MARS - SKY NIGHTLY

Opportunity Takes Advantage of her Location to do a Mini Science Campaign

Feb 07, 2017 (JPL)

Opportunity is located on the rim of Endeavour Crater, heading south. The rover is trying to make progress towards the next major scientific objective, the gull...

Curiosity rover sharpens paradox of ancient Mars

Feb 07, 2017 (JPL)

Mars scientists are wrestling with a problem. Ample evidence says ancient Mars was sometimes wet, with water flowing and pooling on the planet's surface. Yet, t...

UH research finds evidence of 2 billion years of volcanic activity on Mars

Feb 03, 2017 (SPX)

Analysis of a Martian meteorite found in Africa in 2012 has uncovered evidence of at least 2 billion years of volcanic activity on Mars. This confirms that some...

Swirling spirals at the north pole of Mars

Feb 03, 2017 (ESA)

A new mosaic from ESA's Mars Express shows off the Red Planet's north polar ice cap and its distinctive dark spiralling troughs. The mosaic was generated from 3...

UAE Aims to Launch Its First Ever Mars Mission in 2020

Feb 03, 2017 (Sputnik)

The United Arab Emirates has set an ambitious goal of sending nation's first mission to Mars in 2020, launching its unmanned orbiter from Japan's space center. ...

Meteorite reveals 2 billion years of volcanic activity on Mars

Feb 01, 2017 (UPI)

Mars may be home to some of the oldest volcanoes in the solar system. New evidence suggests the Red Planet has been home to volcanic activity for at least 2 bil...

Opportunity marks 13 years of ground operations on Mars

Jan 30, 2017 (JPL)

Opportunity celebrated her 13th birthday on Sol 4623 (January 24, 2017 PST). She spent it as she has most recent sols - heading south along the rim of Endeavour...

Jan 27, 2017 (JPL)

Thin, blade-like walls, some as tall as a 16-story building, dominate a previously undocumented network of intersecting ridges on Mars, found in images from NAS...

Commercial Crew's Role in Path to Mars

Jan 27, 2017 (SPX)

The spacecraft, rockets and associated systems in development for NASA's Commercial Crew Program are critical links in the agency's chain to send astronauts saf...

Bursts of methane may have warmed early Mars

Jan 25, 2017 (SPX)

The presence of water on ancient Mars is a paradox. There's plenty of geographical evidence that rivers periodically flowed across the planet's surface. Yet in ...

Long Eclipse Avoidance Manoeuvres Performed Successfully on MOM Spacecraft

Jan 24, 2017 (SPX)

An orbital manoeuvres was performed on Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft to avoid the impending long eclipse duration for the satellite. The duration of the...

Microbes could survive thin air of Mars

Jan 23, 2017 (SPX)

Microbes that rank among the simplest and most ancient organisms on Earth could survive the extremely thin air of Mars, a new study finds. The Martian surface i...

Mars rover Opportunity takes a drive up a steep slope

Jan 23, 2017 (JPL)

Opportunity is located on the rim of Endeavour Crater, heading south along the rim. The rover is trying to make progress towards the next major scientific objec...

Opportunity Continues Its Journey South Along Crater Rim

Jan 18, 2017 (JPL)

Opportunity is located on the rim of Endeavour Crater, heading south along the rim. The near-term plan is to reach a valley called 'Willamette' where grooves ar...

Mars Rover Curiosity Examines Possible Mud Cracks

Jan 18, 2017 (JPL)

Scientists used NASA's Curiosity Mars rover in recent weeks to examine slabs of rock cross-hatched with shallow ridges that likely originated as cracks in dryin...

HI-SEAS Mission V crew preparing to enter Mars simulation habitat

Jan 11, 2017 (SPX)

The crew has been selected, and research studies confirmed for the 2017 mission of the University of Hawai?i at Manoa's Hawai?i Space Exploration Analog and Sim...

New Year yields interesting bright soil for Opportunity rover

Jan 09, 2017 (JPL)

Opportunity is located on the rim of Endeavour crater, heading south along the rim. The near-term plan is to reach a valley called "Willamette" where grooves ar...

Hues in a Crater Slope

Jan 05, 2017 (SPX)

Impact craters expose the subsurface materials on the steep slopes of Mars. However, these slopes often experience rockfalls and debris avalanches that keep the...

3-D images reveal features of Martian polar ice caps

Jan 04, 2017 (SPX)

Three-dimensional subsurface images are revealing structures within the Martian polar ice caps, including previously obscured layering, a larger volume of froze...

Odyssey recovering from precautionary pause in activity

Jan 01, 2017 (JPL)

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, which has been in service at Mars since October 2001, put itself into safe mode - a protective standby status - on Dec. 26, while r...