Mars simulation mission focuses on improving work performance on Red Planet

September 19th, 2009 LONDON - Recent laboratory studies have shown that Mars is not red due to the rocks being rusted by the water that once flooded the planet, but due to the ongoing grinding of surface rocks, which forms the red dust. These findings, which open up the debate about the history of water on Mars and whether it has ever been habitable, have been presented at the European Planetary Science Congress by Dr.

September 17th, 2009 LONDON - The Phoenix lander's Telltale instrument has measured for the first time wind speeds and directions in the Mars polar region. While these winds appeared to be dominated by turbulence, the highest wind speeds recorded of up to nearly 60 kilometers per hour coincided with the passing of weather systems, when also the number of dust devils increased by an order of magnitude.

August 31st, 2009 PANAJI - India will undertake Mission Mars between 2013 to 2015, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief G. Madhavan Nair said here Monday.

August 31st, 2009 BANGALORE - India will embark on an unmanned mission to Mars after 2015 to explore the red planet in quest of its space ambitions, a senior space official said Monday. Clarifying the statement made by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G.

August 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Astronomers have confirmed that an email promising a "Mars spectacular" event on August 27, when the Red Planet will look as large as the full moon, is nothing but a hoax. According to a report in National Geographic News, the anonymous message from an unknown part of the globe says that the red planet "will look as large as the full moon" in the night sky, and that "no one alive today will ever see this again." The claim has been bombarding people's inboxes worldwide every summer for five years.

August 12th, 2009 LONDON - NASA is planning to test inflatable shells for spacecraft traveling to Mars in the future, so as to ensure safe landings on the Red Planet. Before NASA's Mars Science Laboratory alights on the red planet in 2012, the one-tonne rover will have fallen through Mars' thin atmosphere at hypersonic speeds and blistering temperatures.

July 29th, 2009 LONDON - A group of volunteers that spent 105 days locked up in a mock spaceship simulating a trip to Mars has said that the most difficult part of the trip was isolation and monotony. According to a report in New Scientist, the programme, which was used to test the psychological and physiological effects of isolation, will pave the way for a longer 520-day mission that will take place in the first half of 2010.

July 24th, 2009 SYDNEY - Mars may have been a seething cauldron for nearly a 100 million years after its formation, thwarting evolution of life on the planet, according to an analysis of meteorites. The research has shown that the red planet remained excessively hot - with temperatures over 1,000 degrees Celsius - for 100 million years following its formation.

July 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has determined that many characteristics of Mars are quite similar to planet Earth, including its landscape, history of water, soil and even its weather. The research, by Mark Lemmon, a professor of atmospheric sciences, Texas A and M University, US, points out that last year's Phoenix Mars Lander mission keeps revealing secrets about the planet, answering some questions but raising other big ones.

July 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Parts of Mars resemble places on Earth, including its landscape, history of water, soil and even its weather, says a study. Mark Lemmon, professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, long involved with Mars missions, says last year's Phoenix Mars Lander mission keeps revealing secrets about the planet, answering some questions but raising other big ones.

June 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - China's first Mars probe, Yinghuo-1, is all geared up for launching to the Red Planet in October this year. According to the scientist in charge of the probe's design, the probe will have to stand the test of nearly nine hours in the freezing, dark shadow of the red planet during its one-year mission, which is the longest such period in exploration history.

May 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - China's first Mars probe, Yinghuo-1, is expected to be launched in the second half of this year, according to an official of the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST). The probe had passed test of the research phase, Zhang Weiqiang, deputy secretary of SAST Committee of the Communist Party of China, told the third Shanghai International Aerospace Technology and Equipment Exhibition.

May 28th, 2009 SHANGHAI - China's first Mars probe, Yinghuo-1, is expected to be launched in the second half of this year, an official of the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) said Thursday. The probe had passed test of the research phase, Zhang Weiqiang, deputy secretary of SAST, told the third Shanghai International Aerospace Technology and Equipment Exhibition that began here Thursday.

March 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A group of scientists who worked on the Phoenix Mars lander last year say they have found evidence of liquid salt water on the red planet. An analysis of photographs from the lander that explored Mars for six months shows drops of what could be salty, liquid water on the legs of the lander.

January 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of NASA scientists has found proof of the existence of methane gas on Mars, raising questions about the possibility of life on the red planet, the US space agency said Thursday. In an article published in the journal Science, researchers said they found seasonal variations in methane in the planet's atmosphere that could be evidence of geological or biological processes.