Items tagged with red planet

We know Mars exists because we've seen images of the Red Planet, though never in real time—by the time they're shared with the public, it could have been days, weeks, months, or even years after the images were actually taken and processed. That's about the change. The European Space Agency (ESA) is celebrating the... Read more...
A groundbreaking discovery of a relict glacier near the equator of Mars has scientists excited about the possible implications for future human exploration of the Red Planet. The announcement was made at the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference held in The Woodlands, Texas. As NASA and others continue to... Read more...
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured an image of the Red Planet's surface that resembles that of a bear's face. The image was taken with the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Since arriving in Mars' orbit in 2006, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has... Read more...
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover caught the first-ever audio of a Martian dust devil while its weather sensors and left navigation were in operation. The dust devil passed directly over the rover on September 27, 2021. Capturing a Martian dust devil is no easy feat. In order to do so, rovers like Perseverance and... Read more...
NASA's Mars InSight Lander measured the largest Marsquake yet, with a magnitude of nearly 5 and lasting for almost ten hours. All six of the largest measurements recorded have occurred since the middle of 2021. On the night of May 4, the Mars InSight Lander seismometer detected a quake on Mars which was at least 5... Read more...
In order to test for possible micrometeorites impacting a spacecraft, NASA is utilizing a 2-stage light gas gun to simulate potential hazards for future space missions. The test fires a bullet with a speed that is equal to 25 times the velocity of a 44 magnum, or like flying from New York to San Francisco in five... Read more...
NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has made it to its 10th anniversary of being on the Red Planet. Despite showing its age with some wear and tear, the spacecraft is about to enter into a new phase of its mission as it prepares to climb a mountain. It may seem hard to believe that Curiosity has been on Mars for ten years... Read more...
The mystery of how a concentrated chunk of a rare mineral on Mars came to be located in Gale Crater may be solved. Researchers have published a scenario that could explain the 2016 discovery of tridymite by NASA's Curiosity rover. NASA continues to study the surface of Mars ahead of future manned missions to the... Read more...
An image resembling a bit of leftover space spaghetti won the people's vote for Perseverance's "Image of the Week". The photo raises questions about how missions to the Red Planet could present issues in the future. NASA's Perseverance rover has captured quite a few interesting images during its mission on the Red... Read more...
NASA hopes that with the public's help in identifying clouds in data captured by its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists can gain a better understanding of the Red Planet's atmosphere. The space agency has organized a project called Cloudspotting on Mars to do this, and you are invited to join in on the hunt for... Read more...
The Mars Perseverance rover team at NASA found an unexpected piece of extraterrestrial trash as it roamed the Red Planet recently. But the litter is not as "alien" as one might think. When something is found on Mars that is not part of its natural environment, the first inclination is to be very excited. But as the... Read more...
NASA is calling on U.S. industry, academia, international communities, and other stakeholders to provide feedback and input on its Moon to Mars strategy. The feedback will provide valuable insight into the space agency's Moon and Mars missions for the next 20 years. The Artemis program is currently preparing to... Read more...
NASA's Mars Curiosity rover captured a photo earlier this month that looks like a hidden entrance to an underground alien base. The grainy black and white image was captured on May 7th by the rover's Mastcam. The thought of a secret Martian base beneath the surface of the red planet has been the fodder for many a... Read more...