From MSNBC

"NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has begun using a special rasp tool to shave off bits of the hard icy material on the Martian ground.

The rasp is a motorized tool attached to the back of the lander's robotic arm scoop, which scientists hope will be able to grind enough ice off the ground to eventually use as a sample in Phoenix's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) oven instrument."

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From Space.com

"A lot more Martian rocks were altered by water than scientists originally thought, suggesting that early Mars was a very wet place.

New observations made by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), currently circling the planet, have revealed evidence that vast regions of the southern highlands of Mars were altered by water in a variety of environments billions of years ago."

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Take your own flyby of the giant Tycho crater on the Moon!

Thanks to Japan's Kaguya lunar orbiter - reaching its nominal observation orbit around the Moon mid-October of 2007 -- numbers of fascinating, up-close pics of the lunar landscape are being taken.

A new one that's up from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is of Tycho - and it can be viewed at:

http://wms.selene.jaxa.jp/data/jpn/tc/012/tc_012_a_l.jpg

Better yet...if you want to zoom over the site, just fly your Internet connection to:

http://wms.selene.jaxa.jp/data/jpn/tc/012/tycho_20mbps.html

And while you're doing your lunar swing-bys, also check out a new image snapped of the Apollo 17 landing site!

That mission took place in December 1972 - quite a long time ago. But get a fresh look at their exploration zone by going to:

http://wms.kaguya.jaxa.jp/data/en/tc/009/tc_009.jpg

Happy viewing!

-- Leonard David

If you want a front-row seat of how the Moon looks as it passes in front of the Earth...well, look no more.

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has relayed back to Earth a video of this space scenic event - a video that also helps scientists to develop techniques to study alien worlds.

The NASA Deep Impact spacecraft is the first to show a transit of Earth with enough detail to see large craters on the Moon, as well as oceans and continents on Earth.

Therefore, the video is a good primer on how to detect vegetated land masses on far-away, extrasolar planets. That is, the video sharpens our thinking about how to look for variations in the intensity of vegetated land masses in the near-infrared as an extrasolar planet rotates.

By the way, look for a "sun glint" in the movie, caused by light reflected from Earth's oceans. Similar glints gleaned in the future as spacecraft look for extrasolar planets orbiting their home star could indicate alien oceans!

It's important to remember that Deep Impact already made history: On July 4, 2005, the Ball Aerospace-built spacecraft unleashed an impactor that smashed into comet Tempel 1. Following that "worlds in collision" event, NASA decided to extend the mission to strive for a flyby of comet Hartley 2 in early November 2010.

That extended mission is called Epoxi - a name created from the melding of the two extended mission components - a search for extra-solar planets and the flyby of comet Hartley 2.

To get Epoxi, think Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization, or EPOCh and the comet flyby that's tagged as Deep Impact eXtended Investigation, or DIXI for short. Go figure!

This new video of Earth and the Moon was made by the Deep Impact spacecraft en route to its distant flyby of comet Hartley 2 - some two years from now.

So...long winded way for you to take a look yourself at the impressive video of the Moon transiting the Earth by going to:

http://www.nasa.gov/mov/260503main_red_green_blue2.mov

-- Leonard David

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have fleshed out possible programs and technologies that if done together might support a human outpost on the Moon.

That assessment has been underway over the last six months. Teams of experts from NASA and ESA weighed in on various lunar exploration concepts that could complement, augment, or enhance the exploration plans of one another.

Both ESA capabilities as well as NASA's Ares I and Ares V -- the set of Constellation boosters now under development -- were reviewed in the joint assessment.

ESA program officials included in their study potential future use of an automated, Ariane 5-based lunar cargo landing system, as well as ESA-developed lunar surface hardware, such as habitation and mobility systems.

In an ESA-released statement today, Geoff Yoder, Directorate Integration Office Director of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate said: "As future exploration plans mature around the world, it is becoming increasingly important that we seek compatibilities between NASA's plans and those of its potential future partners."

Bruno Gardini, ESA Exploration Program Manager added that ESA is preparing itself to make decisions that will "mark Europe's role in human spaceflight and exploration for the decades to come."

Gardini said that the Moon serves as an important case study and a useful test bed to ready plans and technology for more distant destinations.

-- Leonard David