MARS - SKY NIGHTLY

Europe, Russia embark on search for life on Mars

Mar 12, 2016 (AFP)

Europe and Russia are set to launch an unmanned spacecraft Monday to smell Mars' atmosphere for gassy evidence that life once existed on the Red Planet, or may ...

Intensive training for Mars voyage

Mar 10, 2016 (ESA)

With just days to go before the departure of ExoMars, mission teams are in the final stages of their months-long training that ensures everyone knows their job ...

Ten Years of Discovery by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Mar 10, 2016 (JPL)

True to its purpose, the big NASA spacecraft that began orbiting Mars a decade ago this week has delivered huge advances in knowledge about the Red Planet. NASA...

NASA targets May 2018 launch of Mars InSight mission

Mar 10, 2016 (JPL)

NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to study the deep interior of Mars is targeting a new lau...

Close comet flyby threw Mars' magnetic field into chaos

Mar 10, 2016 (SPX)

Just weeks before the historic encounter of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) with Mars in October 2014, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spa...

Mission to Mars brings Russia and Europe together

Mar 10, 2016 (Sputnik)

Despite the current tensions between Europe and Russia, its business as usual for Roscosmos and ESA on their joint Martian endeavor. Despite the current trouble...

NASA Announces Winning Concepts to Further its Journey to Mars

Mar 10, 2016 (SPX)

NASA has announced the winners of two challenges to create new concepts for construction and human habitation on future space exploration missions, including th...

Mars robot launch now scheduled for May 2018: NASA

Mar 09, 2016 (AFP)

The launch of a robot that will delve deep beneath the surface of Mars has been rescheduled for May 5, 2018, US space agency NASA said Wednesday. The InSight la...

Proton-M carrier rocket assembled ahead of Mars Mission

Mar 08, 2016 (Sputnik)

Roscosmos state corporation said that assembly of Russia's Proton-M carrier rocket has been concluded ahead of a joint Russian-European launch of a Mars orbiter...

Great tilt gave Mars a new face

Mar 04, 2016 (SPX)

The surface of the planet Mars tilted by 20 to 25 degrees 3 to 3.5 billion years ago. This was caused by a massive volcanic structure, the Tharsis volcanic dome...

Space simulation crew hits halfway mark til August re-entry

Mar 04, 2016 (SPX)

The six crew members of the fourth Hawai?i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or HI-SEAS, have spent more than six months of their 12-month mission in a s...

SSL developing robotic sample handling assembly for Mars 2020

Mar 02, 2016 (SPX)

Space Systems Loral (SSL), a leading provider of commercial satellites, has announced it will design and build a robotic Sample Handling Assembly (SHA) for NASA...

Monster volcano gave Mars extreme makeover: study

Mar 02, 2016 (AFP)

A volcano on Mars half the size of France spewed so much lava 3.5 billion years ago that the weight displaced the Red Planet's outer layers, according to a stud...

Rover begins contact science of rock target on Knudsen Ridge

Mar 01, 2016 (JPL)

Opportunity is exploring 'Marathon Valley' on the rim of Endeavour crater. The rover is up on the very steep slopes of 'Knudsen Ridge.' Opportunity has begun th...

MAVEN Observes Mars Moon Phobos in the Mid- and Far-Ultraviolet

Mar 01, 2016 (SPX)

NASA scientists are closer to solving the mystery of how Mars' moon Phobos formed. In late November and early December 2015, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile...

Revisit NASA's Mars Pathfinder and Rover In 360 Viewer

Feb 29, 2016 (JPL)

You can explore the landing site of NASA's Pathfinder mission with your mouse or mobile device. This 360-degree view uses images taken in 1997 displayed using p...

Opportunity Mars Rover Goes Six-Wheeling up a Ridge

Feb 26, 2016 (JPL)

NASA's senior Mars rover, Opportunity, is working adeptly in some of the most challenging terrain of the vehicle's 12 years on Mars, on a slope of about 30 degr...

Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli are joined

Feb 22, 2016 (ESA)

The Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli are now in their launch configuration. The ExoMars 2016 spacecraft will remain united until 16 October, when the entry, d...

Jarosite in the Noctis Labyrinthus Region of Mars

Feb 22, 2016 (JPL)

This image, acquired on Nov. 24, 2015 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the wes...

Footprints of a martian flood

Feb 22, 2016 (ESA)

Water has left its mark in a variety of ways in this martian scene captured by ESA's Mars Express. The region lies on the western rim of an ancient large impact...