Latest Opportunity rover Stories

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Nov. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST. (Logo: <font size="2" face="Arial">http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO</font> ) "We are very excited about sending the world's most advanced...

NASA will be embarking on its fourth rover mission to Mars on Saturday with the launch of the long-anticipated rover Curiosity. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover will take off aboard an Atlas V rocket at 10:02 a.m. (EST) on Saturday. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars in August 2012 to investigate whether the landing region has had environmental conditions favorable for supporting microbial life. Curiosity is equipped with the most advanced suit of instruments for...

NASA is launching a new $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory on Saturday at 10:02 a.m. Aboard an unmanned United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. The launch will take place from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station just south of the Kennedy Space Center, according to Reuters.. The rover, named Curiosity, is being sent in order to answer the question of whether life does or has ever existed on Mars. Previous missions with the Spirit and Opportunity rovers found evidence of water in the...

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, which is scheduled to launch this week, has the potential to be the most productive Mars surface mission in history. That's due in part to its nuclear heat and power source. When the rover Curiosity heads to space as early as Saturday, it will carry the most advanced payload of scientific gear ever used on Mars' surface. Those instruments will get their lifeblood from a radioisotope power system assembled and tested at Idaho National Laboratory. The...

Images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars at dozens of locations and shifting up to several yards. These observations reveal the planet's sandy surface is more dynamic than previously thought. "Mars either has more gusts of wind than we knew about before, or the winds are capable of transporting more sand," said Nathan Bridges, planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel,...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars at dozens of locations and shifting up to several yards. These observations reveal the planet's sandy surface is more dynamic than previously thought. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "Mars either has more gusts of wind than we knew about before, or the winds are capable of transporting more...

NASA's most advanced mobile robotic laboratory, which will examine one of the most intriguing areas on Mars, is in final preparations for a launch from Florida's Space Coast at 10:25 a.m. EST (7:25 a.m. PST) on Nov. 25. The Mars Science Laboratory mission will carry Curiosity, a rover with more scientific capability than any ever sent to another planet. The rover is now sitting atop an Atlas V rocket awaiting liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. "Preparations are on track for...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's most advanced mobile robotic laboratory, which will examine one of the most intriguing areas on Mars, is in final preparations for a launch from Florida's Space Coast at 10:25 a.m. EST on Nov. 25. (Logo: <font size="2" face="Arial">http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) </font> The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission will carry Curiosity, a rover with more scientific capability than any...

Opportunity Index Assigns Every State and Almost Every County in the Country an Opportunity Score to Provide a First of Its Kind Measure of Opportunity in America NEW YORK, Nov. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than five hundred local leaders, activists, entertainers, and political luminaries gathered today at Columbia University as part of the Opportunity Nation Summit, a national convening to officially kick-off the Opportunity Nation campaign and to serve as a starting...

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has named Cornell University Astronomy Professor Steven W. Squyres, as chairman of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC), an assembly of experts from various fields that offer guidance and policy advice to the administrator of America's space agency. "I am extremely excited that Steve has accepted the NAC chairmanship," Bolden said. "His experience as a planetary science researcher with many NASA robotic missions will be of great value to the council. The...