Texas Tech Professor Aides Mars Rover - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

A big announcement from NASA on Tuesday. One of its Mars rovers found evidence of water; enough to possibly support life on the planet.

Mars Exploration Rover Photo Moblog Take a tour of the red planet with the rest of the world. Check out the latest photos as they come in.

Mission control is able to communicate with both rovers on Mars 156 million miles away from Earth. One Texas Tech professor had a hand in developing that communication software program for NASA. His program was used in the design of the rovers.

"Some of what we did is actually more to do with what happens on Earth during one of these missions and before the missions. So, for example we developed intelligence systems to help arbitrate discussions" stated Daniel Cooke, TTU Computer Science Chairman and Researcher.

Cooke is working on advanced computer software technology at Texas Tech to enhance the rover's exploration on future missions.