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Innovation, exploration, discovery

Space exploration at Arizona State University has reached new heights, particularly with recent successful Mars Exploration Rover landings on the red planet. Numerous ASU researchers are involved in NASA projects, including the landing of the rovers, which are named Spirit and Opportunity. Most notable recently has been the work of ASU Professor Philip Christensen, who is in charge of the Mini Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) on board Spirit and Opportunity. Mini-TES is a high-tech robotic geologist capable of identifying minerals at a distance. It’s the culmination of a series of similar instruments he has developed, and may have the biggest science payoffs yet. For more information on ASU’s space exploration and discovery programs, please link to the stories and sites found on this page.

	First Mineral Map of a Mars Landscape - NASA released this spectacular image taken by the Mini-TES instrument on the Opportunity Rover, directed by ASU geologist Philip Christensen. Read more
	Leshin named to Presidential Commission - President George W. Bush has named Arizona State University Professor of Geological Sciences Laurie Leshin to the President's Commission on the Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy, a commission that he announced would be formed in a speech on January 14. Read more
	Opportunity Lands - On Saturday, January 24, at 10:05pm Arizona time, the Opportunity Rover, the second of NASA’s twin Mars Exploration Rovers (MER), landed on a very interesting part of Mars known as Meridiani Planum. Read more
	Mars Research on National Stage - ASU Mars research is front and center for the American public, as the cover article of the January 2004 issue of National Geographic Magazine features images and findings from the THEMIS instrument on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, currently orbiting Mars. Read more