Scheduled for launch in 2003, two NASA rovers will set out to explore Mars and determine whether water ever existed on the planet. This is the home page of the Mars rovers, and it has a great deal of information about the specifications and technology of the missions. Detailed descriptions of the scientific instruments equipped on each rover are provided. Color diagrams show the main components of...

The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft (discussed in the November 8, 1996 Scout Report) reached Mars orbit on September 11, 1997 in preparation for mapping the planet. This site is highlighted by real time updates, flight status reports, telemetry information, and an annotated QuickTime movie, as well as several images of Mars taken from MGS. After orbit insertion, a period of "aerobraking,"...

The rock that rocked the world is the subject of many new sites this week. Follow the debate about life on Mars by visiting the CNN special site devoted to the discovery. In addition to articles, audio, and video, this page provides links to many official and non-official sites about this discovery, Mars, and even meteorites in general (including Meteorite Central, which accepts advertisements for...

Created by two NASA scientists and selected as one of the Exploratorium in San Franciso's "Ten Cool Sites", the Exploration of Earth's Magnetosphere is a great learning site. Before diving into detailed descriptions of "the Earth's environment in space," readers can learn about the history of the site as well as the history of research about the magnetosphere. The Overview also provides a glossary...