NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Ascends to Level Ground

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-168 August 29, 2008

NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Ascends to Level Ground

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has climbed out of
the large crater that it had been examining from the inside since last September.

"The rover is back on flat ground," an engineer who drives it, Paolo Bellutta of NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, announced to the mission's international team of scientists and
engineers.

Opportunity used its own entry tracks from nearly a year ago as the path for a drive of 6.8
meters (22 feet) bringing the rover out over the top of the inner slope and through a sand
ripple at the lip of Victoria Crater. The exit drive, conducted late Thursday, completed a
series of drives covering 50 meters (164 feet) since the rover team decided about a month
ago that it had completed its scientific investigations inside the crater.

"We're headed to the next adventure out on the plains of Meridiani," said JPL's John
Callas, project manager for Opportunity and its twin Mars rover, Spirit. "We safely got
into the crater, we completed our exploration there, and we safely got out. We were
concerned that any wheel failure on our aging rover could have left us trapped inside the
crater."

The Opportunity mission has focused on Victoria Crater for more than half of the 55
months since the rover landed in the Meridiani Planum region of equatorial Mars. The
crater spans about 800 meters (half a mile) in diameter and reveals rock layers that hold
clues to environmental conditions of the area through an extended period when the rocks
were formed and altered.

The team selected Victoria as the next major destination after Opportunity exited smaller
Endurance Crater in late 2004. The ensuing 22-month traverse to Victoria included
stopping for studies along the route and escaping from a sand trap. The rover first reached
the rim of Victoria in September 2007. For nearly a year, it then explored partway around
the rim, checking for the best entry route and examining from above the rock layers
exposed in a series of promontories that punctuate the crater perimeter.

Now that Opportunity has finished exploring Victoria Crater and returned to the
surrounding plain, the rover team plans to use tools on the robotic arm in coming months
to examine an assortment of cobbles -- rocks about fist-size and larger -- that may have
been thrown from impacts that dug craters too distant for Opportunity to reach.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the rovers
for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For images and information
about NASA's Opportunity and Spirit Mars rovers, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rovers
and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov .
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NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity Climbing out of Crater

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-166 August 26, 2008

NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity Climbing out of Crater

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Exploration rover Opportunity is heading back out
to the Red Planet's surrounding plains nearly a year after descending into a large Martian
crater to examine exposed ancient rock layers.

"We've done everything we entered Victoria Crater to do and more," said Bruce Banerdt,
of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Banerdt is project scientist for
Opportunity and its rover twin, Spirit.

Having completed its job in the crater, Opportunity is now preparing to inspect loose
cobbles on the plains. Some of these rocks, approximately fist-size and larger, were
thrown long distances when objects hitting Mars blasted craters deeper than Victoria into
the Red Planet. Opportunity has driven past scores of cobbles but examined only a few.

"Our experience tells us there's lots of diversity among the cobbles," said Scott
McLennan of the State University of New York, Stony Brook. McLennan is a long-term
planning leader for the rover science team. "We want to get a better characterization of
them. A statistical sampling from examining more of them will be important for
understanding the geology of the area."

Opportunity entered Victoria Crater on Sept. 11, 2007, after a year of scouting from the
rim. Once a drivable inner slope was identified, the rover used contact instruments on its
robotic arm to inspect the composition and textures of accessible layers.

The rover then drove close to the base of a cliff called "Cape Verde," part of the crater
rim, to capture detailed images of a stack of layers 6 meters (20 feet) tall. The
information Opportunity has returned about the layers in Victoria suggest the sediments
were deposited by wind and then altered by groundwater.

"The patterns broadly resemble what we saw at the smaller craters Opportunity explored
earlier," McLennan said. "By looking deeper into the layering, we are looking farther
back in time." The crater stretches approximately 800 meters (half a mile) in diameter
and is deeper than any other seen by Opportunity.

Engineers are programming Opportunity to climb out of the crater at the same place it
entered. A spike in electric current drawn by the rover's left front wheel last month
quickly settled discussions about whether to keep trying to edge even closer to the base of
Cape Verde on a steep slope. The spike resembled one seen on Spirit when that rover lost
the use of its right front wheel in 2006. Opportunity's six wheels are all still working after
10 times more use than they were designed to perform, but the team took the spike in
current as a reminder that one could quit.

