Red Planet

Robert Chacon Residents don't need special clearance from Jet Propulsion Laboratory or NASA to see up-to-the-minute pictures of Mars' bleak landscape. All they need to do is turn their televisions to Charter Communications Channel 15. The public-access channel began airing live coverage of the space mission Monday, and will continue to do so indefinitely, with limited interruptions. The space agency's Spirit rover landed Saturday on Mars' Gusev Crater, and within hours began sending back pictures.

A scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is lobbying for a new Mars lander that would perform an unprecedented study of the Red Planet's interior. It is one of three concepts in the running for future NASA funding through the competitive Discovery Program. The proposed Geophysical Monitoring Station (GEMS) would pack a scientific payload that includes a thermal probe, seismometer and orbital tracking system. All are tools for discovering the inner composition of Mars to help explain the largely unknown story of that planet's beginnings — and to some degree, Earth's — said JPL's Bruce Banerdt, who would lead the project.

Bad outweighs good Summer Grindle of La Crescenta is a sophomore at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. The newest in a handful of Murphy's Law space movies, "Red Planet" is so far the most palatable, but that isn't saying much. This particular space spectacle begins with a casual, and useless, narrative, but soon becomes passively entertaining, with Val Kilmer, music by Sting and a few well-written lines. But the bad far outweighs the good.

The Curiosity rover is within 100 days of landing on Mars, and JPL scientists are jazzed about the upcoming adventures of the biggest rover yet sent to the Red Planet. The Mini Cooper-sized vehicle, ensconced within the Mars Science Laboratory, is speeding toward the Red Planet, rapidly whittling away the 352-million-mile journey. Meanwhile, on Monday, a handful of journalists gathered in the California desert for a confab with Caltech's John Grotzinger, project scientist for Curiosity.

Over the next few months, NASA scientists will begin to analyze information gathered by the Phoenix Mars Lander, whose mission ended earlier this week after unsuccessful attempts to communicate with the craft. The announcement comes two years after the Phoenix Mars Lander touched down on the Red Planet. The mission began May 25, 2008, and lasted five months — two months beyond its operating expectancy, scientists said. “It did its job better than expected,” said Dr. Deborah Bass, deputy project scientist for the Phoenix Mission.

Conway W. Snyder, eminent space scientist and long-time resident of La Crescenta, died in Redlands on April 14 th at the age of 93. Born in Macon, Missouri, in 1918, Snyder moved to California in 1932. He earned a BA in Physics from the University of Redlands in 1939, and an MS from the University of Iowa. He married Marjorie Frisius in 1943. The couple had three children. During World War II, Snyder worked on the Manhattan Project and was present at first atomic bomb test.

LA CA—ADA FLINTRIDGE ? After nearly 30 minutes of nail-biting silence, staff at Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mission Control erupted into whoops and hollers of joy as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter came back into radio contact on Friday afternoon. As the spacecraft, one of the largest and most technologically advanced ever to be sent to Mars, briefly disappeared behind the red planet and fell out of radio contact with Earth at 1:46 p.m., the future of the $720-million mission literally hung in the balance.

To many, the traditional images of scientists and engineers were of men, but at Jet Propulsion Laboratory that stereotypical representation vision has never been the case. “There are a fair number of women here,” said Joy Crisp, Mars Science Laboratory deputy project scientist. Crisp, along with fellow MSL scientists and engineers Jamie Waldo, lead mobility engineer; Julie Townsend, robotics engineer and robot driver; and Suparna Mukherjee, sampling engineer, has had a love of science for many years.

Scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge are keeping a watchful eye on the Phoenix Mars Mission, which launched in the early morning hours on Saturday, Aug. 4, from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Phoenix is scheduled to arrive at Mars on May 25, 2008. After a 24-hour delay last week, lift off went without a hitch. ?It will now have a ten-month cruise,? said Mark Garcia, deputy mission manager at JPL. Although the spacecraft may currently be in cruise mode, the mission team at JPL will be working hard preparing for the next phase in Phoenix?

The Curiosity rover is within 100 days of landing on Mars, and JPL scientists are jazzed about the upcoming adventures of the biggest rover yet sent to the Red Planet. The Mini Cooper-sized vehicle, ensconced within the Mars Science Laboratory, is speeding toward the Red Planet, rapidly whittling away the 352-million-mile journey. Meanwhile, on Monday, a handful of journalists gathered in the California desert for a confab with Caltech's John Grotzinger, project scientist for Curiosity.

Conway W. Snyder, eminent space scientist and long-time resident of La Crescenta, died in Redlands on April 14 th at the age of 93. Born in Macon, Missouri, in 1918, Snyder moved to California in 1932. He earned a BA in Physics from the University of Redlands in 1939, and an MS from the University of Iowa. He married Marjorie Frisius in 1943. The couple had three children. During World War II, Snyder worked on the Manhattan Project and was present at first atomic bomb test.

A scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is lobbying for a new Mars lander that would perform an unprecedented study of the Red Planet's interior. It is one of three concepts in the running for future NASA funding through the competitive Discovery Program. The proposed Geophysical Monitoring Station (GEMS) would pack a scientific payload that includes a thermal probe, seismometer and orbital tracking system. All are tools for discovering the inner composition of Mars to help explain the largely unknown story of that planet's beginnings — and to some degree, Earth's — said JPL's Bruce Banerdt, who would lead the project.

Over the next few months, NASA scientists will begin to analyze information gathered by the Phoenix Mars Lander, whose mission ended earlier this week after unsuccessful attempts to communicate with the craft. The announcement comes two years after the Phoenix Mars Lander touched down on the Red Planet. The mission began May 25, 2008, and lasted five months — two months beyond its operating expectancy, scientists said. “It did its job better than expected,” said Dr. Deborah Bass, deputy project scientist for the Phoenix Mission.

To many, the traditional images of scientists and engineers were of men, but at Jet Propulsion Laboratory that stereotypical representation vision has never been the case. “There are a fair number of women here,” said Joy Crisp, Mars Science Laboratory deputy project scientist. Crisp, along with fellow MSL scientists and engineers Jamie Waldo, lead mobility engineer; Julie Townsend, robotics engineer and robot driver; and Suparna Mukherjee, sampling engineer, has had a love of science for many years.

To many, the traditional images of scientists and engineers were of men, but at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, that stereotypical representation has never been the case. “There are a fair number of women here,” said Joy Crisp, deputy project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory. Crisp, along with fellow Mars Science Laboratory scientists and engineers Jamie Waldo, lead mobility engineer; Julie Townsend, robotics engineer and robot driver; and Suparna Mukherjee, sampling engineer, has had a love of science for many years.

The news vans, cameras and reporters are slowly moving out of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory parking lot after a weekend of crossed fingers, lucky peanuts and amazing scientific and engineering achievement. Just before 5 p.m on Sunday, the Phoenix spacecraft used its descent thrusters and landed on its three legs on the Martian surface, all according to plan. The landing procedure was last attempted in 1999 with the Mars Polar Lander but communication was lost with the spacecraft shortly before it entered Mars?

Scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge are keeping a watchful eye on the Phoenix Mars Mission, which launched in the early morning hours on Saturday, Aug. 4, from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Phoenix is scheduled to arrive at Mars on May 25, 2008. After a 24-hour delay last week, lift off went without a hitch. ?It will now have a ten-month cruise,? said Mark Garcia, deputy mission manager at JPL. Although the spacecraft may currently be in cruise mode, the mission team at JPL will be working hard preparing for the next phase in Phoenix?