Mars
Masten’s Xombie rocket tests new precision landing software
A year after NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity’s landed on Mars, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., are testing a sophisticated flight-control algorithm that could allow for even more precise, pinpoint landings of future Martian spacecraft. Flight testing of the new Fuel Optimal Large Divert Guidance (G-FOLD) algorithm for planetary pinpoint landing is being …
Curiosity discovers a habitable environment for life on Mars
As NASA’s Curiosity rover begins her eighth month exploring the Red Planet since the nail-biting touchdown inside Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, she has made the most amazing finding thus far. After analyzing the first powder ever drilled from the interior of a Martian rock, Curiosity discovered key chemical ingredients necessary for life to have thrived on early Mars billions of years ago.
The little rover that could: Opportunity still making discoveries
Today, Opportunity celebrates a truly unfathomable achievement, entering Year 10 on Mars since she rolled to a bumpy stop on January 24, 2004. Now she’s at a super sweet spot for science loaded with clays and veined minerals and making the most remarkable findings yet about the planets watery past – building upon a long string of unthinkable discoveries due to her totally unforeseen longevity.
Mars Rover Infographic
Starting with the Sojourner rover, launched in 1996, NASA has sent four robotic rovers to the Red Planet. On November 26, 2011, NASA launched Curiosity, its most technologically advanced rover ever. At a glance, it’s easy to see the size evolution between NASA’s youngest and oldest rover, but how else have they evolved? This chart …
MSL Curiosity rover keeping busy on Mars
As 2012 drew to a close, NASA’s Curiosity Mars Science Lab (MSL) rover celebrated her first Christmas on the Martian surface and a resoundingly successful initial five months of exploration since the pulse pounding and unprecedented sky crane rocket powered touchdown on Aug. 6, 2012 inside Gale Crater beside a towering, layered mountain named Mount …