* Astronomy

New Views Show Old NASA Mars Landers

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a scene on Jan. 29, 2012, that includes the first colour image from orbit showing the three-petal lander of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mission. Spirit drove off that lander platform in January 2004 and spent most of its six-year working life in a range of hills about two miles to the east.
Another recent image from HiRISE, taken on Jan. 26, 2012, shows NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander and its surroundings on far-northern Mars after that spacecraft's second Martian arctic winter.  Phoenix exceeded its planned mission life in 2008, ending its work as solar energy waned during approach of its first Mars winter.
Read more

Sleigh Ride Over Mars 

Take a virtual sleigh ride over the real landscapes of Mars, courtesy of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Orbiter Resumes Use of Camera

Operators of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are resuming use of the mission's highest resolution camera following a second precautionary shutdown in two weeks.
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument powered off on Aug. 27 and again on Sept. 6. In each case, commanding for an observation was not properly received by the memory module controlling one of the instrument's 14 electronic detectors (CCDs, or charge-coupled devices).
Read more

Mars: Nasa images show signs of flowing water

Striking new images from the mountains of Mars may be the best evidence yet of flowing, liquid water, an essential ingredient for life.
The findings, reported today in the journal Science, come from a joint US-Swiss study.
A sequence of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show many long, dark "tendrils" a few metres wide.
They emerge between rocky outcrops and flow hundreds of metres down steep slopes towards the plains below.
Read more