Latest Mars rover Stories

[Watch the Video] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA, busy planning for the landing of its Curiosity rover on the Red Planet in August 2012, is perhaps getting into the Olympic spirit after the Mars Exploration Rover team announced Wednesday that another of its rovers, Opportunity, is on par to complete a Martian marathon. When Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004, it was only planned to travel a mere 2,000 feet (less than a half mile). Yet, 8 years after its...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A game just released by Microsoft gives users an experience that NASA engineers will have to deal with in real life: landing the new Curiosity rover on the Red Planet. Microsoft created the Mars Rover Landing game and made it available for download for free on Monday through Xbox Live. "We went to some pains to reflect some authentic details in the game experience," Jeff Norris of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory told USA Today....

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA's newest member to the Mars rover family is nearing the end of its journey through space, but its hurdles are all but over. The space agency said that getting the Curiosity rover to the Martian surface will be all but easy on August 5. "The Curiosity landing is the hardest NASA mission ever attempted in the history of robotic planetary exploration," John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's most advanced planetary rover is on a precise course for an early August landing beside a Martian mountain to begin two years of unprecedented scientific detective work. However, getting the Curiosity rover to the surface of Mars will not be easy. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "The Curiosity landing is the hardest NASA mission ever attempted in the history of robotic planetary exploration,"...

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A NASA-created application that brings some of the agency's robotic spacecraft to life in 3-D now is available for free on the iPhone and iPad. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Called Spacecraft 3D, the app uses animation to show how spacecraft can maneuver and manipulate their outside components. Presently, the new app features two NASA missions, the Curiosity rover that will touch down on Mars Aug. 6...

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, July 16, to discuss the upcoming August landing of the most advanced robot ever sent to another world. A new public-engagement collaboration based on the mission also will be debuted. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The event for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft will be held in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA released a panoramic photo of the Martian surface taken by its Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during the winter months. The rover completed its 3,000th day on Mars on July 2, helping NASA to reach past 15 years of having a robotic presence on the Red Planet. The space agency released a photo taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam), showing the terrain where the explorer spent its most recent Martian winter. NASA...

One month and a day after celebrating its independence with fireworks exhibitions throughout the country, America will carry its penchant for awe-inspiring aerial pyrotechnic displays to the skies of another world. Some pyrotechnics will be as small as the energy released by a box of matches. One packs the same oomph as a stick of TNT. Whether they be large or small, on the evening of August 5th (Pacific time), all 76 must work on cue as NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, carried by the Mars...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter is back in business after the spacecraft found itself placed into "safe" mode earlier this month. The spacecraft's flight team returned the orbiter back to full service this week after a two-week sequence of activities to recover Odyssey from safe mode. The orbiter switched itself to safe mode when one of the three primary reaction wheels used for altitude control stuck for a few minutes on June 8....

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has narrowed the target for its most advanced Mars rover, Curiosity, which will land on the Red Planet in August. The car-sized rover will arrive closer to its ultimate destination for science operations, but also closer to the foot of a mountain slope that poses a landing hazard. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "We're trimming the distance we'll have to drive after landing by almost half," said...