During yet another successful flight over the surface of Mars in Jezero Crater on 4 August 2021, JPL’s Ingenuity helicopter captured its robotic partner Perseverance on camera off in the distance. The image above, shared by NASA on 11 August 2021, shows a view from Ingenuity taken from about 12 meters up with its shadow…
Tag: Mars
InSight Measures the Size of Mars’ Core
News from NASA’s InSight Mission on July 22, 2021 (source) Before NASA’s InSight spacecraft touched down on Mars in 2018, the rovers and orbiters studying the Red Planet concentrated on its surface. The stationary lander’s seismometer has changed that, revealing details about the planet’s deep interior for the first time. Three papers based on the…
This Is What It’s Like To Land on Mars
On February 18, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars, becoming the fifth robotic rover to do so and the third operational exploration robot currently on the planet’s surface. Today during a press conference NASA released stunning high-definition video from Perseverance’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence to the anticipation and excitement of scientists…
First Color Images from (and of) NASA’s Perseverance Rover on Mars
It’s Sol 1 of the Mars 2020 mission on Mars and the very first color pictures are already here! Revealed today, February 19, during a press conference at JPL these images show sneak peeks of the immediate region around Perseverance’s landing site in Jezero Crater, captured by the rover’s hazard avoidance cameras—minus the dirty dust…
Success! There’s a New Rover on Mars!
Today’s Perseverance rover landing on Mars was a success! There are now two new robots on Mars—Perseverance and the Ingenuity helicopter it brought along—which touched down in Jezero Crater at 3:44 p.m. EST / 20:44 UTC today, February 18. The confirmation signal was received here on Earth, 127 million miles away, 11 minutes and 21…
Watch Today’s Mars Landing Live
Today’s the red planet day! NASA’s Perseverance rover is arriving at Mars and will soon enter its atmosphere at over 12,000 mph and, using a combination of ablative heat shield, enormous parachute, a sky-crane with retrorockets, and eventually a series of cables, carefully touch down onto the surface near the western edge of a 28-mile-wide…
Two Days to Mars!
It’s almost time! In just two days—or “sols,” if you’re counting in Mars time—NASA’s newest, biggest and most advanced rover ever, named Perseverance, will touch down on Mars, making it the fifth mobile wheeled robot ever to explore the surface of the Red Planet and the third robot currently in operation on Mars. And if…
They’ve Found Water on Mars Again
In what seems to have become somewhat of an annual event researchers have announced the discovery of water on Mars yet again—although this time it’s more of a confirmation of a previous announcement (with a bit extra for good measure) but not everyone is agreeing on the interpretation of the evidence… then again, that’s how…
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Launches to Mars
Today, July 30, 2020 at 7:50 a.m. EDT (11:50 UTC) NASA’s Mars 2020 rover Perseverance launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a ULA Atlas V 541 rocket. The weather at the Cape was picture-perfect and the launch went smoothly, sending NASA’s newest robotic mission to Mars on its way for an anticipated arrival and landing…
When Spirit Spotted a Swarm of Devils
Mars may be pretty low on traffic these days but, on this day back in 2005, NASA’s Spirit rover (the twin to Opportunity) seemed to find itself at a busy intersection as several blustery dust devils zipped past, one after the other!
NASA’s Next Rover Reminds Us That, As Always, We Persevere
NASA recently released this inspirational video in preparation of the targeted July 30, 2020 launch of its newest Mars rover, Perseverance (along with the Ingenuity helicopter!) Give it a watch. It’s good.
ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter Detects Green Airglow Around Mars
Many photographs taken from low-Earth orbit, especially from the Space Station while on the night side of Earth, show a thin line of green or yellowish light just above the limb of our planet. This is called airglow, and it’s caused by excited oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere releasing energy in the form of…
Lights in the Dark 