MARS - SKY NIGHTLY

Mar 15, 2013 (SPX)

The northern hemisphere of Mars is a single, massive lowland with only a few distinctive landscape features. Frequent, intense dust and sand storms are recurren...

Opportunity Examining Rock Surfaces After Reset

Mar 15, 2013 (JPL)

Opportunity is exploring different locations around the inboard edge of "Cape York" on the rim of Endeavour Crater. On Sol 3235 (Feb. 28, 2013), the rover exper...

Europe, Russia ink deal on double mission to Mars

Mar 14, 2013 (AFP)

The European Space Agency (ESA) said it signed a deal on Thursday with its Russian counterpart to launch two unmanned missions to Mars, a quest that was rocked ...

Maryland explores adaptations strategies for survival on Mars

Mar 13, 2013 (SPX)

Research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine has revealed key features in proteins needed for life to function on Mars and other extreme environm...

NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars

Mar 13, 2013 (JPL)

An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA's Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen...

Curiosity Rover's Recovery Moving Forward

Mar 13, 2013 (JPL)

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity continues to move forward with assessment and recovery from a memory glitch that affected the rover's A-side computer. Curiosity has...

NASA rover finds conditions once suited to life on Mars

Mar 12, 2013 (AFP)

Analysis of Mars rocks by the Curiosity rover uncovered the building blocks of life -- hydrogen, carbon and oxygen -- and evidence the planet could once have su...

New 3-D reconstructions show buried flood channels on Mars

Mar 11, 2013 (SPX)

New maps of the subsurface of Mars show for the first time buried channels below the surface of the red planet. Mars is considered to have been cold and dry ove...

Neptec wins contract to develop cameras for European Space Agency's ExoMars Programme

Mar 11, 2013 (SPX)

Neptec Design Group has signed a contract with Astrium UK Limited for the design and build of navigation cameras for the ExoMars Rover. The ExoMars Programme ha...

Mars rover 'sleeping' through solar storm

Mar 07, 2013 (UPI)

NASA says the computers on its Mars rover Curiosity have been put to sleep to wait out a solar storm bombarding the Red Planet. Solar storms spewing out a jet o...

Curiosity Rover's Recovery on Track

Mar 07, 2013 (JPL)

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has transitioned from precautionary "safe mode" to active status on the path of recovery from a memory glitch last week. Resumption ...

NASA's Curiosity rover to be back online next week

Mar 05, 2013 (AFP)

NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been exploring Mars since it landed to much fanfare last August, should be running at full capacity next week, after a memory ...

Inspiration Mars to Pursue Human Mission to the Red Planet in 2018

Mar 04, 2013 (SPX)

A unique window of opportunity for humankind will open in January 2018, and the Inspiration Mars Foundation intends to seize it, announcing plans to pursue a ch...

Short Bump Gets Robotic Arm Closer to Rock Target

Mar 04, 2013 (JPL)

Opportunity is conducting the post-walkabout in-situ (contact) science campaign at different locations around the inboard edge of 'Cape York' on the rim of Ende...

NASA fixing computer glitch on Mars Curiosity rover

Mar 02, 2013 (AFP)

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has been temporarily put into "safe mode," as scientists monitoring from Earth try to fix a computer glitch, the US space agency sai...

Computer Swap on Curiosity Rover

Mar 01, 2013 (JPL)

The ground team for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has switched the rover to a redundant onboard computer in response to a memory issue on the computer that had be...

Lab Instruments Inside Curiosity Eat Mars Rock Powder

Feb 28, 2013 (JPL)

Two compact laboratories inside NASA's Mars rover Curiosity have ingested portions of the first sample of rock powder ever collected from the interior of a rock...

First-ever space tourist plans mission to Mars

Feb 27, 2013 (AFP)

The world's first space tourist, US multimillionaire Dennis Tito, unveiled plans Wednesday to send a manned mission to Mars and back, targeting a launch date le...

Opportunity Is On A Rock Hunt

Feb 26, 2013 (SPX)

Opportunity is conducting the post-walkabout in-situ (contact) science campaign at different locations around the inboard edge of 'Cape York' on the rim of Ende...

Big Nickel Rock Target Ahead

Feb 26, 2013 (JPL)

Opportunity is conducting the post-walkabout in-situ (contact) science campaign at different locations around the inboard edge of 'Cape York' on the rim of Ende...