This rover is being put through its paces in California, at NASA’s Ames Research Center, before “graduating” to the very…
This week in 2007, the space shuttle Atlantis, mission STS-117, landed at Edwards Air Force Base following the completion of…
A sandy soil sample pours into the collection scoop, in this close-up of the ARADS life-detection rover at work during…
The ARADS rover prototype features a robotic arm that is programmed to collect soil samples from the rover’s drill and…
The Atacama Desert in Chile is one of the driest places on Earth. However, a rare rain event did occur…
At the top of the ARADS rover, seen here during testing in Chile’s Atacama Desert, is a gray cylinder that…
A spinning brush sweeps soil off the ARADS rover’s drill into a sample jar.
Linda Kobayashi, an electrical engineer on the ARADS team, helps install an instrument on the rover from below.
The Microfluidics Life Analyzer, or MILA, shown here before installation on the ARADS rover, is one instrument looking for signs…
Scientists from the ARADS astrobiology project recently did field work in Chile’s Atacama Desert, learning about the rare microbes that…