MARS - SKY NIGHTLY

InSight lander captures audio of first likely 'quake' on Mars

Apr 24, 2019 (SPX)

The faint seismic signal, detected by the lander's Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, was recorded on April 6, the lander's 128th Mart...

All-woman engineering team heads to NASA Mars competition

Apr 23, 2019 (SPX)

The annual NASA BIG Idea Challenge is set for April 23-24 in Hampton, Virginia; it calls on student groups at universities across the country to develop solutio...

Things Are Stacking Up for NASA's Mars 2020 Spacecraft

Apr 19, 2019 (JPL)

In reality, they are still there, tucked neatly into the entry capsule, as they will be when it's time for launch. The procedure is known as vehicle stacking an...

A small step for China: Mars base for teens opens in desert

Apr 17, 2019 (AFP)

Surrounded by barren hills in northwestern Gansu province, "Mars Base 1" opened on Wednesday with the aim of exposing teens -- and soon tourists -- to what life...

Curiosity Tastes First Sample in 'Clay-Bearing Unit'

Apr 12, 2019 (JPL)

Curiosity drilled a piece of bedrock nicknamed "Aberlady" on Saturday, April 6 (the 2,370th Martian day, or sol, of the mission), and delivered the sample to it...

First results from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

Apr 12, 2019 (ESA)

Two papers are published in the journal Nature describing the new results, and reported in a dedicated press briefing at the European Geosciences Union in Vienn...

Tests for the InSight 'Mole'

Apr 12, 2019 (SPX)

After its first hammering operation on 28 February 2019, the DLR Heat and Physical Properties Package (HP3), the Mars Mole, was only able to drive itself about ...

British instruments help reveal secrets of Mars atmosphere

Apr 10, 2019 (ESA)

Investigations with observatories in space and on Earth have demonstrated the presence of small amounts of methane in the Martian atmosphere that has been shown...

Martian soil detox could lead to new medicines

Apr 09, 2019 (ESA)

Dennis Claessen, associate professor at the Institute of Biology in Leiden University, the Netherlands works in synthetic biology, in which bacteria are enginee...

ExoMars carrier module prepares for final pre-launch testing

Apr 08, 2019 (ESA)

The module, along with electrical ground support equipment, shipped from OHB System in Bremen, Germany, arrived on 2 April at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Ital...

NASA's MAVEN Uses Red Planet's Atmosphere to Change Orbit

Apr 08, 2019 (SPX)

MAVEN's navigation team slowed the spacecraft down gradually by aerobraking, a process taking advantage of the Martian upper atmosphere to place a small amount ...

Life on Mars?

Apr 05, 2019 (SPX)

Now, researchers from Hungary have discovered embedded organic material in a Martian meteorite found in the late 1970s. The scientists were able to determine th...

Mysterious Martian Methane Bursts Confirmed

Apr 05, 2019 (SPX)

Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Dorothy Z. Oehler is an author on two new papers on methane detections in the Martian atmosphere. The first is "Met...

Curiosity Captured Two Solar Eclipses on Mars

Apr 05, 2019 (JPL)

Phobos, which is about 7 miles (11.5 kilometers) across, was imaged on March 26, 2019 (the 2,359th sol, or Martian day, of Curiosity's mission); Deimos, which i...

After the Moon in 2024, NASA wants to reach Mars by 2033

Apr 02, 2019 (AFP)

Jim Bridenstine, NASA's administrator, said Tuesday that in order to achieve that goal, other parts of the program -- including a lunar landing -- need to move ...

Results of BIOMEX, the Biology and Mars Experiment on the ISS

Apr 01, 2019 (SPX)

Today, however, conditions on Mars are so extreme that it is hard to imagine that organisms like those found on Earth could survive on that cold and arid desert...

Scientists find likely source of methane on Mars

Apr 01, 2019 (AFP)

In the 15 years since a European probe reported traces of the gas in the Martian atmosphere, debate has raged over the accuracy of the readings showing methane,...

Mars Express matches methane spike measured by Curiosity

Apr 01, 2019 (ESA)

Reports of methane in the martian atmosphere have been intensely debated, with Mars Express contributing one of the first measurements from orbit in 2004, short...

New evidence of deep groundwater on Mars

Mar 30, 2019 (SPX)

The researchers at USC have determined that groundwater likely exists in a broader geographical area than just the poles of Mars and that there is an active sys...

NASA's Mars Helicopter Completes Flight Tests

Mar 30, 2019 (JPL)

In late January 2019, all the pieces making up the flight model (actual vehicle going to the Red Planet) of NASA's Mars Helicopter were put to the test. Weighin...