WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the first time, NASA's rover Curiosity used its on-board drill to collect a sample of Martian bedrock that might offer evidence of a long-gone wet environment, the U.S. space agency reported on Saturday.

Drilling down 2.5 inches into a patch of sedimentary bedrock, Curiosity collected the rock powder left by the drill and will analyze it using its own laboratory instruments, NASA said in a statement. This is the first time a robot has drilled to collect a Martian sample.

Images of the hole, along with a shallower test hole nearby, can be seen at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-052 .

"The most advanced planetary robot ever designed is now a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars," said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

Curiosity drilled into a rock called "John Klein," named for a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011.

In the next few days, ground controllers will command the rover's arm to process the sample by delivering bits of it to the instruments inside Curiosity.

Before the rock powder is analyzed, some will be used to scour traces of material that may have been deposited onto the hardware while the rover was still on Earth, despite thorough cleaning before launch, NASA said.

The drilling and analysis is part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project, which is using the Curiosity rover to figure out whether an area in Mars' Gale Crater ever offered a hospitable environment for life.

(Reporting by Deborah Zabarenko; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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NASA's robotic rover Curiosity drills into Martian rock

NASA/VAFB

The payload fairing containing the Landsat Data Continuity Mission spacecraft arrives at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex-3E where it will be hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V for launch. Image released Jan 25, 2013.

By Mike Wall, SPACE.com

NASA is gearing up for the Monday launch of an Earth-observation satellite that will continue a celebrated 40-year project to monitor our planet's surface from space.

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission is slated to blast off Monday at 1:02 p.m. EST (1802 GMT/10:02 a.m. PST) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The LDCM satellite is the eighth overall in the Landsat program, which has been scrutinizing Earth from orbit continuously since Landsat 1 launched in 1972.

Mission team members call LDCM the most advanced and capable Landsat spacecraft ever built. It should help the United States and other nations around the world monitor environmental change and better manage their natural resources, they say.

"LDCM will continue to describe the human impact on Earth and the impact of Earth on humanity, which is vital for accommodating seven billion people on our planet," LDCM project manager Ken Schwer, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., told reporters Friday during a prelaunch press briefing. [Photos: The Next Landsat Earth-Observing Spacecraft]

The $855 million LDCM mission is a collaboration between NASA and the United States Geological Survey, which will take over operations after the spacecraft's launch and initial checkouts. At that point, the satellite will be renamed Landsat 8.

Landsat 8 will zip around the Earth at an altitude of 438 miles, using two sensors to study the planet's surface in the visible and infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The SUV-size satellite will achieve full Earth coverage every 16 days, though its work will lower this to once per eight days for the program overall. That's because Landsat 8 will fly eight days behind Landsat 7, which launched in 1999 and recently became the only currently operational Landsat spacecraft. (Landsat 5 retiredrecently after 29 years of service).

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NASA's Earth-watching satellite

Global Observations to Continue with New NASA Satellite
Media hear from NASA and US Geological Survey scientists about the data they #39;ll look to get from the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, LDCM, the satellite due to launch from Vandenberg AFB in California on Feb. 11. t is the eighth satellite in the Landsat series, which began in 1972 and will add to the longest continuous data record of Earth #39;s surface as viewed from space

By: NASAtelevision

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Global Observations to Continue with New NASA Satellite - Video

LDCM A New Era in Earth Observation #LDCM #Nasa #Landsat
NASA #39;s Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is the eighth satellite in the Landsat series, which began in 1972. The mission will extend more than 40 years of global land observations that are critical in many areas, such as energy and water management, forest monitoring, human and environmental health, urban planning, disaster recovery and agriculture. NASA #39;s Launch Services Program will launch the LDCM spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. sites.google.com http://www.facebook.com http://www.youtube.com twitter.com

By: James Parks

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LDCM A New Era in Earth Observation #LDCM #Nasa #Landsat - Video

RRM: Mission to the Future Delivers #NASA #CSA #Dextre
Robotic Refueling Mission Robotic refueling is challenging. Before a satellite leaves the ground, technicians fill its fuel tank through a valve that #39;s then triple-sealed and covered with a protective blanket mdash;designed never to be accessed again. RRM paves the way for a future robotic servicing mission by demonstrating that a remote-controlled robot can overcome these obstacles to service and refuel a satellite on orbit. A joint effort between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), this mission will use the station #39;s robotic arm known as Dextre to conduct these experiments. Normally employed for maintenance of the orbiting superstructure, Dextre becomes experimental hardware in RRM, pushing the limits of robotic teleoperation. It #39;s a first step to making routine robotic servicing on orbit a reality. sites.google.com http://www.facebook.com http://www.youtube.com twitter.com

