Latest Mars Science Laboratory Stories
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...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA said on Friday that its Curiosity rover has helped determine Mars' atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth's. Curiosity has been performing scientific experiments while positioned at "Rocknest," a site near Gale Crater. While parked, the rover has ingested and analyzed samples of the atmosphere. Findings from the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments onboard Curiosity suggest that a loss of a fraction of the atmosphere...
NASA will host a media teleconference at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) Friday, Nov. 2, to provide an update on Curiosity's studies of the Martian atmosphere. The Mars Science Laboratory Project and its Curiosity rover are about three months into a two-year prime mission to investigate whether conditions in Mars' Gale Crater may have been favorable for microbial life. For teleconference dial-in information, reporters must send their name, media affiliation and telephone number to Elena Mejia...
PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has completed initial experiments showing the mineralogy of Martian soil is similar to weathered basaltic soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The minerals were identified in the first sample of Martian soil ingested recently by the rover. Curiosity used its Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) to obtain the results, which are...
