MARS - SKY NIGHTLY

Mars Science Laboratory Adjusts Orbital Path And Tests Instruments

Mar 27, 2012 (JPL)

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, halfway to Mars, has adjusted its flight path for delivery of the one-ton rover Curiosity to the surface of Mars in A...

Red Food For the Red Planet

Mar 23, 2012 (SPX)

Among the many issues that space programs face as they develop plans to send a human mission to Mars, the question of life support ranks at or near the top. It ...

Geologists discover new class of landform - on Mars

Mar 23, 2012 (SPX)

An odd, previously unseen landform could provide a window into the geological history of Mars, according to new research by University of Washington geologists....

Mars on a Shoestring

Mar 20, 2012 (SPX)

It's no secret that Mars exploration is in trouble at NASA. Budgetary axes have swung, creating a potentially bleak future for missions and results. After the C...

India's Mars mission gets Rs.125 crore

Mar 19, 2012 (IANS)

India's mission to Mars got Rs.125 crore (over $24 million) in the budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Friday. The allocation wa...

Europe hopes to save Mars mission

Mar 15, 2012 (UPI)

Member state delegations to the European Space Agency said Thursday the agency will press ahead with its 2016 and 2018 Mars missions despite funding problems. D...

Winter Studies of 'Amboy' Rock Continue

Mar 12, 2012 (JPL)

Opportunity is positioned on the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater with an approximate 15-degree northerly tilt for favorable solar energy p...

Rep. Schiff Applauds Decision to Reject NASA Request to Divert Mars Funds

Mar 12, 2012 (SPX)

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a member of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, applauded the decision of Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wo...

Working models for the gravitational field of Phobos

Mar 08, 2012 (SPX)

Phobos is the larger and closer of the two natural satellites of Mars. Despite decades of Martian exploration, we still know very little about Phobos. Many fund...

NASA Mars Orbiter Catches Twister in Action

Mar 08, 2012 (JPL)

An afternoon whirlwind on Mars lofts a twisting column of dust more than half a mile (800 meters) high in an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Expe...

Community College Scholars Selected to Design Rovers

Mar 06, 2012 (JPL)

Community college students will have the chance to design robotic rovers in cooperation with NASA. Ninety-two students from schools in 24 states have been selec...

Slight Cleaning of Opportunity Mars Rover Solar Panels

Mar 02, 2012 (JPL)

Opportunity is positioned on the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater with an approximate 15-degree northerly tilt for favorable solar energy p...

Antarctic salty soil sucks water out of atmosphere: Could it happen on Mars?

Mar 01, 2012 (SPX)

The frigid McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are a cold, polar desert, yet the sandy soils there are frequently dotted with moist patches in the spring despite ...

Surface of Mars an unlikely place for life after 600 million year drought

Mar 01, 2012 (SPX)

Mars may have been arid for more than 600 million years, making it too hostile for any life to survive on the planet's surface, according to researchers who hav...

NASA Official Announces Chair of New Mars Program Planning Group

Mar 01, 2012 (SPX)

NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, John Grunsfeld, has named former veteran NASA program manager Orlando Figueroa to lead a new...

Camera on NASA Mars Odyssey Tops Decade of Discovery

Mar 01, 2012 (JPL)

Ten years ago, on Feb. 19, 2002, the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), a multi-band camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, began scientific operations a...

Proposed Mars Mission Has New Name

Mar 01, 2012 (JPL)

A proposed Discovery mission concept led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., to investigate the formation and evolution of terrestrial planet...

Curiosity, the Stunt Double

Feb 28, 2012 (SPX)

With a pair of bug-eyes swiveling on a stalk nearly 8 feet off the ground, the 6-wheeled, 1800-lb Mars rover Curiosity doesn't look much like a human being. Yet...

Opportunity For More Doppler Tracking And Imaging At Cape York

Feb 24, 2012 (JPL)

Opportunity is positioned on the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater with an approximate 15-degree northerly tilt for favorable solar energy p...

Dusty Mars Rover's Self-Portrait

Feb 23, 2012 (JPL)

This self-portait from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows dust accumulation on the rover's solar panels as the mission approached its fifth Martian...