"If Opportunity were driving with only five wheels, like Spirit, it probably would never
get out of Victoria Crater," said JPL's Bill Nelson, a rover mission manager. "We also
know from experience with Spirit that if Opportunity were to lose the use of a wheel after
it is out on the level ground, mobility should not be a problem."

Opportunity now drives with its robotic arm out of the stowed position. A shoulder motor
has degraded over the years to the point where the rover team chose not to risk having it
stop working while the arm is stowed on a hook. If the motor were to stop working with
the arm unstowed, the arm would remain usable.

Spirit has resumed observations after surviving the harshest weeks of southern Martian
winter. The rover won't move from its winter haven until the amount of solar energy
available to it increases a few months from now. The rover has completed half of a full-
circle color panorama from its sun-facing location on the north edge of a low plateau
called "Home Plate."

"Both rovers show signs of aging, but they are both still capable of exciting exploration
and scientific discovery," said JPL's John Callas, project manager for Spirit and
Opportunity.

The team's plan for future months is to drive Spirit south of Home Plate to an area where
the rover last year found some bright, silica-rich soil. This could be possible evidence of
effects of hot water.

For images and information about NASA's Opportunity and Spirit Mars rovers, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/rovers .

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Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: August 11-15, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
August 11-15, 2008

o Buvinda Vallis (Released 11 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080811a

o Tempe Terra (Released 12 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080812a

o Big Blast (Released 13 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080813a

o Linear Ridges (Released 14 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080814a

o Auqakuh Vallis (Released 15 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080815a

All of the THEMIS images are archived here:

http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University,
Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing.
The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State
University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor
for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission
operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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MRO HiRISE Images - August 13, 2008

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
August 13, 2008

o Cerberus Fossae Fissures
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009003_1890

o Transverse Dunes in the Northern Lowlands
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_008681_2550

o Mid-Latitude Gullies in Crater
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_007592_1425

o Fresh 5-Kilometer Diameter Rayed Crater
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009162_1570

All of the HiRISE images are archived here:

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/

Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at
http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA
Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by t
he University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo.,
built the HiRISE instrument.

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Cassini Pinpoints Source of Jets on Saturn's Moon Enceladus

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Carolina Martinez 818-354-9382
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
carolina.martinez@jpl.nasa.gov

Preston Dyches 720-974-5859
Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
media@ciclops.org

News Release: 2008-160 Aug. 14, 2008

Cassini Pinpoints Source of Jets on Saturn's Moon Enceladus

PASADENA, Calif. -- In a feat of interplanetary sharpshooting, NASA's Cassini spacecraft
has pinpointed precisely where the icy jets erupt from the surface of Saturn's geologically
active moon Enceladus.

New carefully targeted pictures reveal exquisite details in the prominent south polar "tiger
stripe" fractures from which the jets emanate. The images show the fractures are about 300
meters (980 feet) deep, with V-shaped inner walls. The outer flanks of some of the fractures
show extensive deposits of fine material. Finely fractured terrain littered with blocks of ice
tens of meters in size and larger (the size of small houses) surround the fractures.

"This is the mother lode for us," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the
Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. "A place that may ultimately reveal just exactly what
kind of environment -- habitable or not -- we have within this tortured little moon."

One highly anticipated result of this flyby was finding the location within the fractures from
which the jets blast icy particles, water vapor and trace organics into space. Scientists are
now studying the nature and intensity of this process on Enceladus, and its effects on
surrounding terrain. This information, coupled with observations by Cassini's other
instruments, may answer the question of whether reservoirs of liquid water exist beneath the
surface.

The high-resolution images were acquired during an Aug. 11, 2008, flyby of Enceladus, as
Cassini sped past the icy moon at 64,000 kilometers per hour (40,000 miles per hour). A
special technique, dubbed "skeet shooting" by the imaging team, was developed to cancel
out the high speed of the moon relative to Cassini and obtain the ultra-sharp views.
"Knowing exactly where to point, at just the right time, was critical to this event," said Paul
Helfenstein, Cassini imaging team associate at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY., who
developed and used the skeet-shoot technique to design the image sequence. "The
challenge is equivalent to trying to capture a sharp, unsmeared picture of a distant roadside
billboard with a telephoto lens out the window of a speeding car."

