Latest Mars Exploration Rover Stories

Full-Size Mars Curiosity Rover Exclusively on Display, Free Solar Observing, Summer Sky Watching Tips, Enter to Win a Telescope and More! CHICAGO, May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Celebrate the opening of the Adler's new show Cosmic Wonder and the summer-long programming, 100 Days of Wonder, with free solar observing (weather permitting), sky watching tips from Adler staff, Curiosity mission updates, family activities and more! Adler visitors can also enter to win a...

PASADENA, Calif., May 9, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The team operating NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Mars has selected a second target rock for drilling and sampling. The rover will set course to the drilling location in coming days. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) This second drilling target, called "Cumberland," lies about nine feet (2.75 meters) west of the rock where Curiosity's drill first touched Martian stone in February. Curiosity took the...

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two prominent aerospace industry organizations are recognizing the contributions of NASA, especially the achievements of the team that landed NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars in August, with coveted awards. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) will present its Robert J. Collier Trophy to the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Team of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Scientists at Princeton University and the Caltech believe that Mount Sharp on Mars was formed by wind, not water. NASA's Curiosity rover is sitting on Mars right now looking for signs of past life. The space agency chose Mount Sharp at the massive Gale Crater for its primary mission because of how eclectic the area is, potentially providing answers to questions regarding Mars' past. Mount Sharp is a roughly 3.5-mile high Martian...

KENTFIELD, Calif., May 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Adam Steltzner, NASA JPL lead engineer and College of Marin alumnus, led the Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Team for the NASA Mars Curiosity Rover. He has been a featured guest in variety of print stories, and on television and radio broadcasts, including the New Yorker, NPR, CNN and Nova. WHO: Dr. Adam Steltzner, lead mechanical engineer of the NASA Mars Rover Landing Project, guest lecturer WHAT: College of Marin Grand Opening,...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online NASA said its Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity placed itself in standby mode during April when the sun was blocking out communication with the Red Planet and Earth. The space agency said mission controllers learned of the changed status on April 27, when they first heard from Opportunity after the blocked communication period. Engineers pumped "fresh commands" into the rover on Monday to get it to resume operations. According to...

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory The team in charge of successfully landing NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., received the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's highest group honor at a dinner in Washington on Wednesday night, April 24. The 2013 Trophy for Current Achievement honors outstanding achievements in the fields of aerospace science and technology. The Mars Science Laboratory Project built and operates the rover...

ESA Without hi-tech magnetic sensors, rovers wouldn’t be able to roam around Mars. These same sensors will soon boost terrestrial travel by improving the machinery that molds parts for cars and aircraft here on Earth. These devices will ‘feel’ parts in exquisite detail, noting features like the width and depth of drilled holes, helping to create perfect 3D pictures of each highly complex piece. It takes up to 20 minutes to beam information from Mars to Earth – more than...

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory On a new list of the 100 most influential people on Earth, three work at the same California address, where they've led projects to study things that are not on Earth. The list announced today by TIME Magazine includes Don Yeomans, Pete Theisinger and Richard Cook, all at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Yeomans manages NASA's Near-Earth Objects Program Office at JPL, which coordinates the search for and tracking of asteroids and...

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Photos from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show how the parachute that helped NASA's Curiosity rover land on Mars last summer has subsequently changed its shape on the ground. The images were obtained by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Seven images taken by HiRISE between Aug. 12, 2012, and Jan. 13, 2013, show the used parachute shifting its shape at least twice in response to wind....