This one makes me slightly ill since we had such bad weather Dixieland Auroras On Nov. 20, 2003, a modest solar explosion sparked bright auroras in some unusual places. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/05dec_dixieland.htm?list89800

The latest from NASA's Earth Observatory (23 December 2003) * Weighing Earth's Water from Space http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/WeighingWater/ Launched in 2002, a pair of identical satellites that make up NASA's Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) are tackling the problem in an unexpected way: they are weighing Earth's fresh water from space. Serving as a sort of "divining rod" in space that moves in response to a powerful, fundamental force of nature--gravity--the satellites respond to changes in Earth's gravitation field that signal shifts in the movement of water a cross and under Earth's surface * Latest Images: Soot and Global Warming http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16404 Landslides in the Philippines http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16403 Lake Titicaca http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16400 Waimea Canyon, Kaua‘i http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16399 Waiting for More Rain in South Africa http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16397 Iguaçu Falls and Itapú Reservoir http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16396 Tropical Cyclone Hits East Coast of India http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16395 Dust Storm over Texas http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16394

Scheduled times for listening-out by the US orbiter Odyssey and the UK ground station at Jodrell Bank over the next couple of days (GMT is eight hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, and the Odyssey times don't include transmitting and processing lags): 26th Dec 17:33:49 -18:53:49 GMT Odyssey 23:00:00 - 00:20:00 GMT Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK) 27th Dec 06:17:46 - 07:37:46 GMT Odyssey 22:56:00 - 00:16:00 GMT Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK) Excerpted from: http://www.beagle2.com/landing/timeline.htm

In a move that may or may not help them wake up the Mars lander but will definitely cause cat-person vs. dog-person tension throughout the space-interested world, the Brits have put together a "Tiger" team to work on waking up the Beagle 2. No signals from the lander during Odyssey fly-overs again Sunday, and hopes continue to be fixed on next weekend's arrival of the European orbiter in its listening orbit. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3352521.stm

Where it landed. The lander may be shadowed by this crater. It can't power up yet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3359273.stm Beagle to begin 'frequent calls' If Beagle is alive, it will call more frequently British-built Mars probe Beagle 2 is due to switch into a communications mode on Wednesday that increases the chances of contact being made with it. If Beagle is intact on the Martian surface, it will automatically begin "calling" Earth more frequently. Two further attempts were made on Tuesday to contact Beagle with the Mars Odyssey craft in orbit around the Red Planet, but with no positive result.

A traveling robotic geologist from NASA has landed on Mars and returned stunning images of the area around its landing site in Gusev Crater. Mars Exploration Rover Spirit successfully sent a radio signal after the spacecraft had bounced and rolled for several minutes following its initial impact at 11:35 p.m. EST (8:35 p.m. Pacific Standard Time) on January 3. "This is a big night for NASA," said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "We're back. I am very, very proud of this team, and we're on Mars." Members of the mission's flight team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., cheered and clapped when they learned that NASA's Deep Space Network had received a post-landing signal from Spirit. The cheering resumed about three hours later when the rover transmitted its first images to Earth, relaying them through NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. "We've got many steps to go before this mission is over, but we've retired a lot of risk with this landing," said JPL's Pete Theisinger, project manager for the Mars Exploration Rover Project. Deputy project manager for the rovers, JPL's Richard Cook, said, "We're certainly looking forward to Opportunity landing three weeks from now." Opportunity is Spirit's twin rover, headed for the opposite side of Mars. Dr. Charles Elachi, JPL director, said, "To achieve this mission, we have assembled the best team of young women and men this country can put together. Essential work was done by other NASA centers and by our industrial and academic partners. Spirit stopped rolling with its base petal down, though that favorable position could change as airbags deflate, said JPL's Rob Manning, development manager for the rover's descent through Mars' atmosphere and landing on the surface. NASA chose Spirit's landing site, within Gusev Crater, based on evidence from Mars orbiters that this crater may have held a lake long ago. A long, deep valley, apparently carved by ancient flows of water, leads into Gusev. The crater itself is basin the size of Connecticut created by an asteroid or comet impact early in Mars' history. Spirit's task is to spend the next three months exploring for clues in rocks and soil about whether the past environment at this part of Mars was ever watery and suitable to sustain life. Spirit traveled 487 million kilometers (302.6 million) miles to reach Mars after its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on June 10, 2003. Its twin, Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, was launched July 7, 2003, and is on course for a landing on the opposite side of Mars on Jan. 25 (Universal Time and EST; 9:05 p.m. on Jan. 24, PST). The flight team expects to spend more than a week directing Spirit through a series of steps in unfolding, standing up and other preparations necessary before the rover rolls off of its lander platform to get its wheels onto the ground. Meanwhile, Spirit's cameras and a mineral-identifying infrared instrument will begin examining the surrounding terrain. That information will help engineers and scientists decide which direction to send the rover first. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington. Additional information about the project is available from JPL at: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at: http://athena.cornell.edu . ### Guy Webster (818) 354-6278 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. JPL Newsroom (818) 354-5011 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. NEWS RELEASE: 2004-003 http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20040104a.html