Helfenstein said that from Cassini's point of view, "Enceladus was streaking across the sky
so quickly that the spacecraft had no hope of tracking any feature on its surface. Our best
option was to point the spacecraft far ahead of Enceladus, spin the spacecraft and camera
as fast as possible in the direction of Enceladus' predicted path, and let Enceladus overtake
us at a time when we could match its motion across the sky, snapping images along the
way."

For scientists, having the combination of high-resolution snapshots and broader images
showing the whole region is critical for understanding what may be powering the activity on
Enceladus.

"There appears to have been extensive fallout of icy particles to the ground, along some of
the fractures, even in areas that lie between two jet source locations, though any immediate
effects of presently active jets are subtle," said Porco.

Imaging scientists suggest that once warm vapor rises from underground to the cold surface
through narrow channels, the icy particles may condense and seal off an active vent. New
jets may then appear elsewhere along the same fracture.

"For the first time, we are beginning to understand how freshly erupted surface deposits
differ from older deposits," said Helfenstein, an icy moons expert. "Over geologic time, the
eruptions have clearly moved up and down the lengths of the tiger stripes."

The new images, with jet source locations labeled, are available at:
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org .

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space
Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard
cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at
the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.

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Phoenix Microscope Takes First Image of Martian Dust Particle

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

News Release: 2008-158 August 14, 2008

Phoenix Microscope Takes First Image of Martian Dust Particle

TUCSON, Ariz. – NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has taken the first-ever image of a single particle
of Mars' ubiquitous dust, using its atomic force microscope.

The particle -- shown at higher magnification than anything ever seen from another world -- is a
rounded particle about one micrometer, or one millionth of a meter, across. It is a speck of the
dust that cloaks Mars. Such dust particles color the Martian sky pink, feed storms that regularly
envelop the planet and produce Mars' distinctive red soil.

"This is the first picture of a clay-sized particle on Mars, and the size agrees with predictions from
the colors seen in sunsets on the Red Planet," said Phoenix co-investigator Urs Staufer of the
University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, who leads a Swiss consortium that made the microscope.

"Taking this image required the highest resolution microscope operated off Earth and a specially
designed substrate to hold the Martian dust," said Tom Pike, Phoenix science team member from
Imperial College London. "We always knew it was going to be technically very challenging to
image particles this small."

It took a very long time, roughly a dozen years, to develop the device that is operating in a polar
region on a planet now about 350 million kilometers or 220 million miles away.

The atomic force microscope maps the shape of particles in three dimensions by scanning them
with a sharp tip at the end of a spring. During the scan, invisibly fine particles are held by a series
of pits etched into a substrate microfabricated from a silicon wafer. Pike's group at Imperial
College produced these silicon microdiscs.

The atomic force microscope can detail the shapes of particles as small as about 100
nanometers, about one one-thousandth the width of a human hair. That is about 100 times
greater magnification than seen with Phoenix's optical microscope, which made its first images of
Martian soil about two months ago. Until now, Phoenix's optical microscope held the record for
producing the most highly magnified images to come from another planet.

"I'm delighted that this microscope is producing images that will help us understand Mars at the
highest detail ever," Staufer said. "This is proof of the microscope's potential. We are now ready
to start doing scientific experiments that will add a new dimension to measurements being made
by other Phoenix lander instruments."

"After this first success, we're now working on building up a portrait gallery of the dust on Mars,"
Pike added.

Mars' ultra-fine dust is the medium that actively links gases in the Martian atmosphere to
processes in Martian soil, so it is critically important to understanding Mars' environment, the
researchers said.

The particle seen in the atomic force microscope image was part of a sample scooped by the
robotic arm from the "Snow White" trench and delivered to Phoenix's microscope station in early
July. The microscope station includes the optical microscope, the atomic force microscope and
the sample delivery wheel. It is part of a suite of tools called Phoenix's Microscopy,
Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer.

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith from the University of Arizona with project
management at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and development
partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian
Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus in
Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

The latest Phoenix images and information are at http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu .

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Cassini Begins Transmitting Data From Enceladus Flyby

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Carolina Martinez 818-354-9382
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
carolina.martinez@jpl.nasa.gov

Mission Status Report: 2008-157 Aug. 11, 2008

Cassini Begins Transmitting Data From Enceladus Flyby

Shorty after 9:03 p.m. Pacific Time, the Cassini spacecraft began sending data to Earth following a close
flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus. During closest approach, Cassini successfully passed only 50
kilometers (30 miles) from the surface of the tiny moon.