By: James Parks

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RRM: Mission to the Future Delivers #NASA #CSA #Dextre - Video

NASA | RRM: Mission to the Future Delivers the Goods
Fill #39;er up! That #39;s the promise of robotic refueling on orbit: aging satellites can get a new lease on life from a robotic machine making a service call. Or, at least, the dream of such a system got dramatically closer after NASA #39;s robotic mission success. NASA had an idea, and in a series of extraordinary tests, decided to demonstrate that technologies for servicing satellites in space had evolved to levels of material value. Extending the lifespans of satellites already at work hundreds, even thousands of miles above the Earth, could soon be a reality. In a six-day test at the International Space Station called the Robotic Refueling Mission, they tried out tools and techniques for repairing and refueling satellites without a single astronaut in sight. It #39;s a story with historical roots dating back to the 1980 #39;s, and with RRM #39;s twenty-first century on-orbit success, it shines a light on bold imaginings for a space-faring future that suddenly doesn #39;t seem so far ahead. In this documentary we look at the lifecycle of this extraordinary initiative. This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov Like our videos? Subscribe to NASA #39;s Goddard Shorts HD podcast: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov Or find NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com Or find us on Twitter: twitter.com

By: NASAexplorer

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NASA | RRM: Mission to the Future Delivers the Goods - Video

NASA: Asteroid 2012 DA14 to Safely Pass Earth
Asteroid 2012 DA 14 is an object about half the size of a football field in diameter that is going to pass very close to the Earth on February15, 2013. Coming from the south to the north, to actually gets to within 17200 miles of the Earth #39;s surface, and will pass interior to the geosynchronous satellites and the GPS satellites, but there #39;s really no chance of the asteroid hitting the Earth and very little change it will hit a satellite. Unfortunately the answer is no. It #39;s going to be brighter than most asteroids but still is not going to be a naked eye object. The asteroid was discovered by a group of Spanish astronomers in La Sagra observatory in southern Spain. It #39;s going very fast It #39;ll be hard to track and you have to be located in Eastern Europe or in Asia or possibly Australia. An object the size of DA 14 actually impacted the Earth on June 30th 1908. The so-called "Tunguska event." An object about 30or 40 meters came down in the Earth #39;s atmosphere and exploded leveling trees for 820 square miles. The close approach of this object 2012 DA 14 on Feb 15, 2013 is nothing to worry about. Its orbit is very well known. We know exactly where it #39;s going to go and it cannot hit the Earth. 20 years ago, you probably wouldn #39;t have found this object. But now NASA is observing the skies nightly and picking up these objects and we track them for a hundred years into the future and see if any of them make interesting close Earth approaches. Not only because of the threat issue ...

By: projectdeepcover

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NASA: Asteroid 2012 DA14 to Safely Pass Earth - Video

New Discoveries From NASA #39;s #39;Curiosity #39; Rover #39;s Mars Mission
Spencer Michels has the story of NASA #39;s newest rover vehicle, aptly named "Curiosity," and its mission to Mars. Curiosity has made some new discoveries, begging the age-old question, does life exist on the red planet?

By: PBSNewsHour

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New Discoveries From NASA's 'Curiosity' Rover's Mars Mission - Video

DENVER, Feb. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has completed the assembly of NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft. The orbiter is now undergoing environmental testing at the company's Space Systems facilities, near Denver, Colo. MAVEN is the next mission to Mars and will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere.

Photo and video of MAVEN: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2013/february/lockheed-martin-completes-assembly--begins-environmental-testing.html

During the environmental testing phase, the orbiter will undergo a variety of rigorous tests that simulate the extreme temperatures, vacuum and vibration the spacecraft will experience during the course of its mission. Currently, the spacecraft is in the company's Reverberant Acoustic Laboratory being prepared to undergo acoustics testing that simulates the maximum sound and vibration levels the spacecraft will experience during launch.

