Sarah Fecht
at 08:43 AM Aug 1 2014

The Curiosity rover (or Mars Science Laboratory, as NASA wonks call it) has been an immensely successful mission so far. But now NASA is planning the next mission to Mars, and today the agency announced the gadgets that will be riding on a new rover that launches in 2020.

Francie Diep
at 11:16 AM Jul 17 2014
Space // 

Meet Lebanon, an iron meteorite that NASA's Curiosity rover ran into on its 640th sol (Martian day) on Mars. Back here on Earth, it was May 25, 2020.

Francie Diep
at 04:00 AM Sep 20 2013
Space // 

Hold your horses (cows?), guys. A new analysis of data from the Curiosity rover found there's very little methane in the atmosphere of Mars. Methane gas can be a sign of biological activity-of microbial Martians, farting up the atmosphere-so we're feeling a bit disappointed.

Rebecca Boyle
at 08:01 AM Jan 16 2013
Science // 

A flat rock with pale, veiny fissures could be the first thing the Mars rover Curiosity drills for a sample of the Red Planet, NASA scientists said Tuesday. It's the most challenging task yet for the intrepid car-sized rover (after its landing). No spacecraft has ever penetrated a rock on Mars.

Colin Lecher
at 00:32 AM Aug 8 2012
Space // 

That didn't take long: early yesterday we received the earliest images from Mars rover Curiosity's descent and landing zone, and now we've received the first color image from the Mars mission. It shows the Gale Crater in the background - Curiosity's home for now - and the next images will only be getting better from here.

Clay Dillow
at 03:28 AM Jul 18 2012
Space // 

While NASA waits with bated breath for the Curiosity rover's arrival on the Martian surface, engineers at NASA and the Canadian Space Agency are already at work testing a new lunar rover designed to seek out water and other natural resources closer to home. The rover payload, known as the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatiles Extraction (RESOLVE), is designed to spend nine days prospecting for water resources on the moon sometime in the future.

Colin Lecher
at 05:43 AM Jun 26 2012
Space // 

When NASA's Curiosity Rover reaches Mars this August, it'll takes seven minutes to get from the tip of the atmosphere to the surface of the planet. Those seven minutes are a little scary for engineers who've sunk a lot of time into this project, so the descent is called the "seven minutes of terror." Here it gets highlighted by an awesome, super-dramatic video.

 
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