Mars rover

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Mars Rover's 'Pet Rock' Disappears After 439 Days

Perseverance had a traveling companion for more than half its mission

(Newser) - After being together for more than half of Perseverance's mission, the NASA Mars rover and its so-called "pet rock" have separated. A rock managed to lodge itself in the rover's front left wheel on Feb. 4, 2022, almost a year after Perseverance landed on the red planet...

Curiosity Captures Spectacular Martian Sunset

Image shows 'some of the most clearly visible images of sun rays we've ever seen on Mars'

(Newser) - Martian sunsets can be on the gloomy side, but NASA's Curiosity rover captured a spectacular one last month. The rover's official account tweeted an image of the phenomenon this week, saying, "My team says these are some of the most clearly visible images of sun rays we'...

China's Rover Is Now Roaming Around Mars
China's Mars Rover
Hasn't Moved in Months
UPDATED
Feb 24, 2023 7:40 AM CST

China's Mars Rover Hasn't Moved in Months

Zhurong's roaming days might be over

(Newser) - China's first Mars rover appears to have finished roaming. CNET reports that images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show the solar-powered Zhurong rover has been inactive since September 2022 and possibly longer. The rover, which entered a planned hibernation in May last year, didn't budge between an...

Here's What a Dust Devil Sounds Like on Mars
Audio Sent Back From
Mars Is First of Its Kind
NEW STUDY
Dec 14, 2022 10:55 AM CST

Audio Sent Back From Mars Is First of Its Kind

NASA's Perseverance rover got caught in a dust devil and recorded what it sounded like

(Newser) - NASA's Perseverance rover was caught in a dust devil on Mars. As a result, we have the first-ever recording of a Martian dust devil, this one more than 400 feet tall and 80 feet across, per the AP . Martian dust devils are common, particularly at Perseverance's landing site...

Earth Isn't Ready for What We've Collected on Mars

A high-containment lab, unlike any currently in existence, has to be built

(Newser) - Last week brought the news that NASA's Perseverance rover had collected four "scientifically compelling" rock samples from Mars' Jezero Crater, in a location where a river and lake came together eons ago. It's a major move forward in the search for ancient life on Mars, though those...

Perseverance Rover Finds Space Trash on Mars
Mars Rover Makes
Unexpected, Trashy Find
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 25, 2022 7:45 AM CDT

Mars Rover Makes Unexpected, Trashy Find

It's certainly not the only bit of space trash on the red planet

(Newser) - Earthlings have officially littered on another planet, and it’s spreading in unexpected ways. Per the Guardian, the Mars rover Perseverance captured an image of a shiny, foil-like object stuck between two rocks. It's certainly a sign of life, but not the type Perseverance is hoping to find on...

Perseverance Pays Off: Rock Sample Collected on Mars

Rover had to drive to a second location to get a good sample

(Newser) - 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 Steltzner, called it a perfect core sample, per the AP . "I’ve never been more happy to see...

NASA Says Soft Rock Caused Mars Sample Fiasco

And it's not talking about Air Supply

(Newser) - NASA is blaming unusually soft rock for last week’s sampling fiasco on Mars. The Perseverance rover came up empty after attempting to collect its first core sample on the red planet for eventual return to Earth. Data beamed back last Friday showed that the rover drilled to the proper...

NASA Puzzled by Rover's Failure to Collect Martian Rock

Perseverance's hardware was working, but sample tube was empty

(Newser) - The Perseverance Mars rover's first effort to collect a rock sample was not a success—but NASA scientists plan to persevere. The rover, which landed in the Jezero crater in February, attempted to collect a core sample and seal it in a titanium tube but the mission team was...

China's Mars Rover Sends Back Proof of Landing

First 2 pics show Zhurong is successfully communicating from Utopia Planitia

(Newser) - China has become only the second nation after the United States to successfully put a craft on Mars and operate it for a significant amount of time, reports the BBC . Its Zhurong rover touched down on the red planet over the weekend, and now we have the first photos as...