Following the acoustics test, MAVEN will be subjected to a barrage of additional tests, including: separation/deployment shock, sine vibration, electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility (EMI/EMC), and magnetics testing. The phase concludes with a thermal vacuum test where the spacecraft and its instruments are exposed to the vacuum and extreme hot and cold temperatures it will face in space.

"The assembly and integration of MAVEN has gone very smoothly and we're excited to test our work over the next six months," said Guy Beutelschies, MAVEN program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. "Environmental testing is a crucial set of activities designed to ensure the spacecraft can operate in the extreme conditions of space."

"I'm very pleased with how our team has designed and built the spacecraft and science instruments that will make our measurements," said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. "We've got an exciting science mission planned, and the environmental testing now is what will ensure that we are ready for launch and for the mission."

MAVEN is scheduled to ship from Lockheed Martin's facility to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in early August where it will undergo final preparations for launch.

Scheduled to launch in November 2013, MAVEN is a robotic exploration mission to understand the role that loss of atmospheric gas to space played in changing the Martian climate through time. It will investigate how much of the Martian atmosphere has been lost over time by measuring the current rate of escape to space and gathering enough information about the relevant processes to allow extrapolate backward in time.

"This phase of the program is particularly important in that it will provide us with a good assessment of the MAVEN system's capabilities under the simulated extremes of the space environment," said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Of significance, the spacecraft is entering system level test right on schedule, while maintaining robust cost and schedule reserves to deal with the technical or programmatic surprises that could occur during test or in the run to launch. Tracking on plan is critically important to being ready for launch later this year and the science that MAVEN will deliver one year later."

MAVEN's principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The university will provide science operations, science instruments and lead Education/Public Outreach. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the project and provides two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colo., built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory provides science instruments for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, the Deep Space Network and the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.

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Lockheed Martin Completes Assembly, Begins Environmental Testing of NASA's Maven Spacecraft

The asteroid, known as 2012 DA14, is travelling eight times faster than a rifle bullet, and will move well inside the ring of communications and weather satellites surrounding the planet.

The asteroid will be closest to Earth at 2.24pm EST on Feb 15. It will not be visible with the naked eye, but will be visible in dark skies with binoculars or a small telescope in eastern Europe, Asia and Australia. The best viewing spot will be Indonesia.

Nasa has been passing details to satellite operators, but Dr Yeomans said: "It appears to be passing right in the sweet spot between the GPS satellites and the communications and weather satellites, so it's extremely unlikely any of those satellites will be affected. I don't anticipate any problems."

2012 DA14, which orbits the Earth about once a year, was discovered by astronomers in Spain in February last year. Next week will be its closest ever approach. It is travelling at 17,400mph.

Nasa said an actual collision between Earth and an object the size of 2012 DA14 is estimated to to occur once every 1,200 years.

The last comparable sized object to hit Earth was the 1908 Tunguska event in Russia, which knocked down trees over an area of 800 square miles.

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Nasa announces forthcoming asteroid 'near miss'

NASA/VAFB

The payload fairing containing the Landsat Data Continuity Mission spacecraft arrives at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex-3E where it will be hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V for launch. Image released Jan 25, 2013.

By Mike Wall, SPACE.com

NASA is gearing up for the Monday launch of an Earth-observation satellite that will continue a celebrated 40-year project to monitor our planet's surface from space.

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission is slated to blast off Monday at 1:02 p.m. EST (1802 GMT/10:02 a.m. PST) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The LDCM satellite is the eighth overall in the Landsat program, which has been scrutinizing Earth from orbit continuously since Landsat 1 launched in 1972.

Mission team members call LDCM the most advanced and capable Landsat spacecraft ever built. It should help the United States and other nations around the world monitor environmental change and better manage their natural resources, they say.

"LDCM will continue to describe the human impact on Earth and the impact of Earth on humanity, which is vital for accommodating seven billion people on our planet," LDCM project manager Ken Schwer, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., told reporters Friday during a prelaunch press briefing. [Photos: The Next Landsat Earth-Observing Spacecraft]

The $855 million LDCM mission is a collaboration between NASA and the United States Geological Survey, which will take over operations after the spacecraft's launch and initial checkouts. At that point, the satellite will be renamed Landsat 8.

