Articles

Bill Dunford

Mars and Earth share a truly striking family resemblance, but there's no mistaking which one is home.

Emily Lakdawalla

Виталий Егоров (Vitaliy Egorov) is a Russian space enthusiast who enlisted help of fellow enthusiasts to search for -- and maybe find -- the Russian Mars 3 hardware on the Martian surface. Here he explains how he did it.

Bill Dunford

Dispatches from five different worlds--all sent by robotic spacecraft on the same day.

Emily Lakdawalla

Some interesting results from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference on clay minerals on Mars and what they might mean about ancient water.

Emily Lakdawalla

Curiosity is inching her way through her first use of the drill on a Martian rock. She paused in the proceedings to capture a second Martian

Bill Dunford

Just like on Earth, clouds and storms often ripple through the Martian atmosphere. You can even check the daily weather report.

Emily Lakdawalla

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a new view of Curiosity on Mars on January 2 (sol 145). Curiosity was in the same location as the one from which it shot the sol 137 panorama I posted earlier. You can see the rover's tracks leading all the way back to the landing site!

Emily Lakdawalla

I asked Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to take a photo, and it turned out better than I had imagined: an incredibly fresh, well-preserved, dramatically rayed oblique impact crater.

Jason Davis

Two short videos produced by Jason Davis on astronomy and planetary science work taking place at the University of Arizona.

Emily Lakdawalla

Welcome to my monthly survey of the activities of robots across the solar system! Tomorrow is the equinox at Mars; both Curiosity and Opportunity will be spending the month actively analyzing Martian rocks. It'll be a less active month for Cassini, as Saturn passes through solar conjunction late next month.

Emily Lakdawalla

HiRISE's best opportunity to view Curiosity so far came 12 days after landing, when the orbiter passed nearly directly overhead. The photo resolves amazing detail on the huge rover.

Emily Lakdawalla

In 2008, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped an amazing photo of Phoenix descending to the surface of Mars under its parachute. Now it's repeated the feat, with Curiosity.

Emily Lakdawalla

A wider (well, longer) view of the amazing HiRISE image that shows Curiosity descending under parachute to Mars

Jason Davis

Welcome to the monthly roundup of our solar system's envoy of electronic explorers! All eyes are on Curiosity as it approaches Mars this weekend. Who will lend support at the Red Planet?

Alfred McEwen

The final article of a three-part series of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera.

Alfred McEwen

Part two of a three-part series of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera.

Alfred McEwen

Hundreds of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera are publicly available, if you know where to look.

David Kass

May 16, 2012 is the third martian anniversary of the start of Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) observations from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. MCS started measuring the atmosphere of Mars three Mars years ago, on September 24, 2006. We can now compare the weather and behavior of the atmosphere in three different years, and find the temperature differences to be surprisingly large.

Emily Lakdawalla

In a channel near a pedestal crater on the plains of Cerberus Palus, Mars, there are wacky swirl patterns.

Emily Lakdawalla

I'm not encouraging people to search individual images for the Mars Polar Lander anymore, for three reasons.