Caltech

Articles tagged with "JPL"

04/23/2013

Mars Science Laboratory: The Search for Habitable Environments

Douglas Smith

John Grotzinger, Caltech’s Fletcher Jones Professor of Geology, is the project scientist for JPL’s newest Mars rover—Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory. The rover is exploring the floor of Gale Crater, and Grotzinger will describe its discoveries so far during a free public lecture at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24, in Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium.

02/24/2012

Buckyballs in Space

Kimm Fesenmaier

Buckyballs—those odd molecules made up of 60 carbon atoms arranged like hollow spheres—have been found, for the first time, in their solid form in space.

02/10/2012

Two Caltech Researchers Added to the Mars Science Laboratory Science Team

Kimm Fesenmaier

With the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) well on its way to Mars, the newest members of its science team have been announced. Two Caltech professors—Kenneth Farley and Bethany Ehlmann—are among 18 researchers who have been selected as funded participating scientists on the mission.

12/09/2011

Rover Software Named NASA's Best of the Year

Kimm Fesenmaier

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has won NASA's 2011 Software of the Year accolade for software it developed that has enabled the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to autonomously select interesting science targets to study with its cameras.

12/05/2011

Voyager I Surveys Outer Reaches of the Solar System

Katie Neith

The Voyager I spacecraft, which was built at JPL and launched in 1977, has reached a previously unexplored region between our solar system and interstellar space. Data collected from this zone indicates very little solar wind, a strong magnetic field, and a possible leak of high-energy particles from our solar system into the interstellar space. The latest findings from the mission were announced today at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in San Francisco.

11/08/2011

Asteroid Will Safely Fly Past Earth Today at a Distance Closer Than the Moon

Kimm Fesenmaier

An aircraft-carrier sized asteroid known as 2005 YU55 is expected to safely fly past Earth this afternoon at a distance slightly closer than the moon's orbit. Scientists at JPL have been tracking the asteroid using the Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, California.

11/01/2011

Warm, Wet Conditions on Mars May Have Existed Mostly Below the Surface

Kimm Fesenmaier

The best place to look for signs of past life on Mars may be underground. According to a new interpretation of the distribution of clay minerals on Mars, warm water may have stayed mostly confined to the planet's subsurface for hundreds of millions of years.

09/16/2011

Using Technology Designed for Mars to Look at Earth's Deserts

Kimm Fesenmaier

An international team led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has used radar sounding technology developed to explore the subsurface of Mars to create high-resolution maps of freshwater aquifers buried deep beneath a desert on Earth.

09/14/2011

NASA's GRAIL Mission Shoots for the Moon

Katie Neith

After a successful lift off on Saturday, September 10, NASA's twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecrafts are headed toward the moon to study its gravity field. The two solar-paneled spacecrafts are expected to reach lunar orbit at the end of the year.

09/07/2011

Félicitations! JPL Director Charles Elachi Receives Honor From France

Katie Neith

The Athenaeum had a certain je ne sais quoi about it last night, but it wasn't a Provence-themed dinner or a champagne tasting event. Charles Elachi, director of JPL, was formally inducted into the French Legion, known in its native tongue as the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur. The award, which is the highest decoration of the French Republic, was presented by François Delattre, Ambassador of France to the United States.