[Wednesday, March 1, 2006] The CCSDS today reported that NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers are using the CCSDS Proximity-1 data communications protocol to send back significantly more scientific data to Earth than originally planned.

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[Wednesday, March 1, 2006] NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit recorded this view while approaching the northwestern edge of "Home Plate," a circular plateau-like area of bright, layered outcrop material roughly 80 meters (260 feet) in diameter.

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[Wednesday, March 1, 2006] In a race to collect as much scientific data as possible before the onset of Martian winter, Spirit climbed to the top of "Home Plate" and acquired images of the surrounding terrain.

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[Wednesday, March 1, 2006] After completing work at the outcrop called "Olympia," Opportunity proceeded around the western edge of "Erebus Crater" toward an outcrop dubbed "Payson."

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[Friday, March 3, 2006] NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter begins the most critical minutes of its flight on March 10. NASA is providing mission briefings and commentary March 8 and 10.

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[Saturday, March 4, 2006] "I cordially invite you to attend the next meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), scheduled for April 19-20, 2006 at the Holiday Inn in Monrovia, California (close to JPL). "

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[Sunday, March 5, 2006] After completing work at the outcrop called "Olympia," Opportunity proceeded around the western edge of "Erebus Crater" toward an outcrop dubbed "Payson."

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[Sunday, March 5, 2006] Spirit successfully completed four Martian days, or sols, of driving clockwise around the rim of "Home Plate" toward the south and east. The rover is currently spending three sols studying a rock target called "Fuzzy Smith".

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[Tuesday, March 7, 2006] HiRISE scientists will power the HiRISE camera the week of March 20, and it will begin taking pictures 18 hours later. The HiRISE camera will take pictures during two orbits.

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[Tuesday, March 7, 2006] These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, show the eastern scarp of the Olympus Mons volcano on Mars.

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[Tuesday, March 7, 2006] Two Mars orbiter missions - one from NASA, the other from the European Space Agency (ESA) - will open new vistas in the exploration of Mars through the use of sophisticated ground-penetrating radars.

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[Thursday, March 9, 2006] NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has begun its final approach to the red planet after activating a sequence of commands designed to get the spacecraft successfully into orbit.

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[Friday, March 10, 2006] Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is safely in Mars orbit. The shouted phrase "Right on the Money" could be heard repeatedly from excited folks in Mission Control.

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[Saturday, March 11, 2006] NASA/GSFC intends to purchase the items from Schlumberger, Princeton Technology Center (SPTC) in accordance with the requirements of FAR 13.106, for the acquisition of supplies or services determined to be reasonably available from only one source.

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[Monday, March 13, 2006] A new planet-spanning Web site, Google Mars launches today on what would have been Mars astronomer Percival Lowell's 151st birthday.

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[Monday, March 13, 2006] The panoramic camera aboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity acquired this panorama of the "Payson" outcrop on the western edge of "Erebus" Crater during Opportunity's sol 744 (Feb. 26, 2006).

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[Monday, March 13, 2006] NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit acquired this high-resolution view of intricately layered exposures of rock while parked on the northwest edge of the bright, semi-circular feature known as "Home Plate."

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[Monday, March 13, 2006] Since backing down from the top of "Home Plate" on Martian day, or sol, 764 (Feb. 25, 2006), Spirit has driven southeast 103 meters (338 feet) toward "McCool Hill."

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[Monday, March 13, 2006] Opportunity is healthy and making its way south along the "Payson" outcrop of "Erebus Crater." The traverse paths are known within the team as "half-pipes," after the popular Olympic event.

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[Monday, March 13, 2006] A new view of the biggest canyon in the solar system, merging hundreds of photos from NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, offers scientists and the public an online resource for exploring the entire canyon in detail.

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[Thursday, March 16, 2006] If you're a scientist studying the surface of Mars, few discoveries could be more exciting than seeing recent gullies apparently formed by running water.

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[Friday, March 17, 2006] NASA Headquarters will conduct a Lessons Learned Workshop for PI-Led Planetary Science Missions in anticipation of the upcoming Mars Scout Announcement of Opportunity (AO).

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[Friday, March 17, 2006] John Callas was named project manager after earlier roles as science manager and deputy project manager for the Spirit and Opportunity rovers.

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[Saturday, March 18, 2006] For the past several weeks, Spirit has been examining spectacular layered rocks exposed at "Home Plate." Before departing, Spirit took this image showing some of the most complex layering patterns seen so far at this location.

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[Saturday, March 18, 2006] Spirit continued to make progress toward "McCool Hill" despite a reduction in solar energy and problems with the right front wheel. The team plans to have the rover spend the winter on the hill's north-facing slopes.

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[Saturday, March 18, 2006] Opportunity is healthy and making its way south along the "Payson" outcrop of "Erebus Crater." The traverse paths are known within the team as "half-pipes," after the popular Olympic event.

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[Saturday, March 18, 2006] This image shows a portion of the south polar residual cap. The darkened edges of the pits and mesas are evidence of the removal - by sublimation - of frozen carbon dioxide during the recent martian summer.

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[Saturday, March 18, 2006] This video and accompanying images, taken by Mars Express, show an unusual flow deposit on the floors of two adjacent impact craters in the eastern Hellas Planitia region, indicating possible glacial processes.

