Not to be confused with our beloved Mars Lander, this Rover is the AC13 Wi-Fi Vehicle with Video. It’s a spy camera on wheels that both adults and kids will love. More »
Clearwire just announced Rover, a no-contract service that offers unlimited WiMax goodness for $US5 a day, $US20 a week or $US50 a month. Yep, get ready to start topping up your 4G. More »
NASA’s Spirit Rover just isn’t having much luck, between sand storms and broken wheels, with a second wheel presumed broken and the threat of an icy-cold winter freezing the Spirit “to death” if it doesn’t move on soon. More »
This panorama is so out of focus that at first I thought this was some kind of giant alien mothership descending upon a massive mountain. The truth is that this photo comes from another planet.
Nerds cheered and wept with happiness as NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit responded to ground control commands today via the Mars Odyssey orbiter. Earlier this week, NASA feared that the rover would fall victim to the same problem that killed our beloved Phoenix Mars Lander. The dust storm is still a problem, but Spirit has managed to gather enough solar energy to communicate normally. Once again, Spirit has lived up to the name and proven that its a fighter. [Spacefellowship via Slashdot]
More bad, bad news. Just two days ago Phoenix Mars Lander sent his last words, and NASA announced the end of the mission because of a storm that covered its solar panels with Martian dust. Today, we have learnt that the Mars Spirit rover may be dying too because exactly the same problem. In fact, according to Bruce Banerdt–the mission manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and part-time Hulk impersonator–he may be dead already:
While it looks like an UFO from Area 51, this is just the bottom part of the Mars Science Laboratory Rover aeroshell, the largest aeroshell in the history of space exploration at 4.5 metres in diameter, bigger than the almost four metres of the Apollo capsule heatshield. However, this is just not a simple protective device. This aeroshell will actually float in the middle of Mars’ atmosphere, using a crane to softly land the rover itself in a complete new approach to planetary touch downs.