Cassini's signal was picked up by the Deep Space Network station in Canberra, Australia, and relayed to
the Cassini mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"We are happy to report that Cassini's begun sending data home," said Julie Webster, Cassini team chief
at JPL. "The downlink will continue through the night and into tomorrow morning."

Closest approach occurred at approximately 3:21 p.m. PDT, while Cassini was traveling at a swift 17.7
kilometers per second (40,000 miles per hour) relative to Enceladus.

During the flyby, Cassini focused its cameras and other remote sensing instruments on Enceladus with
an emphasis on the moon's south pole where parallel stripes or fissures dubbed "tiger stripes" line the
region. That area is of particular interest because geysers of water-ice and vapor jet out of the fissures
and supply material to Saturn's E-ring. Scientists hope to learn more about the fissures and whether
liquid water is indeed the engine powering the geysers.

"There is a lot of anticipation and excitement about what today's flyby might reveal" said Bob Pappalardo,
Cassini project scientist, also of JPL. "Over the next few days and weeks, the Cassini teams will be
analyzing the photos and other data to tease out new clues about this tiny, active world".

Two more Enceladus flybys are planned for October. The first of those will cut Monday's flyby distance in
half and bring the spacecraft to a remarkable 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the surface. Enceladus
measures about 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter--just one-seventh the diameter of Earth's moon.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the
Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

For images, videos and a mission blog on the flyby, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini . Raw
(unprocessed) images are available at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-
list1.html .

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Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: August 4-8, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
August 4-8, 2008

o Northern Layers (Released 04 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080804a

o Tharsis Lavas (Released 05 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080805a

o Melas Chasma (Released 06 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080806a

o Syria Planum (Released 07 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080807a

o Dunes and Gullies (Released 08 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080808a

All of the THEMIS images are archived here:

http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University,
Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing.
The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State
University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor
for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission
operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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MRO HiRISE Images - August 6, 2008

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
August 6, 2008

o Deposits in Electris
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009029_1430

o Valley West of Ganges Chasma
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009011_1705

o Layered Deposits within Unnamed Crater in Arabia Terra
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_008982_1965

o Dark Lava Flow in Tharsis
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_008710_1710

All of the HiRISE images are archived here:

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/

Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at
http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA
Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by t
he University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo.,
built the HiRISE instrument.

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Cassini Prepares to Swoop by Saturn's Geyser-Spewing Moon

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Carolina Martinez 818-354-9382
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
carolina.martinez@jpl.nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-156 Aug. 7, 2008

Cassini Prepares to Swoop by Saturn's Geyser-Spewing Moon

Fractures, or "tiger stripes," where icy jets erupt on Saturn's moon Enceladus will be the target of
a close flyby by the Cassini spacecraft on Monday, Aug. 11.

Cassini will zoom past the tiny moon a mere 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the surface. Just after
closest approach, all of the spacecraft's cameras -- covering infrared wavelengths, where
temperatures are mapped, as well as visible light and ultraviolet -- will focus on the fissures
running along the moon's south pole. That is where the jets of icy water vapor emanate and erupt
hundreds of miles into space. Those jets have fascinated scientists since their discovery in 2005.

"Our main goal is to get the most detailed images and remote sensing data ever of the
geologically active features on Enceladus," said Paul Helfenstein, a Cassini imaging team
associate at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. "From this data we may learn more about how
eruptions, tectonics, and seismic activity alter the moon's surface. We will get an unprecedented
high-resolution view of the active area immediately following the closest approach."

Seeing inside one of the fissures in high resolution may provide more information on the terrain
and depth of the fissures, as well as the size and composition of the ice grains inside. Refined
temperature data could help scientists determine if water, in vapor or liquid form, lies close to the
surface and better refine their theories on what powers the jets.

Imaging sequences will capture stereo views of the north polar terrain, and high resolution
images of the south polar region will begin shortly after closest approach to Enceladus. The
image resolution will be as fine as 7 meters per pixel (23 feet) and will cover known active spots
on three of the prominent "tiger stripe" fractures.