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[Sunday, March 19, 2006] "I have a passion for exploration, and I have a weakness. When I see something like Columbia Hills, I have a need to look over that hill. It's a real challenge because you set limits for yourself."

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[Sunday, March 19, 2006] This image shows a partially-buried crater in the north polar region of Mars. The circular feature is surrounded and partly overlain by some of the many, many sand dunes in the area.

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[Monday, March 20, 2006] The origin of the flows is not well-understood, but as some Mars scientists have suggested, the flows may be the product of low viscosity, high temperature volcanic eruptions, or perhaps they are the remains of large-scale mud flows.

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[Monday, March 20, 2006] Opportunity has finished science observations at the "Payson" outcrop. Since the rover was operating in restricted mode, the team could plan a drive only every other day.

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[Tuesday, March 21, 2006] This picture is a composite of daily global images acquired at Ls 25 degrees during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 25 degrees occurs in mid-March 2006. The picture shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars.

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[Tuesday, March 21, 2006] The purpose is to identify & evaluate potential landing sites best suited to achieving mission science objectives within the constraints imposed by engineering requirements, planetary protection requirements, and the necessity of ensuring a safe landing.

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[Tuesday, March 21, 2006] The University of Arizona's High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled to take its first images of Mars at 9:41 p.m. Mountain Time Thursday night, March 23.

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[Wednesday, March 22, 2006] This Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera image shows dark sand dunes and relatively small, light-toned, windblown ripples on the floor of a crater in central Noachis Terra.

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[Wednesday, March 22, 2006] Since the mid-1990s a great debate has raged over whether organic compounds and tiny globules of carbonate minerals imbedded in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001 were processed by living creatures from the Red Planet.

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[Wednesday, March 22, 2006] An international team of scientists has developed techniques to detect miniscule amounts of biological remains, dubbed biosignatures, in the frozen Mars-like terrain of Svalbard

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[Thursday, March 23, 2006] This workshop will focus on understanding how to interpret martian sulfate minerals in the larger pictures of Mars: its present surface environment, its geological and chemical histories, and the targets for its future exploration.

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[Thursday, March 23, 2006] This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a tongue of debris at the base of the wall of a large crater in Terra Tyrrhena.

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[Thursday, March 23, 2006] A new study of a meteorite that originated from Mars has revealed a series of microscopic tunnels that are similar in size, shape and distribution to tracks left on Earth rocks by feeding bacteria.

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[Friday, March 24, 2006] This view shows the ground covered in the first image of Mars taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

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[Friday, March 24, 2006] This view shows a full-resolution portion of the first image of Mars taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

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[Friday, March 24, 2006] This map shows Spirit's progress over the past several weeks as well as its next destination - to overwinter on a slope at Korolev.

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[Friday, March 24, 2006] This map shows Opportunity's progress over the past several weeks as well as its next destination - the large crater Victoria.

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[Friday, March 24, 2006] While driving eastward toward the northwestern flank of "McCool Hill," the wheels of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit churned up the largest amount of bright soil discovered so far in the mission.

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[Saturday, March 25, 2006] This image shows a spectacular summertime view of a portion of the south polar residual cap. Large, semi-continuous mesas are separated by circular and other oddly-shaped depressions.

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[Saturday, March 25, 2006] This image shows a relatively fresh crater with dark, rayed ejecta on an upland plain above one of the many depressions in the eastern Labyrinthus Noctis region.

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[Sunday, March 26, 2006] This image shows a portion of the stair-stepped, north wall of a crater in Arabia Terra. Light-toned slope streaks have formed as a result of avalanches in the dry, dark dust that mantles both the crater and its adjacent terrain in this scene.

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[Tuesday, March 28, 2006] This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dust plumes created by gusting winds on a plain southwest of Argyre Planitia.

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[Tuesday, March 28, 2006] This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 25 degrees during a previous Mars year.

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[Wednesday, March 29, 2006] This image shows a portion of the northern wall complex of a crater in northwest Terra Sirenum. Several spectacular gully networks extend from a variety of elevations on the wall and run downslope toward the crater floor (bottom of image).

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[Wednesday, March 29, 2006] Students are invited to submit their ideas for an UAV suitable for exploring Mars – the best designs will win a place at the Euroavia Design Workshop to be held at the Erasmus User Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, between 16 July and 5 August 2006.

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[Wednesday, March 29, 2006] The flight team continues to investigate the right front wheel anomaly on Spirit. A diagnostic test conducted at a different temperature than earlier testing continued to indicate an open circuit condition for the wheel.

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[Wednesday, March 29, 2006] Opportunity is healthy and making progress away from "Erebus Crater." This week the rover drove nearly 180 meters (591 feet).

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[Thursday, March 30, 2006] NASA leadership is laying the groundwork for an American space science program in permanent retreat. Research and analysis programs are being cut by more than 25% through the 2006 and 2007 budgets to help pay for human spaceflight.

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[Thursday, March 30, 2006] This image shows a valley which has become partially-filled with material. It is located west of Hellas Planitia. The valley, entering the scene from the east (right), turns toward the southwest (lower left) and splits to form a "V".

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[Thursday, March 30, 2006] These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, show the region of Libya Montes, south of the Isidis Planitia impact basin on Mars.

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