MARS - SKY NIGHTLY

Opportunity Does a Wheelie and is Back on Solid Footing

Nov 06, 2017 (JPL)

The rover is investigating a site where there is evidence of scouring, by wind or otherwise. On Sol 4890 (Oct. 26, 2017), Opportunity bumped uphill about 13 fee...

Martian Ridge Brings Out Rover's Color Talents

Nov 02, 2017 (JPL)

These capabilities go beyond the thousands of full-color images Curiosity takes every year: The rover can look at Mars with special filters helpful for identify...

Next Mars Rover Will Have 23 'Eyes'

Nov 01, 2017 (JPL)

Since then, camera technology has taken a quantum leap. Photo sensors that were improved by the space program have become commercially ubiquitous. Cameras have ...

Winters on Mars are shaping the Red Planet's landscape

Oct 30, 2017 (SPX)

The research was led by a Trinity College Dublin team comprising PhD candidate in the School of Natural Sciences, Lauren Mc Keown, and Dr Mary Bourke, along wit...

Levitation Key to How Martian Landscapes Form

Oct 30, 2017 (SPX)

Experiments carried out in the OU Mars Simulation Chamber - specialised equipment that is able to simulate the atmospheric conditions on Mars - reveal that Mars...

In desert of Oman, a gateway to life on Mars

Oct 30, 2017 (AFP)

The "analog astronauts" of the Austrian Space Forum -- a volunteer-based collective -- have arrived in Oman to begin preparations for a four-week simulation mis...

Winters leave marks on Mars' sand dunes

Oct 27, 2017 (UPI)

Much science has been devoted to the events and processes that shaped the Martian surface millions of years ago, but a team of scientists at the University of D...

Mars Rover Mission Progresses Toward Resumed Drilling

Oct 24, 2017 (JPL)

The five-year-old mission is still several months from the soonest possible resumption of drilling into Martian rocks. Managers are enthusiastic about successfu...

Opportunity spends the week imaging Perseverance Valley

Oct 23, 2017 (JPL)

Although winter conditions are constraining activity, rover energy production has improved slightly, and more of the earlier relay passes from the Mars Reconnai...

Mine craft for Mars

Oct 23, 2017 (ESA)

For two weeks, nearly 30 scientists and instrument specialists are venturing deep below for the fifth Mine Analogue Research sortie. "Some of the most exciting ...

MAVEN finds Mars has a twisted tail

Oct 20, 2017 (SPX)

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft is in orbit around Mars gathering data on how the Red Planet lost much of its atmospher...

A mission to Mars could make its own oxygen thanks to plasma technology

Oct 19, 2017 (SPX)

It suggests that Mars, with its 96 per cent carbon dioxide atmosphere, has nearly ideal conditions for creating oxygen from CO2 through a process known as decom...

Solar eruptions could electrify Martian moons

Oct 19, 2017 (SPX)

Phobos has been considered as a possible initial base for human exploration of Mars because its weak gravity makes it easier to land spacecraft, astronauts and ...

Recent drive improves energy levels of Opportunity rover on Mars

Oct 18, 2017 (JPL)

The cold, low-light winter conditions continue to constrain activity, although with a recent drive, energy levels have improved slightly. Sol 4873 (Oct. 8, 2017...

Study shows how water could have flowed on 'cold and icy' ancient Mars

Oct 18, 2017 (SPX)

A recent study led by Brown University geologists offers a potential bridge between the "warm and wet" story told by Martian geology and the "cold and icy" past...

Webcam on Mars Express surveys high-altitude clouds

Oct 18, 2017 (ESA)

The low-resolution camera was originally installed on Mars Express for visual confirmation that the Beagle-2 lander had separated in 2003. In 2007 it was switch...

What NASA's simulated missions tell us about the need for Martian law

Oct 16, 2017 (SPX)

NASA, which aims to send expeditions to Mars by the 2030s, is hoping that the results could help them pick crew members for a future mission to Mars. And it's n...

Mimetic Martian water is under pressure

Oct 16, 2017 (SPX)

Martian soil samples gathered by the Phoenix Lander in 2009 found calcium and powerful oxidants, including magnesium perchlorate. This fuelled speculation that ...

Debate over Mars exploration strategy heats up in astrobiology journal

Oct 16, 2017 (SPX)

Arguments to ease policies and expand the search for life on Mars "before it is too late," together with a rebuttal of these views from the current and former N...

Mimetic Martian water is highly pressurized, experiments show

Oct 13, 2017 (UPI)

New research suggests a solution dubbed "mimetic Martian water" could flow on and beneath the Red Planet's crust. Such a solution could explain the channeling, ...