As Curiosity marks its fourth anniversary (in Earth years) since landing on Mars, the rover is working on collecting its 17th sample. While Curiosity explores Mars, gamers can join the fun via a new social media game, Mars Rover.
On their mobile devices, players drive a rover through rough Martian terrain, challenging themselves to navigate and balance the rover while … Read the rest of this article
New findings using data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show that gullies on modern Mars are likely not being formed by flowing liquid water. This new evidence will allow researchers to further narrow theories about how Martian gullies form, and reveal more details about Mars’ recent geologic processes.
Scientists use the term “gully” for features on Mars that share three … Read the rest of this article
Mars Express, ESA’s deep-space probe orbiting the Red Planet, carries a Visual Monitoring Camera that originally provided simple, low-resolution photos of the separation of the Beagle lander. It was then switched off, its prime assignment fulfilled.
In 2007, it was recommissioned as the ‘Mars Webcam’ and has since then provided a wealth of Mars images – including whole-planet views and … Read the rest of this article
This animation visualised milestones during the launch of the ExoMars 2016 mission and its cruise to Mars. The mission comprises the Trace Gas Orbiter and an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, Schiaparelli, which are scheduled to be launched on a four-stage Proton-M/Breeze-M rocket from Baikonur during the 14–25 March 2016 window.
About ten-and-a-half hours after launch, the spacecraft will … Read the rest of this article
On 14 March, the launch window opens for ExoMars 2016, ESA’s next mission to Mars, composed of the Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli.
Last month, the two spacecraft left Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France, where they had been for the final few months of assembly and testing, and headed towards the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
With both now in … Read the rest of this article
Oxia Planum has been recommended as the primary candidate for the landing site of the ExoMars 2018 mission.
ExoMars 2018, comprising a rover and surface platform, is the second of two missions making up the ExoMars programme, a joint endeavour between ESA and Russia’s Roscosmos. Launch is planned for May 2018, with touchdown on the Red Planet in January 2019.… Read the rest of this article
Catastrophic flooding triggered by ice melting from the heat of volcanic activity is thought to be responsible for the chaotic scenery depicted in this region of the Mangala Valles channel network.
Read the rest of this article
This context image shows part of the Mangala Valles region of Mars that was imaged by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express on 12 July 2015 …
Scientists may be closer to solving the mystery of how Mars changed from a world with surface water billions of years ago to the arid Red Planet of today.
A new analysis of the largest known deposit of carbonate minerals on Mars suggests that the original Martian atmosphere may have already lost most of its carbon dioxide by the era … Read the rest of this article
Mars enthusiasts around the world can participate in NASA’s journey to Mars by adding their names to a silicon microchip headed to the Red Planet aboard NASA’s InSight Mars lander, scheduled to launch next year.
“Our next step in the journey to Mars is another fantastic mission to the surface,” said Jim Green, director of planetary science at … Read the rest of this article
This colourful image resembles an abstract watercolour, but it is in fact a colour-coded topographic map of one of the most geologically diverse regions on Mars.
The images featured in this release were taken by the high-resolution stereo camera on ESA’s Mars Express on 10 November 2014, and focus on Tempe Fossae in the Ascuris Planum region of Mars.
The Sun Now (Visible light)
|
The Sun Now (H-Alpha light)
|
|
Aurora Oval
(Northern Hemisphere) |
Aurora Oval
(Southern Hemisphere) |
|