Landsat 8 will zip around the Earth at an altitude of 438 miles, using two sensors to study the planet's surface in the visible and infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The SUV-size satellite will achieve full Earth coverage every 16 days, though its work will lower this to once per eight days for the program overall. That's because Landsat 8 will fly eight days behind Landsat 7, which launched in 1999 and recently became the only currently operational Landsat spacecraft. (Landsat 5 retiredrecently after 29 years of service).

Read more:

NASA to launch powerful Earth-watching satellite

NASA is gearing up for the Monday (Feb. 11) launch of an Earth-observation satellite that will continue a celebrated 40-year project to monitor our planet's surface from space.

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission is slated to blast off Monday at 1:02 p.m. EST (1802 GMT/10:02 a.m. PST) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The LDCM satellite is the eighth overall in the Landsat program, which has been scrutinizing Earth from orbit continuously since Landsat 1 launched in 1972.

Mission team members call LDCM the most advanced and capable Landsat spacecraft ever built. It should help the United States and other nations around the world monitor environmental change and better manage their natural resources, they say.

"LDCM will continue to describe the human impact on Earth and the impact of Earth on humanity, which is vital for accommodating seven billion people on our planet," LDCM project manager Ken Schwer, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., told reporters today (Feb. 8) during a prelaunch press briefing. [Photos: The Next Landsat Earth-Observing Spacecraft]

The $855 million LDCM mission is a collaboration between NASA and the United States Geological Survey, which will take over operations after the spacecraft's launch and initial checkouts. At that point, the satellite will be renamed Landsat 8.

Landsat 8 will zip around the Earth at an altitude of 438 miles (705 kilometers), using two sensors to study the planet's surface in the visible and infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The SUV-size satellite will achieve full Earth coverage every 16 days, though its work will lower this to once per eight days for the program overall. That's because Landsat 8 will fly eight days behind Landsat 7, which launched in 1999 and recently became the only currently operational Landsat spacecraft. (Landsat 5 retiredrecently after 29 years of service).

Landsat 8's observations will have a broad range of applications, from illuminating the impacts of climate change to monitoring agricultural output to helping authorities respond to natural disasters, scientists said.

"Landsat data is a global resource, empowering nations to individually monitor and report," said Mike Wulder of the Canadian Forest Service in Victoria, British Columbia. "Further, Landsat data allows us to see what the world looks like, and how it has changed over time."

The weather should be good at Vandenberg during Monday's launch window, officials said, but it hasn't been cooperating today. The mission team wanted to perform some ordnance connections on LDCM's launch vehicle, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, earlier today but were unable to do so because of the threat of lightning.

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NASA Poised to Launch Powerful New Earth-Watching Satellite Monday

A Conversation From Space: NASA #39;s Commander Ford Speaks Live with Indiana Senate

By: INSenateGOP

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A Conversation From Space: NASA's Commander Ford Speaks Live with Indiana Senate - Video

NASA OSIRIS Rex Targets Possible Impact Asteroids (NEO)s

By: Envylife904

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NASA OSIRIS Rex Targets Possible Impact Asteroids (NEO)s - Video

NASA P3-B flys over the Livermore Airport for DISCOVER-AQ
NASA P3-B flys over the Livermore Airport for DISCOVER-AQ Still photos: picasaweb.google.com

By: Su-Tzai Soong

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NASA P3-B flys over the Livermore Airport for DISCOVER-AQ - Video

NASA King Air B200 and AirSWOT instrument
Project Manager Walter Klein and AirSWOT Principal Investigator Delwyn Moller talk about the NASA King Air B200 and AirSWOT instrument. 33 NASA social media followers were invited to NASA #39;s Dryden Flight Research Center on January 25th 2012 to learn about the various aircraft NASA uses in the NASA Airborne Earth Science Program.

By: dothewww

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NASA King Air B200 and AirSWOT instrument - Video

NASA | Active Region Release Two CMEs
Active Region Release Two CMEs Solar material can be seen blowing off the sun in this video captured by NASA #39;s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) on the night of Feb. 5, 2013. This active region on the sun sent out two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that night. Credit: NASA/SDO

By: slickJR1000

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NASA | Active Region Release Two CMEs - Video

WATCH: NASA Legend Buzz Aldrin Spotted in Los Angeles
NASA Legend Buzz Aldrin was spotted Leaving Spargo Restaurant in LA Buzz is the second person to walk on the Moon. He was Apollo 11pilot!

