Mars: News & Features
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Here’s How Curiosity’s Sky Crane Changed the Way NASA Explores Mars
Twelve years ago, NASA landed its six-wheeled science lab using a daring new technology that lowers the rover using a robotic jetpack. NASA’s Curiosity rover mission is celebrating a dozen years on the Red Planet, where the six-wheeled scientist continues…
![A sweeping landscape gives way to hills on the colorized horizon in this artistic Mars composite image.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/rps-curiosity.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
UPDATED: 10 Things for Mars 10
Scientists from around the world are gathering this week in California to take stock of the state of science from Mars and discuss goals for the next steps in exploration of the Red Planet. In the spirit of Mars 10,…
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NASA’s Perseverance Fords an Ancient River to Reach Science Target
Originally thought of as little more than a route clear of rover-slowing boulders, Neretva Vallis has provided a bounty of geologic options for the science team. After detouring through a dune field to avoid wheel-rattling boulders, NASA’s Perseverance Mars…
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20 Years After Landing: How NASA’s Twin Rovers Changed Mars Science
This month marks the 20th anniversary of Spirit and Opportunity’s landing on Mars, part of a mission whose legacy will extend far into the future. In January 2004, twin NASA rovers named Spirit and Opportunity touched down on opposite sides…
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Autonomous Systems Help NASA’s Perseverance Do More Science on Mars
A computer pilot helps NASA’s six-wheeled geologist as it searches for rock samples that could be brought to Earth for deeper investigation. In about a third of the time it would have taken other NASA Mars rovers, Perseverance recently navigated…
![In a colorful illustration somewhat in the style of a National Parks poster, a water-filled Jezero Crater on Mars, as it might have looked billions of years ago, is in the foreground, touched with yellow and gold light from a Martian sunset; the Sun is setting over a gap in the crater wall in the center of the image, through which the water is flowing. The crater walls on either side of the gap are brown, with pink cliffs in the distance, and a white sun setting in a light violet sky.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SFL_Story3_12809731.jpeg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
The Hunt for Life on Mars – and Elsewhere in the Solar System
The search for life within our solar system, already begun on Mars, soon will extend to distant, icy moons.
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Why – and How – NASA Gives a Name to Every Spot It Studies on Mars
Martian maps are full of monikers recognizing places on Earth, explorers, and even cartoon characters. NASA’s Perseverance rover is currently investigating rock outcrops alongside the rim of Mars’ Belva Crater. Some 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) away, NASA’s Curiosity rover recently drilled…
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Why – and How – NASA Gives a Name to Every Spot It Studies on Mars
Martian maps are full of monikers recognizing places on Earth, explorers, and even cartoon characters.
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Gets a Major Software Upgrade
The update brings loads of improvements, the most significant being new driving capabilities.
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Before You Can Drive, First You Have to Fly – S4E9
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts Subscribe via Google Play Subscribe via SoundCloud Subscribe via RSS Feed Transcript (music) NASA Launch Control: T-minus 15 seconds… Narrator: When a Mars rover is on top of a rocket, ready to leave Earth, it is not simply…