JPL engineers played Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" in the control room as they watched new images confirming that the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit successfully stood up on its lander late Thursday night Pacific time, a major step in preparing for egress. This image from the rover's front hazard avoidance camera shows the rover in the final stage of its stand-up process. The two wheels on the bottom right and left are locked into position, along with the suspension system. The martian landscape is in the background.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mgs_mpf_viking_040107.html Orbiter Photographs Viking 1 and Pathfinder Landers on Mars' Surface

Mars terrain in 3d http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05095 Get your 3D glasses: https://www.stereoscopy.com/reel3d/anaglyph-glasses.html

gwb, welcome. (I like your sympathies!) There is a setup at the University of Louisville science center to view the latest downloads and accompanying 3-D glasses.

Spirit rover overloaded with files http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/01/26/mars_rovers040126 Too many data files may have led to the crippling of NASA's Spirit rover last week, the U.S. space agency said Monday. Engineers weren't aware the hundreds of the data files would lead to a major technical difficulty for Spirit. Since Jan. 22, the Mars robot has been unable to send scientific data and images. Now that NASA is aware of the limit, the files will be deleted from Spirit and engineers will take care not to run into the same problem on its twin, Opportunity, said Jennifer Trosper, mission manager for operations on Mars' surface. Problem solved? NASA scientists are giddy! I found out the Mars day is just about an hour longer than the earth day. And some folks are downloading "Mars clocks".

*grin* yes, how to confuse the already time-handicapped! Just one planet away and so close to our own time. This does not bode well unless you distinguish that only on Mars is that clock useful!

Hubble finds farthest galaxies http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/09/hubble.farthest/ Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) unveiled the deepest look into the universe yet, a portrait of what could be the most distant galaxies ever seen. The new image, called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), includes objects that until now have been too faint to be seen and includes ancient galaxies that emerged just 700 million years after the Big Bang theory from what astronomers call the "Dark Ages" of the universe.

I truly hope we do not abandon the Hubble before it is exhausted. Amazing discoveries. Thanks, Terry!

Scientist attacks alien claims on Mars By Robert Roy Britt SPACE.com Thursday, March 18, 2004 Posted: 5:25 PM EST (2225 GMT) Richard Hoagland claims that NASA refuses to acknowledge evidence of alien "artifacts" on Mars. SPACE.COM: War of words to debunk aliens (SPACE.com) -- Astronomer Philip Plait is tired of radio personality Richard Hoagland's claims. He's had enough of Hoagland's assertions that NASA is covering up evidence of extraterrestrial life, that the infamous Face on Mars was built by sentient aliens and, of late, that otherworldly machine parts are embedded in the Red Planet's dirt. And then there's the mile-long translucent martian worm. On Hoagland's Web site, there are several images from various space probes said to possibly show evidence for ETs. Recent Mars rover photos include not just rocks, Hoagland and other contributors maintain, but common objects that might tell of an alien civilization -- a bowl, a stove, a piston. more http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/17/alien.debunk/

Since 1983, Hoagland said he has led "an outside scientific team in a critically acclaimed independent analysis of possible intelligently-designed artifacts" on other worlds, using spacecraft data from NASA and other missions. Plait, author of "Bad Astronomy" (Wiley & Sons, 2002), which debunks space myths and common factual misconceptions, had for years not countered Hoagland directly, because he did not want to give a man he calls a "pseudoscientist" the "air time that he so desperately seeks." But last week Plait took his intellectual gloves off. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/17/alien.debunk/

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/22/1079939580572.html Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen has donated 13.5 million to help fund the search for extraterrestrial life.