The Red Planet
A self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity rover taken on June 15, 2018, during the 2,082nd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity’s work on Mars. A Martian dust storm has reduced sunlight and visibility at the rover’s location in Gale Crater. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Today, Mars is a planet of extremes – it’s bitterly cold, has high …
Read more “NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Patches of Rock Record Erased, Revealing Clues”
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z stereo imaging system to capture this 360-degree panorama at “Van Zyl Overlook”, where the rover was parked for 13 days as the Ingenuity helicopter performed its first flights. The 4.5-billion-pixel panorama is made up of 1004 individual Mastcam-Z images stitched together. The images were taken between …
Read more “Mars360: First 4.5-billion-pixel of Mars by NASA’s Perseverance Rover”
Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z imaging system captured this 360-degree panorama at “Van Zyl Overlook,” where the rover parked during Ingenuity helicopter’s first flights. The 2.4-billion-pixel panorama consists of 992 images stitched together. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS This image looking west toward the Séítah geologic unit on Mars was taken from the height of 33 feet (10 meters) by NASA’s …
Read more “NASA’s Perseverance Rover Begins Its First Science Campaign on Mars”
This is the first photo ever taken on the surface of Mars. It was taken by NASA’s Viking 1 spacecraft just minutes after it landed on the Red Planet on July 20, 1976. Credits: Credits: NASA/JPL A NASA team has found that organic salts are likely present on Mars. Like shards of ancient pottery, these …
Read more “Salts Could Be Important Piece of Martian Organic Puzzle, NASA Scientists Find”
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its dual-camera Mastcam-Z imager to capture this image of “Santa Cruz,” a hill within Jezero Crater, on April 29, 2021, the 68th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS NASA’s Perseverance rover viewed these rocks with its Mastcam-Z imager on April 27, 2021. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS Andrew Good Jet …
Read more “Perseverance’s Robotic Arm Starts Conducting Science”
Technicians at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory lower the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instrument into the belly of the Perseverance rover. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars’ atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide. MOXIE works by separating oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide molecules, which are made up of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. A waste …
Read more “NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Extracts First Oxygen from Red Planet”
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on the following sol, April 8, 2021. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech The Mars Helicopter is a high-risk, high-reward technology demonstration. …
Read more “NASA’s Mars Helicopter to Make First Flight Attempt Sunday”
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover. This image was taken by the WATSON camera on the rover’s robotic arm on April 6, 2021, the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s newest Mars rover used a …
Read more “Say Cheese on Mars: Perseverance’s Selfie With Ingenuity”
NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its onboard left Navigation Camera (Navcam). The camera is located high on the rover’s mast and aids in driving. This image was acquired on Mar. 7, 2021. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech The rover has also been searching for a suitable airfield for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to attempt its …
Read more “Another First: Perseverance Captures the Sounds of Driving on Mars”
Combining two images, this mosaic shows a close-up view of the rock target named “Yeehgo” from the SuperCam instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. The component images were taken by SuperCam’s Remote Micro-Imager (RMI). To be compatible with the rover’s software, “Yeehgo” is an alternative spelling of “Yéigo,” the Navajo word for diligent. Credits: …
Read more “Perseverance Rover’s SuperCam Science Instrument Delivers First Results”