Mars Mission

NASA MRO spacecraft captures unusual circles of sand dunes on Mars

He explained that this indicates that "sand generally moves to the south, but the winds may be variable"

US to test nuclear thermal rocket engine for future Mars missions

Nasa and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have announced a collaboration to demonstrate a nuclear thermal rocket engine in space

India's Mars orbiter dies after 6-month mission lasts eight years

The orbiter, called Mangalyaan in Sanskrit, made India only the fourth nation to reach the distant planet; it garnered global attention primarily for its shoestring budget

Isro demonstrates new tech that can be used for Mars, Venus missions

ISRO on Saturday successfully demonstrated a new technology with Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD) that it said is a game-changer with multiple applications for future missions including to Mars and Venus. An IAD, designed and developed by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), was successfully test flown in a 'Rohini' sounding rocket from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS). The IAD was initially folded and kept inside the payload bay of the rocket, according to the Bengaluru-headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). At around 84 km altitude, the IAD was inflated and it descended through atmosphere with the payload part of sounding rocket. The pneumatic system for inflation was developed by ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), it said. The IAD has systematically reduced the velocity of the payload through aerodynamic drag and followed the predicted trajectory. "This is the first time that an IAD is designed specifically for spe

UAE, NASA missions find 'patchy' proton auroras in Mars atmosphere

The United Arab Emirate's Mars Mission (EMM) and NASA's MAVEN probe have found "patchy" proton auroras in Mars' skies, providing new insights into the red planet's atmosphere. An aurora is a natural light display in a planet's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions such as the northern lights, or the aurora borealis, seen from the Earth. The new aurora found by the team is formed when the solar wind directly impacts Mars' upper atmosphere and emits ultraviolet light as it slows down. It was discovered in snapshots of the dayside disk obtained by the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS), which observes the planet's upper atmosphere. When the aurora occurs, small regions of the planet become much brighter, signifying intense localised energy in the atmosphere. "Our discovery of these patchy proton aurora adds a new kind of event to the long list of those currently studied by EMM and challenges our existing views of how the proton aurora on Mars' dayside are formed

NASA's InSight mission finds Martian equator contains little or no ince

Martian equator contains little or no ice, according to a new analysis of seismic data from NASA's Mars InSight mission

Euro-Russia Mars mission was suspended due to Ukraine: What to expect next?

The Rosalind Franklin rover is unique among all the rovers planned for Mars as it can drill deeper than any before it - up to 2 metres below the harsh surface

UAE partners with NASA on Mars missions to boost scientific collaborations

The United Arab Emirates has partnered with US space agency NASA on a Mars mission to boost scientific collaborations on the Red Planet.

NASA's Perseverance grabs one more rock sample on Mars, taking count to 7

NASA's Perseverance rover has grabbed one more sample from Mars, taking the total number of collection to seven.

NASA's Perseverance rover collects puzzle pieces of Mars' history

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover successfully collected its first pair of rock samples, and scientists already are gaining new insights into the region.After collecting its first sample, named "Montdenier" on September 6, the team collected a second, "Montagnac," from the same rock on September 8, according to a release by NASA.Analysis of the rocks from which the Montdenier and Montagnac samples were taken and from the rover's previous sampling attempt may help the science team piece together the timeline of the area's past, which was marked by volcanic activity and periods of persistent water."It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained environment," said Ken Farley of Caltech, project scientist for the mission, which is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California."It's a big deal that the water was there a long time."The rock that provided the mission's first core samples is basaltic in composition and may be the product of lava ...

NASA confirms first Mars rock sample by Perseverance rover

NASA's Perseverance rover on Tuesday completed the collection of the first sample of Martian rock, a core from Jezero Crater slightly thicker than a pencil.

NASA's newest Mars rover snags first rock sample for return to Earth

NASA's newest Mars rover has successfully collected its first rock sample for return to Earth, after last month's attempt came up empty. The Perseverance rover's chief engineer, Adam Stelzner, called it a perfect core sample. "I've never been more happy to see a hole in a rock," he tweeted Thursday. A month ago, Perseverance drilled into much softer rock, and the sample crumbled and didn't get inside the titanium tube. The rover drove a half-mile to a better sampling spot to try again. Team members analyzed data and pictures before declaring success. Perseverance arrived in February at Mars' Jezero Crater believed to be the home of a lush lakebed and river delta billions of years ago in search of rocks that might hold evidence of ancient life. NASA plans to launch more spacecraft to retrieve the samples collected by Perseverance; engineers are hoping to return as many as three dozen samples in about a decade.

Nasa Perseverance Mars rover to acquire first sample of Martian rock

Nasa is making final preparations for its Perseverance Mars rover to collect its first-ever sample of Martian rock, which future planned missions will transport to Earth

Order in space

International agreement will boost India's space capabilities

China delays new mission while Nasa congratulates on Mars images

China postponed a supply mission to its new space station for unspecified technical reasons

China's scientific muscle

Its technological advancement will have global implications

Explained: How the Chinese landed a rover on Mars in first attempt

Nasa is the only agency that had managed this prior to Zhurong. The lander is completely autonomous and cannot even be monitored in anything approaching real time.

China's spacecraft lands on Mars, closing gap with US in space exploration

A China National Space Administration (CNSA) lander from the Tianwen-1, which has been in orbit since February, touched down on Utopia Planitia, a large plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars

China's spacecraft lands on Mars in latest advance for its space programme

China has landed a spacecraft on Mars for the first time in the latest advance for its space programme

The Moon, Mars and beyond: China's ambitious, high-profile space plans

More potential milestones lie ahead. Here's what to know about them