The Martian Marathon
Twin rovers on opposite sides of the planet have nearly opposite terrain in front of them. Spirit looks to climb the largest hills in sight, while Opportunity looks to descend into the largest crater in sight. As Spirit has already exceeded twice its nominal lifespan, the surprising images continue to roll in from the red planet.

Mars: Can You Hear Me Now?
Scientists augmenting the ergonomics of both mission controllers and future astronauts have prototyped an aid for picking up a subvocal muscle movement and translating that into computer commands. While not exactly reading one's mind, it does offer hope for controlling future operations even in a noisy flight tower.

Mars Horizon, the Big Plans
The future of Mars missions hinges on a launch window about every 26 months. The next generation of robotic explorers will take new instruments and exploration strategies to the red planet this decade.

Mariners to the Red Planet
When Mariner IV took the first close views of Mars, the person charged with camera-tracking the planet was JPL's William Momsen. As the first step towards the outer reaches of our solar system, the Mariner series proved that interplanetary missions were possible. Momsen shares his personal reflections on the mission that showed us frost on craters, Martian clouds and some hints as to the fate of surface water.

Roam in a Day
Four prominent scientists are represented on the new Presidential commission chartered to study how best to plan a moon to Mars initiative. The commissioners repeated a need for crafting sustained efforts, while also considering an off-charter topic of how to sustain interest in space astronomy after the Hubble telescope is de-orbited in 2007.

Twin Rovers, Parallel Parking
For the Spirit rover on one side of the martian equator, science resumed with preparations to put a diamond drill up against a volcanic rock called Adirondack. For the Opportunity rover on the other side of the planet, the 'mission success', full color panorama shows not only how it got itself into a crater, but also what may resemble a famous optimization problem: how to sample the most spots with the least traveling effort.

Opportunity Knocks, Spirit Responds
Getting the first picture back in a week from Spirit has the rover team hopeful that the problems with software resets and a lack of commandability may have stemmed from too many files on board the spacecraft.

Follow the Fire
Among those primordial elements critical for life, water has been considered the one in short supply on Mars. But even as scientists adopt the theme to 'follow the water', another element, geothermal heat, may offer interesting exploration opportunities. Astrobiology Magazine interviewed Buffalo volcanologist, Tracy Gregg, about landing on a martian volcano.

Spirit Condition Serious
An anomaly team has been huddled to determine the current state of the Spirit rover's health. They estimate days to weeks before a final operational diagnosis can be completed. Using the constellation of orbiting cameras, the first image of the lander's parachute, heat shield, and the Columbia Memorial Station shows their locations from 400 kilometer altitude.

Spirit Scientists Plot a Course
The first thing on Thursday that the Spirit rover will do after getting all six wheels on the ground is sample the soil in the immediate vicinity of its base petal. Once that task is complete, Spirit will head out toward a nearby crater and eventually to the hills to test theories of aqueous martian minerals or an ancient lakebed.