NASA InSight Lander Arrives on Martian Surface to Learn What Lies Beneath
Mars has just received its newest robotic resident. NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander successfully touched down on the Red Planet after an almost seven-month, 300-million-mile (458-million-kilometer) journey from Earth. InSight’s two-year mission will be to study the deep interior of Mars to learn how all celestial bodies with […]
NASA Announces Landing Site for Mars 2020 Rover
NASA has chosen Jezero Crater as the landing site for its upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission after a five year search, during which every available detail of more than 60 candidate locations on the Red Planet was scrutinized and debated by the mission team and the planetary science community. The rover mission is scheduled to launch in […]
Mars Virtual Reality Software Wins NASA Award
A mixed-reality software that allows scientists and engineers to virtually walk on Mars recently received NASA’s 2018 Software of the Year Award. OnSight uses imagery from NASA’s Curiosity rover to create an immersive 3D terrain model, allowing users to wander the actual dunes and valleys explored by the robot. The goal of the […]
NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars
NASA’s Curiosity rover has found new evidence preserved in rocks on Mars that suggests the planet could have supported ancient life, as well as new evidence in the Martian atmosphere that relates to the search for current life on the Red Planet. While not necessarily evidence of life itself, these findings are a good sign […]
NASA, ULA Launch Mission to Study How Mars Was Made
NASA’s Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission is on a 300-million-mile trip to Mars to study for the first time what lies deep beneath the surface of the Red Planet. InSight launched at 7:05 a.m. EDT (4:05 am PDT) Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. “The United States […]
NASA Rover Findings Point to a More Earth-like Martian Past
Chemicals found in Martian rocks by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover suggest the Red Planet once had more oxygen in its atmosphere than it does now. Researchers found high levels of manganese oxides by using a laser-firing instrument on the rover. This hint of more oxygen in Mars’ early atmosphere adds to other Curiosity findings — […]
California Science Center: Journey to Space: Exhibition and 3D Film Opens Oct. 29th
Prepare to be amazed! Through hands-on exhibits and immersive experiences, explore the science and technology developed by scientists to protect astronauts from radiation, meteoroids, temperature extremes, and the vacuum of space. Hear the stories of astronauts and rocket scientists, take a turn managing the energy of a simulated orbiting space station, operate a robotic […]
The Possibility of Life on Mars
The Mars Exploration Program Since our first close-up picture of Mars in 1965, spacecraft voyages to the Red Planet have revealed a world strangely familiar, yet different enough to challenge our perceptions of what makes a planet work. Every time we feel close to understanding Mars, new discoveries send us straight back to the drawing […]
Seven Foreign News Stories You Missed In 2014
ISIS, Ebola, a dozen plane crashes, and a sports competition or two: plenty of international stories caught our attention in 2014. But you may have missed a few others, many of them way more entertaining than the big headlines. 1. Ukraine elected a “Chocolate King” In the chaos surrounding Ukraine’s winter revolution and subsequent conflict […]
