Latest Mars Science Laboratory Stories
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NPR reported on Tuesday that NASA has some exciting news about a discovery with its Curiosity rover that could be "one for the history books." According to NPR's Joe Palca, NASA is keeping its lips sealed on a Mars discovery until everything is verified. After visiting with John Grotzinger, the principal investigator for the rover mission, Palca found out that the data coming down from Curiosity now "is gonna be one for the history...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online It may not be in the company of little Martians, but NASA's Curiosity is determined to celebrate Thanksgiving this year with, or without, the company of extra-terrestrials. For its Thanksgiving festivities, the rover plans to use its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to examine possible routes and targets to the east. NASA said its priority is to choose a rock for the first use of the rover's hammering drill, which will collect samples of...
HOUSTON, Nov. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A team of NASA scientists and their colleagues have found evidence from meteorites that Mars and Earth had a similar origin, but then the two planets evolved quite differently. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Based on their analyses of two Martian meteorites, researchers in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center have concluded that water in the...
PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Observations of wind patterns and natural radiation patterns on Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover are helping scientists better understand the environment on the Red Planet's surface. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) Researchers using the car-sized mobile laboratory have identified transient whirlwinds, mapped winds in relation to slopes, tracked daily and seasonal changes in air pressure, and...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online New research published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters shows that water once existed on Mars that was sufficiently warm enough to support life. University of Leicester and The Open University researchers determined that water temperatures on Mars ranged from 122 degrees Fahrenheit to 302 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists found that microbes can live in water with similar temperatures on earth in the volcanic...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA announced on Thursday during a teleconference that its Curiosity rover has experienced its first whirlwind on Mars. Although the rover did not snap a photo of the whirlwind, Curiosity's Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) was able to help detect the dust devil. REMS detected brief dips in air pressure, along with a change in wind direction, leading NASA scientists to determine that there was a whirlwind passing by...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Curiosity got a taste of solids from the Martian surface on November 9th, when a pinch of fine sand and dust was deposited in the biggest instrument on the rover: the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM). SAM is located inside the rover and examines the chemistry of samples it ingests, checking specifically for chemistry related to supporting life. The sample was delivered to an inlet port on the rover deck by Curiosity's robotic arm. For...
PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) on Thursday, Nov. 15, to provide an update about the Curiosity rover's mission to Mars' Gale Crater. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Mars Science Laboratory Project and its Curiosity rover are three months into a two-year prime mission to investigate whether conditions may have been favorable for microbial life. For...
[WATCH VIDEO: Living On Mars Time] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online It has been three months since NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover landed on the Red Planet. During this time, the team operating the mission has been operating on “Mars time.” Because an average day (called a Sol on Mars) is about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, the team’s daily start times had been moving a few hours later each week, resulting in many overnight shifts. Due to the...
PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's car-sized rover, Curiosity, has taken significant steps toward understanding how Mars may have lost much of its original atmosphere. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Learning what happened to the Martian atmosphere will help scientists assess whether the planet ever was habitable. The present atmosphere of Mars is 100 times thinner than Earth's. A set of instruments aboard the rover has...