In addition to mapping the moon's surface in visible light as well as infrared and ultraviolet light,
Cassini will help determine the size of the ice grains and distinguish other elements mixed in
with the ice, such as oxygen, hydrogen, or organics.

"Knowing the sizes of the particles, their rates and what else is mixed in these jets can tell us a
lot about what's happening inside the little moon," said Amanda Hendrix, Cassini ultraviolet
imaging spectrograph team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Other instruments will measure the temperatures along the fractures, which happen to be some of
the hottest spots on the moon's surface.

"We'd like to refine our numbers and see which fracture or stripe is hotter than the rest because
these results can offer evidence, one way or the other, for the existence of liquid water as the
engine that powers the plumes," said Bonnie Buratti of JPL, team member on Cassini's visual
and infrared mapping spectrometer.

Cassini discovered evidence for the geyser-like jets on Enceladus in 2005, finding that the
continuous eruptions of ice water create a gigantic halo of ice and gas around Enceladus, which
helps supply material to Saturn's E-ring. This marks Cassini's second flyby of Enceladus this
year. During Cassini's last flyby of Enceladus in March, the spacecraft snatched up precious
samples and tasted comet-like organics inside the little moon. Two more Enceladus flybys are
coming up in October, and they may bring the spacecraft even closer to the moon. The Oct. 9
encounter is complimentary to the March one, which was optimized for sampling the plume. The
Oct. 31 flyby is similar to this August one, and is again optimized for the optical remote sensing
instruments.

For images, videos and a mission blog on the flyby, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini . More information on the Cassini mission is also available at
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

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Phoenix Mars Team Opens Window on Scientific Process

JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Veronica McGregor/Guy Webster 818-354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Veronica.mcgregor@jpl.nasa.gov, guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-155 Aug. 5, 2008

Phoenix Mars Team Opens Window on Scientific Process

Phoenix Mars mission scientists spoke today on research in progress concerning an ongoing
investigation of perchlorate salts detected in soil analyzed by the wet chemistry laboratory
aboard NASA's Phoenix Lander.

"Finding perchlorates is neither good nor bad for life, but it does make us reassess how we think
about life on Mars," said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.,
lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), the
instrument that includes the wet chemistry laboratory.

If confirmed, the result is exciting, Hecht said, "because different types of perchlorate salts have
interesting properties that may bear on the way things work on Mars if -- and that's a big 'if ' --
the results from our two teaspoons of soil are representative of all of Mars, or at least a
significant portion of the planet."

The Phoenix team had wanted to check the finding with another lander instrument, the Thermal
and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA), which heats soil and analyzes gases driven off. But as that
TEGA experiment was underway last week, speculative news reports surfaced claiming the team
was holding back a major finding regarding habitability on Mars.

"The Phoenix project has decided to take an unusual step" in talking about the research when its
scientists are only about half-way through the data collection phase and have not yet had time to
complete data analysis or perform needed laboratory work, said Phoenix principal investigator
Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Scientists are still at the stage where they are
examining multiple hypotheses, given evidence that the soil contains perchlorate.

"We decided to show the public science in action because of the extreme interest in the Phoenix
mission, which is searching for a habitable environment on the northern plains of Mars," Smith
added. "Right now, we don't know whether finding perchlorate is good news or bad news for
possible life on Mars."

Perchlorate is an ion, or charged particle, that consists of an atom of chlorine surrounded by four
oxygen atoms. It is an oxidant, that is, it can release oxygen, but it is not a powerful one.
Perchlorates are found naturally on Earth at such places as Chile's hyper-arid Atacama Desert.
The compounds are quite stable and do not destroy organic material under normal circumstances.
Some microorganisms on Earth are fueled by processes that involve perchlorates, and some
plants concentrate the substance. Perchlorates are also used in rocket fuel and fireworks.

Perchlorate was discovered with a multi-use sensor that detects perchlorate, nitrate and other
ions. The MECA team saw the perchlorate signal in a sample taken from the Dodo-Goldilocks
trench on June 25, or Sol 30, or the 30th Martian day of the mission after landing, and again in
another sample taken from the Snow White trench on July 6, or Sol 41.

When TEGA heated a sample of soil dug from the Dodo-Goldilocks trench on Sol 25 to high
temperature, it detected an oxygen release, said TEGA lead scientist William Boynton of the
University of Arizona. Perchlorate could be one of several possible sources of this oxygen, he
said.

