MARS - SKY NIGHTLY

Could Water Have Carved Channels On Mars Half A Million Years Ago?

Mar 20, 2015 (SPX)

Could water have carved channels on Mars as recently as 500,000 years ago? If that's the case, it would boost the case for relatively recent life on the Red Pla...

MARSDROP Microprobes Could Expand Spacecraft Mission Capabilities

Mar 19, 2015 (SPX)

Microprobes that piggyback on Mars-bound spacecraft could investigate areas currently unavailable to surface instruments, a Planetary Science Institute research...

NASA Spacecraft Detects Aurora and Mysterious Dust Cloud around Mars

Mar 19, 2015 (JPL)

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has observed two unexpected phenomena in the Martian atmosphere: an unexplained high-altitude d...

Scientists fly kites on Earth to study Mars

Mar 17, 2015 (SPX)

Scientists of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory have taken to kites that they fly above lava flows blanketing the Hawaiian landscape to...

Irish Mars trip finalist casts doubt on project

Mar 17, 2015 (AFP)

An Irish finalist for the audacious Mars One project to start a human colony on the red planet predicted the plan would fall "on its face" on Tuesday. Joseph Ro...

Curiosity Rover Arm Delivers Rock Powder Sample

Mar 16, 2015 (JPL)

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its robotic arm Wednesday, March 11, to sieve and deliver a rock-powder sample to an onboard instrument. The sample was collect...

Opportunity sampling continues at Marathon Valley

Mar 16, 2015 (JPL)

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater near "Marathon Valley," a putative location for abundant clay minerals now only about 394 feet (120 meters) a...

Crossing the boundary from high to low on Mars

Mar 16, 2015 (ESA)

On the boundary between the heavily cratered southern highlands and the smooth northern lowlands of Mars is an area rich in features sculpted by water and ice. ...

Roscosmos: Manned Flight to Mars Will Be Impossible Without Russia's Help

Mar 15, 2015 (Sputnik)

Roscosmos spokesperson Igor Bourenkov said Thursday that ambitious projects involving manned trips to deep space, including Mars, will have to be international ...

NASA Challenge Invites Students to Help Design Journey to Mars Systems

Mar 13, 2015 (SPX)

College students have the opportunity to be at the forefront of innovation for NASA's journey to Mars by designing systems for future space habitats and explora...

Mystery Giant Mars Plumes Still Unexplained

Mar 11, 2015 (SPX)

On Feb. 16, an international group of researchers proposed new hypotheses about some unusual plumes spotted by amateur astronomers on Mars in 2012. The plumes w...

Taking a Closer Look at Purple-Bluish Rock Formation

Mar 11, 2015 (JPL)

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater near "Marathon Valley," a putative location for abundant clay minerals now only about 394 feet (120 meters) a...

Have you ever used a camera on board an interplanetary spacecraft

Mar 10, 2015 (ESA)

In May, the 'webcam' on board Mars Express will be available for public imaging requests. We're inviting schools, science clubs and youth groups to submit propo...

Revolutionary Engine Could Fuel Human Life on Mars

Mar 09, 2015 (Sputnik)

Thanks to groundbreaking research at Northumbria University in Newcastle, England, those who wish to one day colonize Mars have a new technique at their disposa...

Use of Rover Arm Expected to Resume in a Few Days

Mar 09, 2015 (JPL)

Managers of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover mission expect to approve resumption of rover arm movements as early as next week while continuing analysis of what appe...

Research Suggests Mars Once Had More Water than Earth's Arctic Ocean

Mar 06, 2015 (JPL)

A primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth's Arctic Ocean, according to NASA scientists who, using ground-based observatories, measured water signatur...

Opportunity Examining Odd Mars Rocks at Valley Overlook

Mar 06, 2015 (JPL)

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity climbed last month to an overlook for surveying "Marathon Valley," a science destination chosen because spectrometer o...

Mars: The Planet that Lost an Ocean's Worth of Water

Mar 06, 2015 (SPX)

A primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth's Arctic Ocean, and covered a greater portion of the planet's surface than the Atlantic Ocean does on Earth...

Mars Colonization Edges Closer Thanks to MIT's Oxygen Factory

Mar 06, 2015 (Sputnik)

Scientists at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are building an instrument, which will turn carbon dioxide on Mars into oxygen, with NASA planning...

Single Site on Mars Advanced for 2016 NASA Lander

Mar 05, 2015 (JPL)

NASA's next mission to Mars, scheduled to launch one year from today to examine the Red Planet's deep interior and investigate how rocky planets like Earth evol...