Latest Spirit rover Stories

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Curiosity got to witness an Earth-like experience on the Martian surface last week, by watching the moon Phobos create an eclipse on Mars. NASA unveiled new images on Wednesday, as well as an update to Curiosity's whereabouts. On September 13, Curiosity witnessed a Martian moon transit that involved the moon Phobos coming between the Red Planet and the Sun. The new rover snapped images of the event using its Mast Camera, which is...

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's long-lived rover Opportunity has returned an image of the Martian surface that is puzzling researchers. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) Spherical objects concentrated at an outcrop Opportunity reached last week differ in several ways from iron-rich spherules nicknamed "blueberries" the rover found at its landing site in early 2004 and at many other locations to date. Opportunity is...

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The mission team for NASA's long-lived Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity will be awarded the Haley Space Flight Award. The team will receive the award Sept. 12 during the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space 2012 Conference and Exposition in Pasadena, Calif. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The award is presented for outstanding contributions by...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity teams are slated to receive the Haley Space Flight Award. The team will be receiving the honor September 12 during the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space 2012 Conference and Exposition in Pasadena, California. The award is being presented for outstanding contributions by an astronaut or flight test personnel to the advancement of the art, science or...

[ Watch the Video: President Obama Congratulates Curiosity Team ] April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online "What you've accomplished embodies the American spirit." This praise came from President Barack Obama in a phone call from Air Force One to the operations team at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in which he lauded NASA's "incredibly impressive" mission in landing the Curiosity rover on Mars last week. Obama's call was both congratulatory and lighthearted....

PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- President Barack Obama this morning told the flight control team for NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, "You made us all proud." (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Obama telephoned the mission control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., to congratulate JPL Director Charles Elachi and the Mars Science Laboratory team operating the rover, which landed on Mars a week ago....

PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will spend its first weekend on Mars transitioning to software better suited for tasks ahead, such as driving and using its strong robotic arm. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The rover's "brain transplant," which will occur during a series of steps Aug. 10 through Aug. 13, will install a new version of software on both of the rover's redundant main computers. This...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA is releasing even more photographs taken by the Curiosity rover during its first week of service on the Red Planet. The rover landed on Mars on Sunday night and NASA has been testing the rover out to see if all of its functions work properly. In one of the latest images released by the space agency, you get a full 360-degree view of what Curiosity gets to see on the alien planet in Gale Crater. The panoramic image is in...

PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The first images from Curiosity's color Mast Camera (Mastcam) have been received by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. The 130 low-resolution thumbnails, which were received Thursday morning, provide scientists and engineers of NASA's newest Mars rover their first color, horizon-to-horizon glimpse of Gale Crater. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "After a year...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA scientists are continuing to celebrate the successful landing of its Curiosity rover and after poring over data to determine the precise point of impact, space officials are even more excited to find that it actually made touchdown in the best spot possible from a scientific point-of-view. And better yet, the rover is sending back visually stunning images from the Martian landscape, images that NASA scientists are likening to...