Curiosity rover to stay in 'safe mode' for days while NASA tackles glitches
NASA's Curiosity rover has mostly had smooth sailing since it touched down on Mars last year. Unfortunately, it's in a more precarious position as of this past Thursday. After noticing corrupted...
View ArticleCuriosity rover leaves safe mode, remains in Martian limbo
The Curiosity rover has been in an especially precarious position since late last week, when a memory glitch forced it into a safe mode while NASA prepared a backup and diagnosed the trouble. We're...
View ArticleCuriosity rover finds conditions on Mars that could have supported living...
"A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment," says lead Mars Exploration Program scientist Michael Meyer, quoted in a NASA press release...
View ArticleCuriosity rover drills into Martian rock, looks for more evidence of water
NASA scientists won't have to wait until InSight's 2016 drilling mission to see what lies beneath the surface of Mars -- Curiosity is already on the case. After developing a taste for Martian soil...
View ArticleWatch the Curiosity rover explore Mars in one minute (video)
It hasn't even been a year from the time NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars, yet it already boasts a number of accomplishments. All the while, Opportunity's successor has been sending images back...
View ArticleCuriosity rover discovers dangerous levels of radiation during Mars transit
While we've learned that radiation levels on Mars are safe for humans, actually getting there in the first place remains a problem. Recent results from Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD)...
View ArticleMars pebbles prove that rivers altered the planet's surface
Scientists already had an inkling that water helped form the landscape on Mars, but they're now ready to confirm that claim. In a report written for Science, researchers state that the smooth, rounded...
View ArticleNASA makes billion-pixel Mars panorama out of photos captured by Curiosity
Sure, they're mostly just pictures of sand and rocks, but we still have to thank the Curiosity rover for beaming back images of landscapes we'll never walk on. To give you a panoramic view of a Mars...
View ArticleNASA to broadcast Curiosity's 1st anniversary celebration on August 6th 10:45 ET
It's hard to believe August 5th marks Curiosity's first year on Mars -- it seems like only yesterday that we were on tenterhooks during the rover's precarious landing on the red planet. Within that...
View ArticleLife on Mars cast into doubt as Curiosity fails to find methane
[Click] Hi, is that David Bowie? [Silence] ... It's NASA here. We've got some news. While it's not a conclusive answer, the Curiosity Rover wasn't able to detect any traces of methane in the Gale...
View ArticleNASA's Curiosity finds two percent of Martian soil is composed of water
We already knew Mars was blanketed in ancient riverbeds, which points to the existence of water in the distant past. What we didn't know, however, is that H2O exists on Mars in the here and now --...
View ArticleWatch NASA simulate a Mars landing on Earth to test supersonic parachutes
To make sure the (very expensive) equipment we're sending to Mars don't crash into the ground, NASA's putting its huge supersonic parachutes through a grueling test. Wait, what do parachutes have to...
View ArticleCuriosity celebrates its first action-packed Martian year
Curiosity feted its first Martian year on the red planet (687 earth days) with a stiched-up selfie while NASA reflected on the Mars rover's triumphs and setbacks. So far, it has achieved most of its...
View ArticleMars 2020 rover will give us a way to know the red planet better
NASA's been planning for the Mars 2020 rover for a long time now, back when Curiosity was just making its way to the red planet. Now, the agency has finally chosen seven scientific instruments that'll...
View ArticleNASA panel says Curiosity needs to drive less and drill more
NASA is not getting its money's worth of Curiosity, according to a review panel looking at seven planetary missions. The senior scientists criticized the nuclear-powered Mars rover, saying it needed...
View ArticleNASA: Mars' Gale Crater held a huge lake for millions of years
Humans have been speculating about water on Mars for hundreds of years, and now thanks to the Curiosity rover we're getting a better sense of how wet the Red Planet used to be. NASA revealed today...
View ArticleCuriosity detects organic molecules in Martian atmosphere and soil
NASA's Curiosity rover is still going strong on the red planet, observing the atmosphere and analyzing soil samples for the sake of future missions. For instance, the agency has revealed that the...
View ArticleCuriosity learns to drill into Mars rocks without breaking them
It's no secret that scientists want the Curiosity rover to drill into Mars more often. However, it first has to learn how to drill properly -- until now, it was so aggressive that it sometimes broke...
View ArticleCuriosity rover's arm is suffering short circuits, but it's OK
The Curiosity rover's drilling career is in danger. Its robotic arm has been having sporadic short circuits ever since late February. Its issues started on February 27th, when a surge of current shut...
View ArticleCuriosity finds evidence of life-giving nitrates in Mars rocks
NASA's Curiosity rover isn't done finding signs that Mars once had the prime ingredients for life... not by a longshot. The explorer robot has discovered evidence of nitrates, the nitrogen compounds...
View ArticleNASA patched Curiosity rover's autofocus problem over the air
Pardon me while I say something that might not be entirely popular: Software updates are pretty awesome. Maybe not so much for game consoles, but, I digress because the Curiosity rover recently...
View ArticleNow you can drive around Mars with NASA's Curiosity simulator
Want to explore the surface of the red planet without signing up for the Mars One mission? No problem: NASA has built two interactive web applications that will let you explore the planet to your...
View ArticleThe Big Picture: Curiosity takes a 'belly selfie' on Mars
You really shouldn't take selfies from a low angle -- it could lead to unflattering images that emphasize double chins, chubby cheeks and big nostrils. That is, unless you're the Curiosity rover,...
View ArticleWhat petrified sand dunes look like on Mars
If you're the outdoorsy type, you might have already seen petrified sand dunes in person (in Utah, for instance) -- the photo above, however, isn't of a desert here on Earth. It's an image stitched...
View ArticleOur ongoing missions to Mars are over 50 years in the making
A deep space mission to Mars will require more than a few bottles of Poland Spring and water reclamation is a complicated business. Luckily, recent research is showing that liquid water may be more...
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