.
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![Read the release 'Meteorite Found on Mars Yields Clues About Planet's Past'](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20090810a/1249578498_17705-1_BlockIsland_VP_L257_full_th100.jpg) |
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Meteorite Found on Mars Yields Clues About Planet's Past
NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is investigating a metallic meteorite the size of a large watermelon that is providing researchers more details about the Red Planet's environmental history.
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![Read the release 'Science Operations Resume'](./mro/newsroom/pressreleases/images/20080625mro_artist_concept_100.jpg) |
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Science Operations Resume
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been restored to full operations, making intensive science observations of Mars, four days after it unexpectedly switched to its backup computer.
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![Read the blog 'Five Things About Viewing Mars in August'](./spotlight/images/20090810a/Jane_Houston-Jones_th100.jpg) |
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Five Things About Viewing Mars in August
If you’re like me, you may have received an e-mail this summer telling you go outside on August 27 and look up in the sky.
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![Read the update 'More Testing Before Driving on Mars'](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20090807a/Hartman_Matijevic_090806-13_th100.jpg) |
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More Testing Before Driving on Mars
A review on Aug. 6 of test results to date yielded a decision to conduct further checkouts in an augmented testing set-up on Earth before beginning to send driving commands to Spirit. >>
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![Read the release 'Orbiter Safe After Computer Swap'](./mro/newsroom/pressreleases/images/20080625mro_artist_concept_100.jpg) |
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Orbiter Safe After Computer Swap
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is in safe mode, a precautionary standby status, and in communications with Earth after unexpectedly switching to its backup computer on Thurs. Aug. 6.
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![Read the update ''Block Island' Meteorite on Mars, Sol 1961'](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20090806a/Sol_B1961_A_1P302273325RSLA5ARP2_4275A0_th100.jpg) |
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'Block Island' Meteorite on Mars, Sol 1961
Composition measurements by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity confirm that this rock on the Martian surface is an iron-nickel meteorite. >>
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![Read the update 'Possible Meteorite Imaged by Opportunity Rover'](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20090731a/20090731_anim_th100.gif) |
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Possible Meteorite Imaged by Opportunity Rover
The Opportunity rover has eyed an odd-shaped, dark rock, about 0.6 meters (2 feet) across on the surface of Mars, which may be a meteorite. >>
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![Read the update 'Free Spirit Testing Nearing Completion'](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20090730a/mer20090729_th100.jpg) |
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Free Spirit Testing Nearing Completion
Mars rover engineers at JPL are winding down testing of different escape maneuvers using a test rover in a sand box filled with soil to mimic the Martian surface. >>
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![Longer Tests Beginning](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20090724a/VanKirk-Carsten-Lichtenberg-Hwang-44_th100.jpg) |
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Longer Tests Beginning
Mars rover team members have begun a new phase of testing at JPL -- using longer-duration experiments -- in their preparations for driving Spirit again on Mars. >>
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![Opportunity's Surroundings on Sol 1950'](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20090723a/B1950_site_BA4_841_navcam_CYP_A_th100.jpg) |
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Opportunity's Surroundings on Sol 1950
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera to take the images combined into this 360-degree view of the rover's surroundings on the 1,950th Martian day, or sol. >>
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![Next Step: Combinations of Basic Moves](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20090721a/Herrera-Verma-Banerdt-090721_th100.jpg) |
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Next Step: Combinations of Basic Moves
The Mars rover team is finishing tests of individual "building block" maneuvers and is about to begin stringing some of those together. >>
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![Test Rover Checks Pivoting Technique](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090826055654/http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20090716b/Banerdt_090715-014_th100.jpg) |
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Test Rover Checks Pivoting Technique
The Mars rover team is using a test rover at JPL to assess various extraction techniques that might get Spirit out of the loose soil of "Troy" on Mars. >>
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