Latest Exploration of Mars Stories

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online NASA's veteran rover Opportunity is trekking towards a new study area as it closes in on its 10th year anniversary. The space agency said Opportunity is moving towards a destination known as Solander Point, which offers access to a taller stack of geological layering than the area the rover has been working at the past 20 months. "Getting to Solander Point will be like walking up to a road cut where you see a cross section of the...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online The European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft currently orbiting around the Red Planet has helped develop new global maps. ESA released the new Mars Express global maps on the 10th anniversary of the launch of the spacecraft. The maps trace the history of water and volcanic activity on the Red Planet, and also help identify sites of special interest for next generation Mars explorers. The maps were built from ten...

WASHINGTON, May 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Measurements taken by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission as it delivered the Curiosity rover to Mars in 2012 are providing NASA the information it needs to design systems to protect human explorers from radiation exposure on deep-space expeditions in the future. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) MSL's Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) is the first instrument to measure the radiation...

WASHINGTON, May 27, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 2:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, May 30, to present new findings from the Mars Science Laboratory Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) aboard the rover Curiosity. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The journal Science has embargoed details until 2 p.m. May 30. The briefing participants are: -- Donald M. Hassler, RAD principal investigator and program director, Southwest...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has discovered a pale rock that has a higher composition of aluminum and silica and a lower concentration of calcium and iron than any other rock it has examined during its time on Mars, the US space agency announced on Friday. The fractured rock, which is known as “Esperance,” is located in the “Cape York” region of Mars and was said to have been “intensely” altered by...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Scientists believe Mars may be rocked by more than 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year. Researchers using images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter identified 248 new impact sites on parts of the Martian surface in the past decade. Their 200-impacts-per-year estimation is a calculation based on the number found in a systematic survey of a portion of the planet. MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment...

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scientists using images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have estimated that the planet is bombarded by more than 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year forming craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) across. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Researchers have identified 248 new impact sites on parts of the Martian surface in the past decade, using images from the spacecraft to determine...

[ Listen to the Podcast Series: Is A Mission To Mars Possible? ] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online During the Humans to Mars Summit at George Washington University yesterday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden laid down some thoughts about the US space agency sending man to the Red Planet. Bolden started off his keynote speech by addressing the growing international interest in sending humans to Mars, while also pointing out how even President Barack Obama has...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA has announced a new campaign that will send people to Mars this year – well, at least their names and a brief message. The space agency is inviting people to submit their names online along with a personal message for a DVD to be carried aboard the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft that will be launched later this year. The DVD will carry every name submitted and three brief accompanying messages that...

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA is inviting members of the public to submit their names and a personal message online for a DVD to be carried aboard a spacecraft that will study the Martian upper atmosphere. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Scheduled for launch in November, the DVD will be in NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft. The DVD is part of the mission's Going to Mars Campaign coordinated at the...