Mars

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NASA Has New Video of Mars Rover Landing

Agency stitches together high-res frames

(Newser) - Viewers can now relive the drama of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars with a new video detailing the final moments of touchdown. NASA posted the video today on its website , embedded with audio from mission control. It starts with the heat shield falling away. The ground grows larger...

Mars Rover Curiosity Drives for First Time

15-foot test trip was a success

(Newser) - The Mars rover Curiosity is officially cruising. NASA completed its first test drive of the space vehicle today. The rover traveled 15 feet, turned right, and then reversed a short distance, reports AP . "We're very excited to have this kind of milestone behind us," says one NASA...

NASA Unveils Next Mars Mission

InSight lander will look deep inside red planet

(Newser) - As Curiosity begins its work on the surface of Mars , NASA has unveiled plans to study the red planet's interior. The agency aims to send the InSight robotic lander to Mars in 2016 to detect "marsquakes," determine whether the planet's core is solid or liquid, and...

Curiosity&#39;s First Laser Blast Rocks
 Curiosity's Laser Blasts Rock 
Aug 20, 2012 4:21 AM CDT

Curiosity's Laser Blasts Rock

'It's payoff time,' crows ChemCam leader

(Newser) - Mars rover Curiosity's first test-fire of its powerful laser was pronounced a big success, turning a small amount of nondescript rock into glowing, ionized plasma, reports Wired . The laser fired 30 pulses of energy over a 10-second period, each with more than 1 million watts of power but lasting...

Family of 5 Switches to Martian Time

Because dad is NASA land rover's flight director

(Newser) - Imagine perpetual jet lag that gets a little worse every day, and you'll understand life in the Oh family. They're on Martian time, which makes each day 40 minutes longer than the one before. "We all feel a little sleepy, a little jet-lagged all day long, but...

NASA So Cool, It Has Own LMFAO Spoof

Of course, the coolest kids work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

(Newser) - They sport mohawks. President Obama called them cool . And now they're the subject of an MTV-worthy video. The polo-shirted crew at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory found quick fame after Curiosity's victorious landing, following its famed seven minutes of terror on Aug. 5, in part "because they...

India: We'll Launch a Mars Mission Next Year

$82M plan will send spacecraft to orbit planet

(Newser) - Look out, Curiosity : India is right behind you. The country is planning to send an unmanned spacecraft to orbit Mars next year, its prime minister announced today. "This spaceship to Mars will be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology," Manmohan Singh said...

Mars Rover Gets 'Brain Transplant'

Will allow Curiosity to start driving

(Newser) - Mars rover Curiosity has gotten a new brain. NASA scientists just spent four days changing Curiosity's software, swapping out programs it needed for its complicated landing on Mars and replacing them with software that will enable it to drive, operate its robot arm, and analyze soil samples, reports NASA...

Obama Tells NASA: I've Considered Getting a Mohawk

NASA's Bobak Ferdowski inspires amusing riff from the prez

(Newser) - President Obama had mohawks and Martians on his mind today when he called NASA to congratulate them on Curiosity's safe (and serendipitous ) touchdown on Mars, Huffington Post reports. "I understand there's a special Mohawk Guy that's working on the mission," said Obama, referring to...

'Insane Coincidence' Confirmed on Mars

Curiosity did snap photo of its own ride

(Newser) - Yep, the "insane coincidence" on Mars really happened. Moments after landing on Sunday, the Curiosity rover snapped a photo of its own ride crashing on the Martian landscape, the Los Angeles Times reports. The blink-and-it's-gone lucky shot was confirmed by a member of Curiosity's scientific team in...

Curiosity Sends Back 1st Color Panorama

360-degree compilation photo shows Gale Crater

(Newser) - The photo-snapping rover Curiosity returned another postcard from Mars yesterday—the first 360-degree color panorama of Gale Crater. Scientists admired the sweeping vista—red dust, dark sand dunes, and tan-hued rocks. In the distance was the base of Mount Sharp, a three-mile-high mountain rising from the crater floor, where the...

Mars Rover Landed in 'Area 51' ... Kind Of

NASA has dubbed landing region 'Yellowknife'

(Newser) - Cue the tinfoil hats. Area 51 is the Nevada military base famous among conspiracy buffs for its alleged alien secrets, but the Mars probe Curiosity landed in a part of the Red Planet called ... Quad 51. Coincidence? Well, yes, it's totally a coincidence, reports Florida Today . The Gale Crater...

Rover Spies &#39;Earth-Like&#39; Scene
 Rover Spies 'Earth-Like' Scene 
Aug 9, 2012 7:50 AM CDT

Rover Spies 'Earth-Like' Scene

Gale Crater reminiscent of Mojave Desert: scientists

(Newser) - Curiosity may have landed in a Martian crater, but it could just as easily be somewhere in California, say scientists who have studied the photos and video it has beamed back to Earth. With mountains visible in the distance—through the hanging haze—the scene from the Gale Crater looks...

Curiosity Sends Back First Color Photo

Martian rover's key camera 'working and awesome,' team says

(Newser) - NASA's Curiosity rover is feeding scientists with a steady stream of images, including the first one in color. The color photo shows the north wall and rim of the ancient crater where the rover made its amazing landing earlier this week, Reuters reports. The image, which appears fuzzy because...

Mars Rover Sends Back First Video

Curiosity captures landing, images of Martian surface

(Newser) - NASA has released a rover's-eye view of Curiosity's nail-biting landing on Mars yesterday. The video, which captures a minute of what engineers described as "seven minutes of terror," begins as the rover's heat shield falls away, and ends with dust being kicked up as Curiosity...

NASA Bites Nails: '7 Minutes of Terror' Loom on Mars

Curiosity to land at 1:31am ET ... hopefully

(Newser) - Olympic feats have ruled the press over the last week, but a scientific feat may be the one stealing headlines tomorrow. The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal are among just a few news outlets previewing the upcoming "seven minutes of terror"—that's how NASA officials are...

NASA Enlists Shatner to Explain Risky Mars Landing

Rover Curiosity arrives late tomorrow

(Newser) - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is scheduled to touch down tomorrow night on a two-year mission, and who better than Captain Kirk to explain all? The space agency has William Shatner detail what it expects to happen, including the Hollywood-esque "seven minutes of terror" that precedes the landing, reports...

Man's Ticket to Mars: Inflatable Heat Shield?

Device inflates to deflect heat and force

(Newser) - It sounds like something out of an HG Wells novel, but NASA's newest innovation may pave the way to getting humans on Mars. The agency successfully tested a $17 million inflatable heat shield yesterday, reports Space.com . The Inflatable Re-Entry Vehicle Experiment 3 (IRVE-3) blasted off from a NASA...

On NASA's Mars Menu: Thai Pizza, Martian Veggies

Astronauts on the 3-year mission could grow some of their own produce

(Newser) - Here's a real head scratcher: How do you feed a crew of six to eight astronauts on a mission to Mars that will last almost three years? It's a question NASA is working at already, even though the mission won't happen for at least another 10 to...

Mars Rover Offers Sweeping View

NASA creates composite image from 817 photos

(Newser) - It's Mars as you've never seen it: NASA released a panoramic image this week of the planet's landscape, notes Wired . The rover Opportunity took 817 images from late 2011 until May 2012 as it sat parked for the winter, and the space agency used them to create...

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