MARS - SKY NIGHTLY

Opportunity Completes In-Situ Work on 'Aguas Calientes'

Apr 03, 2018 (JPL)

The rover is positioned about halfway down the approximately 656 feet (200-meter) valley. Opportunity is investigating the surface target called, "Aguas Calient...

First test success for largest Mars mission parachute

Mar 29, 2018 (ESA)

The spacecraft that will carry them is due for launch in July 2020, with arrival at Mars in March 2021. The rover will be the first of its kind to drill below t...

Marsquakes could shake up planetary science

Mar 29, 2018 (JPL)

That's when NASA will send the first robotic lander dedicated to exploring the planet's subsurface. InSight, which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic...

Opportunity making extensive study of rock target Aguas Calientes

Mar 28, 2018 (SPX)

The rover is positioned about half way down the approximately 656 feet (200-meter) valley. Opportunity is engaged in an extensive in-situ (contact) science camp...

Curiosity rover gets ready for its next adventure

Mar 28, 2018 (JPL)

The mosaic was assembled from dozens of images taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam). It was taken on Sol 1931 in January 2018. Mount Sharp stands in the m...

Elon Musk's vision to colonize Mars updated in New Space

Mar 27, 2018 (SPX)

The article, a summary of Mr. Musk's presentation at the 68th International Astronautical Congress, is published in New Space, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary...

Sol 2000: Roving for 2000 Martian Days

Mar 23, 2018 (JPL)

In today's plan, Curiosity is continuing its exploration of past environments preserved within Gale crater, further examining the Vera Rubin Ridge. Curiosity is...

Instruments for next NASA mission to Mars being tested under Germany's Black Forest

Mar 23, 2018 (UPI)

Researchers are currently testing a replica of the probe's SEIS instrument package, a combination of six seismometers that will be used to study geologic struct...

Mars Curiosity Celebrates Sol 2,000

Mar 23, 2018 (JPL)

Looming over the image is Mount Sharp, the mound Curiosity has been climbing since September 2014. In the center of the image is the rover's next big, scientifi...

Martian oceans formed earlier but weren't as deep as previously thought, study finds

Mar 20, 2018 (UPI)

There is plenty of evidence that water existed in abundance on early Mars, but not everyone is convinced that the Red Planet hosted oceans. If Mars did feature ...

Opportunity Mars Rover brushes a new rock target

Mar 20, 2018 (JPL)

The rover is positioned about halfway down the approximately 656 feet (200 meter) valley. Opportunity is continuing the imaging survey at each rover location wi...

Mars' oceans formed early, possibly aided by massive volcanic eruptions

Mar 20, 2018 (SPX)

The proposal by geophysicists at the University of California, Berkeley, links the existence of oceans early in Mars history to the rise of the solar system's l...

Asteroids and comets shower Mars with organics

Mar 14, 2018 (SPX)

In 2015, the Mars rover Curiosity discovered remnants of organic molecules on Mars. Scientists wondered how these organic molecules had ended up on Mars. The pr...

Next NASA Mars Rover Reaches Key Manufacturing Milestone

Mar 14, 2018 (JPL)

The first planned ATLO activities will involve electrical integration of flight hardware into the mission's descent stage. The Mars 2020 rover, as well as its c...

Opportunity is Halfway Down the Valley

Mar 13, 2018 (JPL)

The rover is positioned about halfway down the approximately 656 feet (200 meter) valley. Opportunity is continuing the imaging survey at each rover location wi...

Travis AFB delivers NASA InSight Spacecraft

Mar 12, 2018 (AFNS)

"We can get into really small and diverse airfields, especially out of places like Florida and the West Coast, and the C-17 can get in there a lot easier than o...

360 Video: Tour a Mars Robot Test Lab

Mar 12, 2018 (JPL)

And like any crane game, practice makes it easier to capture the prize. Engineers and scientists have a replica of InSight at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory i...

The Case of the Martian Boulder Piles

Mar 07, 2018 (JPL)

The ground has parallel dark and light stripes from upper left to lower right in this area. In the dark stripes, we see piles of boulders at regular intervals. ...

Opportunity collects more 'Selfie' frames

Mar 07, 2018 (JPL)

The rover is positioned about half way down the approximately 656 feet (200 meter) valley. The rover started the week well, but things grew to be challenging. O...

Dyes for 'live' extremophile labeling will help discover life on Mars

Mar 02, 2018 (SPX)

Halophiles, which is the ancient Greek for "salt-loving," are microorganisms that thrive in high salt concentrations. Their ability to survive in hostile enviro...