NASA Mars Exploration Program

Mars rover Opportunity breaks distance record; what took so long?

2013-05-17 19:13:00

After nine years on the job, NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity has finally broken a 40-year-old record for the longest distance driven on another world. The Mars rover Opportunity has been exploring the Red Planet’s surface since landing in...

Mars Curiosity rover's next drill target a bumpier challenge

2013-05-10 18:50:00

After a four-week spring break, NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has set its sights on the next drill target: Cumberland, a rock lying about 9 feet away from where the rover first broke ground in Yellowknife Bay. The new target will be a greater...

Will.i.am doesn't skip a beat in pushing past musical pursuits

2013-05-10 10:00:00

This week in New York will.i.am — the founder and frontman of L.A.'s Black Eyed Peas — is to receive an honorary Clio Award in recognition of "the work and talent of those who push the boundaries of creativity in advertising and beyond,"...

JPL: NASA Curiosity rover back to work after Martian spring break

2013-05-08 07:15:00

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has emerged from its "spring break" and is back to work, officials at Jet Propulsion Laboratory said this week. Up next on the agenda: Drilling the second target at Yellowknife Bay. The Mars Science Laboratory mission made...

A poem for a planet: Send your haiku to Mars

2013-05-02 16:25:00

The MAVEN spacecraft is leaving for Mars in November. Along with scientific gear and advanced communication technologies, it will be bringing along some poetry. It could be yours. NASA launched -- or, rather, opened -- the poetry contest on Wednesday....

NASA wants poets to send haikus on Mars MAVEN mission

2013-05-02 13:14:00

NASA wants to send haikus to Mars, and you — yes, you! — might be just the poet for the job. The space agency plans to launch a spacecraft to study the upper layers of the Red Planet’s atmosphere in November. But before the Mars...

An engaging guide to viral marketing for neophytes

2013-04-28 00:00:00

Why do some things catch on? How does a steak sandwich from a Philadelphia restaurant, for example, become so famous that it gets a slot on the David Letterman show? Why did Rebecca Black's whiny pop song "Friday" become a viral hit on YouTube? Why have...

Curiosity rover sees signs of vanishing Martian atmosphere

2013-04-09 15:34:00

Before going incommunicado behind the Sun for a month, NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover sent Earth evidence that the Red Planet has lost much of its original atmosphere. The findings, announced by Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists at the European...

NASA Mars Curiosity rover gets to work on 'spring break' chores

2013-04-05 18:26:00

Hear that? That’s the sound of silence from NASA’s Curiosity rover -- and possibly the sound of separation anxiety at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as the intrepid Martian robot takes nearly a month-long break from exploring the Red Planet....

New images from JPL's UAVSAR, the radar that sees through trees

2013-04-05 07:00:00

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory may be most famous for sending Curiosity to Mars and Voyager�to the edge of�the solar system, but some of its coolest technology is being used right here on Earth. For the last month, a manned C-20A aircraft owned by...

Photos: See Curiosity's images from Mars

2013-04-04 14:42:00

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity landed on the Red Planet in August 2012, and has been sending back a constant stream of images ever since. Some of these images are dazzling -- wide dusty panoramas with Curiosity's ultimate destination, Mount Sharp,...

What, again? Curiosity rover’s new glitch keeps it from Mt. Sharp

2013-03-19 08:53:34

This map shows the location of Cumberland, the second rock-drilling target for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, near the site of the first drilling target, a rock called John Klein, in Yellowknife Bay.

2013-05-10 18:41:32

NASA's Curiosity rover took a month-long break during solar conjunction, when the sun blocks easy communication to Mars.

2013-05-08 07:55:00

A photograph released by NASA shows the first holes drilled into rock by the Mars rover Curiosity. Drill tailings and piles of powdered rock can be seen around the holes.

2013-05-07 18:25:00