Mars Rover Fans Get Special Easter Surprise

2 new 'Easter eggs' revealed, including spacecraft's unique ID number and 2 tiny 'tattoos'

(Newser) - The Perseverance rover took its first spin on Mars last month, to the delight of all its fans back on Earth, but NASA had even more excitement to offer over the holiday weekend. Per CBS News , the space agency chose Easter Sunday to reveal additional "Easter eggs"—jokes,...

Part of the Wright Brothers' 1st Airplane Is on Mars

The helicopter Ingenuity features a postage-size piece of muslin

(Newser) - A piece of the Wright brothers' first airplane is on Mars. NASA’s experimental Martian helicopter holds a small swatch of fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer, the space agency revealed Tuesday. The helicopter, named Ingenuity, hitched a ride to the red planet with the Perseverance rover, arriving last month....

Perseverance Takes First Spin on Mars

Rover travels 21 feet in a test drive

(Newser) - There's no chance of rain, so it might be a good time to wash Perseverance. Mission controllers took the rover out for a 33-minute test drive Thursday, covering 21 feet of the dusty surface of Mars, NASA reports. They liked the way it handled. "The rover’s six-wheel...

NASA Releases First-Ever Martian Audio, Video

They're the 'closest you can get to landing on Mars without putting on a pressure suit'

(Newser) - A big Red Planet first from NASA: The agency has released the first-ever video of a Mars landing and the first audio sent back from the planet. The high-definition video was recorded by videos on the entry capsule and the Perseverance rover itself during its successful landing Thursday. "The...

Stunning Mars Images Rival Moon Landing's

(Newser) - Photos sent back from Mars by NASA's Perseverance rover already are joining the album of iconic pictures of space exploration, putting them alongside such indelible images as Buzz Aldrin standing on the moon in 1969. "We can only hope, in our efforts to engineer spacecraft and explore our...

Here Are the First Images From NASA's Perseverance Rover

The black and white images show the surface of Mars

(Newser) - NASA's Perseverance, the biggest and most advanced rover the agency has ever sent, landed on Mars Thursday to cries of jubilation from ground controllers at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Minutes later, the rover sent back its first two images from the red planet,...

The '7 Minutes of Terror' Are Nearly Upon Us
The '7 Minutes of Terror'
Are Nearly Upon Us
the rundown
Feb 18, 2021 6:56 AM CST

The '7 Minutes of Terror' Are Nearly Upon Us

Mars rover Perseverance will attempt to land on the red planet this afternoon

(Newser) - NASA is bracing itself for "seven minutes of terror" Thursday afternoon. Its Perseverance rover is set to touchdown on Mars around 3:55pm ET, but that it'll do so in one piece is no sure thing. Perseverance will essentially have that short period to go from traveling in...

NASA Just Launched Its Biggest-Ever Mars Rover

Perseverance will seek signs of ancient life

(Newser) - The biggest, most sophisticated Mars rover ever built—a car-size vehicle bristling with cameras, microphones, drills, and lasers—blasted off Thursday as part of an ambitious, long-range project to bring the first Martian rock samples back to Earth to be analyzed for evidence of ancient life. NASA’s Perseverance rode...

China's Launch Was a Success. '7 Minutes of Terror' Is to Come

Nation just sent its first unmanned Tianwen-1 rover to Mars

(Newser) - It's a big first for China: the independent launch of an unmanned probe to Mars. Riding a Long March 5 rocket out of the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, the Tianwen-1 rover was sent into space at around 12:40pm local time on Thursday. "I now...

Mars Rover Finally Has a Name
7th Grader Names Mars Rover
Mar 5, 2020 3:33 PM CST

7th Grader Names Mars Rover

Meet Perseverance, due to launch in July

(Newser) - NASA's next Mars rover finally has a name. Perseverance, a six-wheeled robotic explorer, will blast off this summer to collect Martian samples for eventual return to Earth, the AP reports. The name was suggested by Alex Mather, a Virginia seventh-grader, as part of a naming contest for US schoolchildren....

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