Guest Author • Jun 08, 2018 •
Monica Grady, The Open University It was to a great fanfare of publicity that researchers announced they had found evidence for past life on Mars in 1996. What they claimed they had discovered was a fossilised micro-organism in a Martian meteorite, which they argued was evidence that there has once been life on the Red Planet. Sadly, … Read More
Guest Author • Feb 22, 2018 •
Helen Maynard-Casely, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Roughly every two years Mars and Earth wander a bit closer to each other, making the leap between these two planets a little easier. In July this year, Mars will only be about 58 million kilometres away – and NASA is set to take advantage by launching their next mission … Read More
Ken Perrott • Oct 21, 2014 •
Photo Credit: Curiosity on Mars - NASA Rover Opportunity Views Comet Near Mars. According to NASA: NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured images of a comet passing much closer to Mars than any previous known comet flyby of Earth or Mars. … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Feb 07, 2014 •
It’s enough to make one homesick. This view of Earth from Mars. Taken by the Mars rover Curiosity 80 minutes after sunset during the rover’s 529th Martian day (Jan. 31, 2014). This image includes the moon and this is obvious in … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Aug 15, 2012 •
When I saw the first reports of this on Twitter I thought it was a joke. A sundial on Curiosity? Just in case the computer packs up they can still tell the time? I thought some wag was pulling our … Continue reading → … Read More
Peter Griffin • Aug 10, 2012 •
We missed a week of the Sciblogs podcast to do some extra interviews for the Sciblogs podcast special on the Curiosity Mars Rover landing – the biggest science news event since, well the discover of the Higgs Boson. NASA scientists celebrate Curiosity’s successful landing You’ll enjoy the insights New Zealand scientists provide in the podcast on the Curiosity mission. Read More
Peter Griffin • Aug 08, 2012 •
Ken Perrott • Aug 07, 2012 •
The mass interest in the current Olympics, and yesterday’s landing of the Curiosity Rover on Mars really brought home to me that we are an empathetic species. We celebrate the achievements of others and feel the jubilation they do when … Continue reading → … Read More
Guest Author • Aug 07, 2012 •
By Kevin Orrman-Rossiter, University of Melbourne At 3.31pm today (AEST) the NASA control room in Pasadena, California erupted after people heard these three simple words: “touchdown signal detected”. This diminutive sentence signalled that the Curiosity rover had safely landed on Mars. After a “picture perfect launch” on November 26 last year and a 254 day voyage to … Read More
Ken Perrott • Aug 05, 2012 •
I know Kiwi readers are going to have a hard time dragging themselves away from TV coverage of the London Olympics – and our current ranking in the medal tables – but it’s worth putting in an effort early Monday … Continue reading → … Read More