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Background screen credits: NGC 5775 - Imaged March 21/22, 2001 using the 16" Kitt Peak Visitors Center telescope as part of the Advanced Observing Program.
The latest status reports can be read at the Genesis Mission web site. Find out more about the Genesis mission at the Genesis Mission and Genesis Mission at JPL web sites. Visit Where Is Genesis Now?
The Huygens probe successfully detached from the Cassini orbiter on Dec. 24. All systems performed as expected.
The European Space Agency's Huygens probe will be the first human-made object to explore on-site the unique environment of Titan, whose chemistry is thought to be very similar to that of early Earth before life arose."
"For the multinational Cassini-Huygens mission, NASA provided the large Cassini spacecraft, which will begin orbiting Saturn July 1, 2004, and the European Space Agency provided the Huygens probe, which will parachute into the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, on Jan. 14, 2005."
For the latest mission status reports, visit Cassini Mission Status web page. The speed and location of the spacecraft along its flightpath can be viewed on the "Where is Cassini Now?" web page.
"We thought Comet Wild 2 would be like a dirty, black, fluffy snowball," said Stardust Principal Investigator Dr. Donald Brownlee of the University of Washington, Seattle. "Instead, it was mind-boggling to see the diverse landscape in the first pictures from Stardust, including spires, pits and craters, which must be supported by a cohesive surface."
Stardust LPSC 2004 Abstracts
"Abstracts of the Stardust science results from the Comet Wild 2 encounter are now available here (Adobe Acrobat reader required): ftp://www.lpi.usra.edu/pub/outgoing/lpsc2004/full07.pdf"
For more information on the Stardust mission - the first ever comet sample return mission - please visit the Stardust home page.
For more information on the GALEX mission - What's New!
"Wheel tracks left by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, and even the rover itself, are visible in this image from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. North is up in this image. The tracks and rover are in the area south of a crater informally named "Bonneville," which is just southeast of the center of the image. The orbiter captured this image with use of an enhanced-resolution technique called compensated pitch and roll targeted observation. It took the picture on March 30, 2004, 85 martian days, or sols, after Spirit landed on Mars. The rover had driven from its landing site to the rim of Bonneville and was examining materials around the crater's rim."
Mars Global Surveyor Images - December 23-29, 2004
"The following new images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are now available:
Information about how to submit requests is online at the new Mars Orbiter Camera Target Request Site, at http://www.msss.com/plan/intro"
Newly-released MOC images can be seen in the MOC Gallery, a web site maintained by Malin Space Science Systems, the company that built and operates MOC for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA.
Mars Global Surveyor has begun its eighth year orbiting the red planet. MGS reached Mars on 12 September 1997. The first MOC images were obtained on 15 September 1997.
Visit the MGS pages at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/index.html. There are over 134,000 images of Mars from the MGS, check out the newest MGS images of the surface of Mars.
"Odyssey has accomplished all of its mission-success criteria," said Dr. Philip Varghese, project manager for Odyssey at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The spacecraft has been examining Mars in detail since February 2002, more than a full Mars year of about 23 Earth months. NASA has approved an extended mission through September 2006."
Mars Odyssey Themis Images December 20-24, 2004
The Odyssey data are available through a new online access system established by the Planetary Data System at: http://starbrite.jpl.nasa.gov/pds/"
Visit the Mars Odyssey Mission page.
"Spirit finished work at a rock called "Wishstone," then continued to make slow progress up "Husband Hill." Wishstone is different than any rock Spirit previously studied either on the plains or in the hills. Scientists and engineers used the miniature thermal emission spectrometer to find similar rocks for further study.
A potato-sized rock got caught in Spirits's right rear wheel on sol 339, causing the wheel to stall and ending the drive for that sol. Small moves of the wheel on subsequent sols dislodged the rock, but the rock remains close to the wheel, so the team is planning small, careful steps to move the wheel away from the rock so it will not become jammed again. Spirit remains in excellent health."
Opportunity Status: Back on the Plains - sol 313-319, December 21, 2004
"Opportunity examined tracks on its way to see its heat shield.
After six fruitful months exploring the interior of "Endurance Crater," the Opportunity rover has successfully climbed out of the crater onto the surrounding flatland of Meridiani Planum. Once out, the rover examined some of its own tracks that it had laid down prior to entering the crater. It compared them side-by-side with fresh tracks in order to observe any weathering effects in the intervening 200 sols. Opportunity is now making its way toward an engineering examination of its heat shield, which is located about 200 meters (220 yards) from the edge of Endurance. Now that the vehicle is on the relatively flat plain rather than tilted toward the Sun on the north-facing inner slope of the crater, electrical output from its solar array has declined by about 15 percent. Opportunity remains in excellent health as it begins a new phase of exploration."
Visit the Mars Exploration Rover page.
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