MARS - BIO FUEL DAILY

Dec 14, 2022 (JPL)

Yes, Mars has dust devils. They were first noticed from orbit by the Viking spacecraft. Nearly every Mars rover has experienced them in some way. The twin rover...

Sound of a dust devil on Mars recorded for first time

Dec 13, 2022 (AFP)

"We hit the jackpot" when the rover's microphone picked up the noise made by the dust devil overhead, the study's lead author Naomi Murdoch told AFP. The resear...

Let's try that again Amapari: Sols 3677-3679

Dec 12, 2022 (JPL)

Each drill campaign follows a very strict set of guidelines - each target needs to be carefully triaged to determine chemistry and physical properties of the ro...

Evaluating a Possible Drill Location

Dec 09, 2022 (JPL)

So today's two-sol plan is devoted to collecting data from APXS and MAHLI (supplemented by ChemCam and Mastcam), to evaluate the bedrock in our workspace, as se...

Sol 3676 Another: 'Bore-ing' Day on Mars

Dec 09, 2022 (JPL)

Before drilling, we have a short amount of time for imaging. Drilling take a lot of time and power, so we had to limit what else we could fit in today. The rove...

Tiny underwater sand dunes may shed light on larger terrestrial and Martian formations

Dec 08, 2022 (SPX)

Known as barchans, these formations are commonly found in various sizes and circumstances, from finger-length dunes on the ocean floor, to stadium-sized dunes i...

NASA's Perseverance rover gets the dirt on Mars

Dec 08, 2022 (JPL)

Scientists want to study Martian samples with powerful lab equipment on Earth to search for signs of ancient microbial life and to better understand the process...

Martian dust devil analogues in the Mojave Desert #ASA183

Dec 08, 2022 (SPX)

Dust devils could play a large role in the Martian climate, and they are crucial to understand during missions to the red planet. Louis Urtecho of NASA JPL and ...

Giant mantle plume reveals Mars is more active than previously thought

Dec 06, 2022 (SPX)

In the current issue of Nature Astronomy, scientists from the University of Arizona challenge current views of Martian geodynamic evolution with a report on the...

Second Time's the Charm: Sols 3671-3673

Dec 06, 2022 (SPX)

As Science Operations Coordinator, I work closely with the JPL engineering team and the science team. My job on a morning like this is to take stock of what act...

Mars set to wink out behind the Moon

Dec 05, 2022 (SPX)

But that's not all. On opposition night, viewers across large swaths of the globe will see the full Moon glide in front of Mars, in what is known as an occultat...

NASA May Have Landed on a Martian Megatsunami Deposit Nearly 50 Years Ago

Dec 02, 2022 (SPX)

"The lander was designed to seek evidence of extant life on the Martian surface, so to select a suitable landing site, the engineers and scientists at the time ...

Analyzing the rhythmically layered bedrock above the marker band: Sols 3669-3670

Dec 02, 2022 (JPL)

The first time Curiosity encountered these rocks we were unable to analyze them because one of the rover's wheels was perched on a rock. Now that we are parked ...

Back to the Marker Band - Sols 3667-3668

Dec 01, 2022 (JPL)

The first sol is always the busiest on these "restricted" plans, this time because the decisional data needed for Wednesday planning has to be transmitted on th...

What's in a Vein?

Dec 01, 2022 (JPL)

Geological veins are mineral deposits that form when a pre-existing fracture within a rock is filled with a new mineral. They are exciting to planetary scientis...

3-D Radargram brings new focus to Mars' north polar cap

Nov 29, 2022 (SPX)

Putzig's team, which included PSI researchers Matthew Perry, Isaac Smith, Aaron Russell and intern Isabella Mueller, produced and analyzed the 3-D image using o...

NASA awards contract for Mars Sample Return systems

Nov 26, 2022 (SPX)

The total value of this cost-plus-fixed-fee contract is $17,686,341. The period of performance runs from Nov. 30, 2022, through July 30, 2026. Honeybee Robotics...

A picture is worth a thousand words

Nov 24, 2022 (JPL)

When we see different colors like in this case, we might suspect that the two types of rocks had different origins. Other physical characteristics include size,...

Reading the ripples at observation mountain

Nov 23, 2022 (JPL)

Billions of years ago, lakes, rivers, and oceans flowed across Mars, but today, wind is the dominant force shaping the geologic landscape. Over time, rock break...

Thanksgiving Plan Part Two - Sols 3665-3666

Nov 23, 2022 (JPL)

The image above shows one of our wheels and the JPL 'morse code' message. I wonder just how many of those we have made on Mars so far. Ten years and over 29 kil...