#squyres

[cornellcas]

“There was something about seeing that number with the 4 and all those zeros and realizing, 'Okay, we are today planning Sol 4000.' You kind of go, 'Really?  Wow! We just cracked 4,000. I don't know what else to say other than it’s astonishing and gratifying at the same time.”

Steve Squyres, astronomy professor and principal investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover project, commenting on the 4000th sol or Martian day of surface operations. 

[cornellcas]

Squyres visits Charleston for rover presentation

Astronomy Prof. Steven Squyres will talk about the epic Mars Exploration Rover Project during a visit to the University of Charleston this week. that sent two robotic explorers to the surface of Mars.

“They changed my life around. I thought I would work on these things for a few months. But today, 11 1/2 years later, we are still operatings,” Squyres said in this interview. Read more about his visit.

[cornellcas]

This is Mars, the object of our affection. It is a terrible place. If you went there, you would absolutely hate it.”

Steve Squyres, professor of astronomy and principal investigator on the Mars Rover projects, talking about the planet at a Phi Beta Kappa lecture Wednesday. 

[cornellcas]

Squyres to lecture April 15

Prof. Steven W. Squyres has just been announced as this semester’s Phi Beta Kappa Distinguished Faculty Invitational Lecturer. His lecture, “Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Explorations of the Red Planet,” is Wednesday April 15 at 4:30 in Lewis Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall and is free and all are welcome.

This lecture will discuss the possibilities of Mars having ever had the resources vital for life. Squyres’s is known for his research of Mars and the moons of outer planets.

Read more in this Ithaca Times story.

[cornellcas]

"I'm convinced that continued funding of Opportunity is warranted, and I'm not alone. The rover is in excellent health, and is poised now just outside Marathon Valley, where orbital data indicate significant concentrations of clay minerals that could provide evidence for past habitable environments. The prospects for important discoveries there and beyond are good."

Steve Squyres, astronomy professor and principal investigator on Opportunity, responding to reports about forthcoming NASA budget cuts proposed by President Obama for 2016. 

[cornellcas]

New analyses of Martian maps suggest water bound to sulfates

A research team including Professor Steve Squyres of the Department of Astronomy and led by LSU Geology and Geophysics Assistant Professor Suniti Karunatillake has found a spatial association between the presence of sulfur and hydrogen found in Martian soil.

The work may identify hydrous iron sulfates as key carriers of H2O in bulk martian soil. The team suggests that further observations by the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater could move forward models of aqueous processes on Mars. 

[colocal]

Experts: Resort party culture promotes drug, alcohol use | colorado.allembru.com

[cornellcas]

Mars rover treks to next clay mine

The latest update from the Mars Rover includes news about the Rover’s trek out of its winter grounds in April. Its next journey will be south at Endeavour Crater, along Murray Ridge toward outcrops that harbor clay minerals and evidence of ancient warmer, wetter, habitable environments.

Cornell astronomer Steve Squyres, a principal investigator on the Rover Opportunity project, says the Rover is about to break a distance record held by the Russian space program for the past 40 years.