MARS - SKY NIGHTLY

Jan 11, 2018 (ESA)

A researcher working with ESA has been investigating how lasers might be used in future space missions. "We fire a laser at a material of interest," explains Me...

Deep, buried glaciers spotted on Mars

Jan 11, 2018 (AFP)

Although ice has long been known to exist on Mars, a better understanding of its depth and location could be vital to future human explorers, said the report in...

Steep Slopes on Mars Reveal Structure of Buried Ice

Jan 11, 2018 (JPL)

These eight scarps, with slopes as steep as 55 degrees, reveal new information about the internal layered structure of previously detected underground ice sheet...

Our rover could discover life on Mars - here's what it would take to prove it

Jan 09, 2018 (SPX)

I am helping to develop one of the instruments for the ExoMars rover, which will be Europe's first attempt to land a mobile platform on the red planet. It will ...

Opportunity Takes Images Over the Holiday Period

Jan 09, 2018 (JPL)

The rover is positioned upstream of a fork in the flow channels. Over the holiday period Opportunity stayed in place collecting extensive Panoramic Camera (Panc...

Mars: Not as dry as it seems

Dec 27, 2017 (SPX)

Although today's Martian surface is barren, frozen and inhabitable, a trail of evidence points to a once warmer, wetter planet, where water flowed freely. The c...

Mars' surface water - the truth is out there

Dec 27, 2017 (SPX)

"The public's infatuation with finding life on Mars stems from the many characteristics both Earth and Mars share," says Dyck. "Early on, both planets had simil...

Opportunity takes extensive imagery to decide where to go next

Dec 26, 2017 (JPL)

The rover is positioned upstream of a fork in the flow channels. The team is collecting imagery to decide which fork, the north fork or the south fork, to explo...

Mars Mission Sheds Light on Habitability of Distant Planets

Dec 22, 2017 (SPX)

"The MAVEN mission tells us that Mars lost substantial amounts of its atmosphere over time, changing the planet's habitability," said David Brain, a MAVEN co-in...

Thirsty rocks may contain the missing water of Mars

Dec 20, 2017 (AFP)

Previous studies had concluded that the water was swept into space by powerful solar winds when the planet's magnetic field collapsed, while some was captured i...

A model of Mars-like protoplanets shed light on early solar activity

Dec 18, 2017 (SPX)

The team concluded that Mars had no chances to develop a thick atmosphere and biosphere. In the case of Venus it depended on solar activity: according to the sc...

Mars upside down

Dec 18, 2017 (ESA)

The image was taken on 19 June for calibrating the high-resolution stereo camera, while Mars Express was flying from north to south. The camera's nine channels ...

Planting oxygen ensures a breath of fresh air

Dec 17, 2017 (ESA)

Researchers are studying how photosynthesis - the process by which organisms convert light into energy, producing oxygen as a byproduct - takes place in space. ...

Opportunity Comes to a Fork in the Road

Dec 17, 2017 (JPL)

The rover continued with several days of collecting color, stereo, Panoramic Camera (Pancam) panoramas of the surrounding terrain. Then, on Sol 4934 (Dec. 10, 2...

Designing future human space exploration on Hawaii's lava fields

Dec 13, 2017 (SPX)

The conditions were so real that many of the expected challenges of otherworldly exploration were recreated, including a communications delay of several minutes...

Space program should focus on Mars, says editor of New Space

Dec 11, 2017 (SPX)

Scott Hubbard, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University and former director of NASA's Ames Research Center, re...

NASA's oldest Mars rover survives another harsh winter

Dec 07, 2017 (UPI)

Like Earth, Mars has a tilted axis. But because Mars takes longer to circle the sun, its seasons are nearly twice as long. With the sun hanging low and appearin...

Mars Rover Team's Tilted Winter Strategy Works

Dec 07, 2017 (JPL)

Before dust season will come the 14th Earth-year anniversaries of Mars landings by the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity in January 2004. Their missions were s...

Brown: Clay on Mars May Have Formed in Primordial Steam Bath

Dec 06, 2017 (SPX)

There are thousands of ancient phyllosilicate outcrops on the Martian surface. Phyllosilicates, or clays, are formed by the interaction of water with volcanic r...

Winter wanderings put Opportunity at 28 Miles on the odometer

Dec 04, 2017 (JPL)

Before moving to the next waypoint, the team commanded the rover on Sol 4916 (Nov. 21, 2017), to collect a Microscopic Image (MI) mosaic of a surface target, an...