Late last week, when TEGA analyzed another sample, this one from the Snow White trench, the
TEGA team looked for chlorine gas. The instrument detected none.

"Had we seen it, the identification of perchlorate would be absolutely clear, but in this run we did
not see any chlorine gas. We may have been analyzing a perchlorate salt that doesn't release
chlorine gas upon heating," Boynton said. "There's nothing in the TEGA data that contradicts
MECA's finding of perchlorates."

As the Phoenix team continues its investigation of the artic soil, the TEGA instrument will
attempt to validate the perchlorate discovery and determine its concentration and properties.

More information on Phoenix is at http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix .

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith with project management at JPL, and development
partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in Denver. International contributions come from the
Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of
Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; and the Finnish
Meteorological Institute. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for
NASA.

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Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: July 28 - August 1, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
July 28 - August 1, 2008

o Candor Chasma (Released 28 July 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080728a

o Dark Streaks (Released 29 July 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080729a

o Channels (Released 30 July 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080730a

o Polar Winds (Released 31 July 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080731a

o Asymmetric Ejecta (Released 01 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080801a

All of the THEMIS images are archived here:

http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University,
Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing.
The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State
University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor
for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission
operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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NASA Spacecraft Analyzing Martian Soil Data

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Veronica McGregor/Guy Webster 818-354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
veronica.mcgregor@jpl.nasa.gov/guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-154 Aug. 4, 2008

NASA Spacecraft Analyzing Martian Soil Data

PASADENA, Calif. -- Scientists are analyzing results from soil samples delivered several weeks ago
to science instruments on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander to understand the landing site's soil
chemistry and mineralogy.

Within the last month, two samples have been analyzed by the Wet Chemistry Lab of the
spacecraft's Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, suggesting one of
the soil constituents may be perchlorate, a highly oxidizing substance. The Phoenix team has been
waiting for complementary results from the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA, which
also is capable of detecting perchlorate. TEGA is a series of ovens and analyzers that "sniff" vapors
released from substances in a sample.

NASA will hold a media teleconference on Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT), to
discuss these recent science activities. Participants will be introduced at the start of the briefing. To
participate in the teleconference, reporters should contact Steve Cole at 202-358-0918 for dial-in and
passcode information.

Confirmation of the presence of perchlorate and supporting data is important prior to scientific peer
review and subsequent public announcements. The results from Sunday's TEGA experiment, which
analyzed a sample taken directly above the ice layer, found no evidence of this compound.

"This is surprising since an earlier TEGA measurement of surface materials was consistent with but
not conclusive of the presence of perchlorate," said Peter Smith, Phoenix's principal investigator at
the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Scientists at the Phoenix Science Operations Center at the University of Arizona are specifically
looking at the data from these instruments to provide information on the composition of Martian soil.

"We are committed to following a rigorous scientific process. While we have not completed our
process on these soil samples, we have very interesting intermediate results," said Smith, "Initial
MECA analyses suggested Earth-like soil. Further analysis has revealed un-Earthlike aspects of the
soil chemistry."

The team also is working to totally exonerate any possibility of the perchlorate readings being
influenced by terrestrial sources which may have migrated from the spacecraft, either into samples
or into the instrumentation.

"When surprising results are found, we want to review and assure our extensive pre-launch
contamination control processes covered this potential," said Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project
manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Since landing on May 25, Phoenix has been studying Martian soil with MECA's wet chemistry lab,
two microscopes and a conductivity probe, TEGA's ovens and two cameras.

MECA's robotic wet chemistry lab studies soluble chemicals in the soil by mixing a soil sample with
a water-based solution with several reagents brought from Earth. The inner surface of each cell's
beaker has 26 sensors that give information about the acidity or alkalinity and concentrations of
elements such as chloride or perchlorate. The beaker also can detect concentrations of magnesium,
calcium and potassium, which form salts that are soluble in water.

With continuing results and the spacecraft in good condition, the mission has been extended through
Sept. 30. The original prime mission of three months ends in late August. The mission extension
adds five weeks to the 90 days of the prime mission.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and development partnership at Lockheed
Martin in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University
of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck
Institute in Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For information about Phoenix, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix .

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