In late 2016, the drill used by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity began to malfunction due to an apparent mechanical failure. This Saturday, NASA will test a new method that could restore the drill’s critical jackhammering capability, and by consequence, the rover’s ability to analyze Martian rock samples.
NASA will be testing heavier-than-air flight on Mars by sending miniature robot helicopter with the upcoming Mars 2020 rover.
On Saturday, for the first time, a rocket blasted off from the US West Coast to fling its payload on an interplanetary trajectory. Despite being at Vandenberg Air Force Base for Mars InSight’s historic launch atop an Atlas V rocket, I never saw the spacecraft before it tore free from Earth’s greedy grasp.
NASA’s InSight lander is on its way to Mars following Saturday’s successful launch of an Atlas V rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. But the lander is not alone—it has a pair of twin communication CubeSats in tow. Called MarCO-A and MarCO-B, the tiny machines have already passed the first…
NASA’s robotic lander InSight officially started its journey to Mars following a successful predawn launch aboard an Atlas V rocket Saturday morning. The launch took place at 4:05am local time from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
If all goes according to plan, NASA’s Mars InSight mission will launch this weekend from California. Onboard the Atlas V-401 rocket is the InSight lander, a nearly 800-pound machine loaded up with cameras, a robotic arm, a heat probe, and a seismometer that, for the first time, will allow us to examine the inner…
NASA announced today that it has completed tests of its Kilopower portable nuclear fission reactor, a device designed to one day power bases on Mars or the moon. The tests met or exceeded expectations on all metrics, which means the device can now go on to more serious flight testing.
NASA is set to launch its next Mars lander, InSight, early Saturday morning. But something’s different about this launch. It’s taking place on the West Coast, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has released the first images from its new orbit, taken on April 15 from 400 kilometers above the Martian surface. Here’s the uncropped composite image:
Earlier today, officials with NASA and the European Space Agency signed a statement of intent to explore the various ways in which Martian soil samples can be collected and delivered back to Earth. Sounds great, but a complex project of this nature won’t be easy, as it would involve the first-ever rocket launch from…
After a year of steadily slowing down, the ExoMars spacecraft has finally reached its target orbit around Mars. In about two weeks, the European Space Agency and Roscosmos orbiter will begin to scan the Martian atmosphere in search of trace gases, including those potentially linked to life.
As temperatures outside dipped to well below freezing, and as blizzards pounded the Antarctic research station, German scientists were carefully tending to a remarkable veggie garden—one requiring no soil or natural sunlight. The success of their first harvest, which produced vibrant-looking lettuce, radishes,…
I can’t beelieve it! Maybe one day there will be bee-like robots buzzing around the surface of Mars.
The Phoenix Lander detected water on Mars during its three-month mission in 2008, and now it is being swallowed by the planet’s dust. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped the above two images, one in 2008 and the other in December of 2017.
Saturday, February 17th marks the 5,000th local day (sol) of operations for NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover, which was originally designed to last for just 90 sols after its January 2004 landing date, but has instead continued to set milestones like completing a marathon-length tour of its surroundings and taking huge…
After months of steady progress, NASA’s Curiosity rover has reached the top of Vera Rubin Ridge. And like the good mountain climber that it is, the rover took the opportunity to look around and bask in the view from up high. The resulting panorama—stitched together from 16 individual photos—is one of the most…
Mars likely held flowing water during its ancient past, possibly even vast oceans of it. Most of this precious liquid escaped into space, but some of it stayed behind, transforming into ice and settling beneath the rocky surface. New research shows that a sizable portion of this water ice is surprisingly near the…
Mars looks like it used to have water—perhaps even entire oceans. But not today. Today, scientists can’t even decide whether it’s got slight trickles darkening the dirt on its mountainsides. If Mars did once have oceans, then where did they go?
Facts are built into the fabric of the Universe, but science can sometimes be a problematic tool for establishing them. On occasion, even the most exciting discoveries can be overturned with more evidence.
In preparation for NASA’s next robotic mission to Mars, the space station has performed a successful test of a special parachute that’s designed to withstand the intense speeds involved during an atmospheric descent.
