The head of NASA's Mars program on Wednesday challenged researchers from Southwest Research Institute to contribute ideas and technology toward a "scientific assault" of the Red Planet in this decade and beyond. Orlando Figueroa, director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Mars Exploration Program, was the keynote speaker at a two-day workshop on Mars experiments and technologies at the San Antonio research facility. The workshop is part of the institute's self-funded $2.4 million initiative to build Mars expertise in such fields as space science, materials, geochemistry, instrumentation and vehicle and power-supply research. James L. Burch, vice president of the...