By: UniquePeopleTube

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WATCH: NASA Legend Buzz Aldrin Spotted in Los Angeles - Video

There are few people more qualified than Jerry Ross to describe what it is like to launch into space.

Retired after three decades as a NASA astronaut, Ross flew into space a record seven times. Over the course of his nearly 1,400 hours orbiting Earth including almost 60 hours performing spacewalks Ross helped save and deploy one of NASA's four "great observatories," worked at two space stations, and served the U.S. Department of Defense on a classified shuttle mission that he still cannot talk to this day.

Ross recounts his experiences in his new autobiography, "Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA's Record-Setting Frequent Flyer" (Purdue University Press, 2013), co-authored with John Norberg.

collectSPACE.com, a SPACE.com partner site, recently spoke with Ross about writing "Spacewalker," his hopes for the book and his thoughts on the next generation of astronauts who will follow him into space, including perhaps his daughter.

collectSPACE (cS):What motivated you to write a book?

Jerry Ross: When I was down at the Cape, quite a few times while waiting for launches both as the leader of the 'Cape Crusaders' and then when I went back as the head of the VITT [Vehicle Integration Test Team], we'd have some periods of time waiting for something to happen and guys would kind of congregate around my office and we'd all tell stories. For years, the guys would tell me, 'Oh, that is a great story! You ought to write a book.' [Jerry Ross on NASA's Columbia Tragedy (Video)]

I always kind of somehow wanted to document what I had done in the space program, partly for my granddaughters who are too young to have experienced much about my flights at all. In 1998, I started getting into genealogy and that gave me a very good appreciation for people of earlier generations documenting things for following descendants.

So I ultimately decided before I retired that I would at least test the waters and see what it was like, if I could find somebody who would publish the book for me and things like that. Ultimately, it led to Purdue University. They were interested in publishing the book and helped provide John Norberg to be co-author with me and off and running we were.

I guess there's one other piece of the puzzle to it, too. My entire career as an astronaut, they sent me out on public affairs types of appearances all the time. And I tried to concentrate on going to schools as opposed to Rotary and things like that. I wanted to try to excite young people about figuring out what their god-given talents were, then make plans for themselves based on those talents, and how best to then hone those skills, not only for their own welfare but the betterment of mankind.

So that theme runs throughout the length of the book. It is something I hope parents will read and either talk to their kids about what I say or encourage the young people to read the book for themselves. [See a calendar of Jerry Ross book signing appearances.]

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NASA's Frequent-Flyer Astronaut Jerry Ross: 7 Spaceflights Were 'A Good Start'

Wind-Weighting Balloon Launch

On the night of Feb. 4, 2013, NASA Goddard scientists watched a lighted wind-weighting balloon launch to measure the winds and see if conditions were acceptable for a sounding rocket launch in Poker Flats, Alaska.

ISIONS Project Scientist Doug Rowland stands next to the payload during the final days of testing Poker Flats, Alaska before launch on Jan. 30, 2013.

A beautiful view with clear skies greeted the science team for NASA's VISIONS sounding rocket mission (VISualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral atom imaging during a Substorm) on Feb. 1, 2013.

This image shows a beautiful auroral display over Bear Lake, Alaska on Jan. 19, 2005.

The VISIONS instruments are shown here on the table as the team gets them ready for flight. This image was taken Feb. 5, 2013.

NASA's VISIONS (VISualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral atom imaging during a Substorm) sounding rocket will launch in early February, 2013, from the Poker Flat Research Range the entrance of which is shown here.

On the night of Feb. 2, 2013, a team of NASA scientists waited in Poker Flats, Alaska to see if conditions were right to launch the VISIONS sounding rocket mission (VISualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral atom imaging during a Substorm). The mission studies what makes the aurora, and how it affects Earths atmosphere.

A wind weighting balloon is launched to measure the winds on Feb. 4, 2013, at Poker Flats, Alaska in anticipation of the VISIONS (VISualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral atom imaging during a Substorm) sounding rocket launch.

Inside this geodesic dome is the 11-meter Universal Space Network (USN) Poker Flat Satellite Station antenna in Poker Flats, Alaska. This image was taken Feb. 5, 2013.

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NASA Rocket Launch Studies Northern Lights (Photos)