Spotlight on Mars

For a behind-the-scenes view of Mars exploration, we hope you enjoy our spotlight stories. See also our press releases.

19-December-2008	Hello, Earth! Hello, Mars!
	NASA's Mars rovers are talking to Earth and Earth is talking to the rovers again after a two-week silence. About every 26 months, when Mars and Earth are on opposite sides of the Sun, the Sun blocks communication. Read More...
18-December-2008	Storm-Chasing Orbiter Tracks Martian Weather
	Like storm chasers on Earth, a NASA spacecraft spends time each day pursuing intense weather on Mars. Speeding along in orbit, it takes images of dust storms. Often, the storms are spiral like giant tornadoes on Earth. Read More...
08-December-2008	Keeping it Cool (…or Warm!)
	If the car-size Mars Science Laboratory rover overheats or if it stalls because it's cold, you can't call a tow truck on Mars! To keep the rover running, engineers just installed a pump system similar to a car's radiator. Read More...
01-December-2008	The Games We Play
	When you're training for a tough task, role-playing games can prepare you for the real thing. Scientists play "games" too. Sixty Mars scientists from around the world just finished four exercises to practice directing the Mars Science Laboratory rover's activities after it lands. Read More...
25-November-2008	Seasonal Freezing and Thawing on Mars
	On Mars, the stuff we know as "dry ice," or frozen carbon dioxide, is a powerful agent for change. In winter, it forms a polar ice cap. In spring, it becomes an expanding gas that carves channels in the surface and sends loose debris into landslides. Read More...
24-November-2008	The Politics of Landing
	Electing where to send a rover on the diverse landscape of Mars is no easy task. With a lot at stake, two sides of the Mars team--scientists and engineers--have been lobbying for the best candidate landing site. Read More...
20-November-2008	The Road Not Traveled
	Each day, Opportunity picks a route through two kinds of Martian terrain -- one hard and smooth, the other soft and sandy. Paving the way are flat-lying rocks formed long ago with help from liquid water. Read More...
20-November-2008	Don't Worry, Spirit, MARCI's Got Your Back
	The solar system's most celebrated team of off-planet drivers cheered when they heard the news. Spirit had phoned home from Mars, ending four days of silence. Read More...
19-November-2008	A Precious Ring
	Just as jewelry makers take care to set a gem in a ring, a tireless team has been working late hours to tuck the Mars Science Laboratory rover inside its intricate, protective aeroshell and mount it for the first time on a giant gold "ring" (the cruise structure). Read More...
19-November-2008	Another Crater in the Bag?
	On Earth, hikers are set on "bagging peaks," making it all the way to the summits of mountains. On Mars, Opportunity has been bagging craters! They have nicknames like "Eagle," "Endurance," and "Victoria." Read More...
13-November-2008	So Happy Together
	Imagine taking a very long 10-month journey with someone you’ve just recently met! The assembly team successfully introduced the Mars Science Laboratory rover to one of its space travel partners. Read More...
10-November-2008	A Rough, Tough, Red Planet Rock Hound
	Humans can't go to Mars (yet), but at least for now, we can send extensions of ourselves. Mars Science Laboratory's rover will be the hardiest geologist the red planet's seen yet, going farther and into rougher terrain than ever before. Read More... View Video...
07-November-2008	One Dizzying Inch at a Time
	Never one to quit, Spirit has begun driving again for the first time in more than eight months. Spirit's goal is to make it back up the slope where the rover has been parked for the winter. Read More...
06-November-2008	Gemstone of the Year
	Opal is the gemstone for those born in the month of October, but Mars scientists may claim it as the treasure of 2008. Inside the largest canyon in the whole solar system, opal minerals stretch in a pinkish cream swath, just to the right of a crater filled with dunes. Read More...
03-November-2008	High-Flying Test Rides
	When you have just one chance to land Mars' biggest rover, you have to practice - a lot. So, how do you copy a high-speed descent on Mars? Strap special sensors to an F/A-18 jet at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. Read More...
27-October-2008	One Hot, Giant "Clamshell"
	Hot off a special delivery truck from Lockheed Martin in Denver comes the aeroshell for the Mars Science Laboratory rover. Like two pieces of a giant clam, the aeroshell’s backshell and the heatshield come together to protect the rover and the propulsion stage that safely delivers it to the surface of Mars. Read More...
23-October-2008	"Hanging Six" on Mars
	When it descends through the Martian sky, the Mars Science Laboratory rover will "hang six," riding the Martian wind. The descent stage will lower the rover to the ground using a "Bridle Umbilical Device." Read More...
16-October-2008	Weaving Colors in the Martian Atmosphere
	Like Navajo weavers, scientists use whatever tints they want to create a finished product. Here, brilliant hues show light in the Martian atmosphere that is invisible to humans. The different colors of light, called infrared light, indicate temperature, dust, and ice from the surface up to 50 miles high. Read More...
09-October-2008	As Good As It Gets
	Clear skies and low-angle sunlight are an outdoor photographer's dream. On the shortest day of Martian winter, June 24, 2008, Spirit had both. Read More...
22-September-2008	On the Road Again
	NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is on the road again. In typical shutterbug fashion, the rover sent a postcard of its travels. This time, the rover added a new touch -- raising its robotic arm in a final salute to "Victoria Crater." Read More...
18-September-2008	Survivor: Mars
	The Mars tribe has spoken. After searching far and wide for a landing site that can tell them if Mars was ever livable for microscopic life, the tribe of Mars experts has eliminated dozens of contenders. Only seven survive (labeled in white). Read More...
08-September-2008	Broadcasting from a Planet Near You
	Like talk show hosts, NASA's Mars rovers broadcast their findings at television frequencies. They record their observations and send them to the Mars Odyssey orbiter once or twice a day. Odyssey then broadcasts the program -- spectacular images and all -- back to Earth. Read More...
08-September-2008	No Talking and Driving on Mars
	Question: What does the Mars rover Opportunity have in common with safe drivers? Answer: The rover doesn't talk on the phone while driving. Read More...
02-September-2008	How to Explore Mars: Get There Safely!
	Like space shuttle pilots, Mars navigators need to know what the atmosphere will be like during landing. When Phoenix arrived, it barely missed a dust storm. Now scientists are evaluating what conditions may be like when the Mars Science Laboratory rover arrives in two years. That's one Mars year, or one change of seasons. Read More...
28-August-2008	A Tribute to Mars Exploration
	As Americans celebrate Labor Day 2008, six flags stand in silent salute to the U.S. workforce on Mars. Three of the flags are on spacecraft still exploring Mars. Those include NASA's twin rovers and the Phoenix lander. One of the flags, on Mars Pathfinder, landed July 4, 1997. Two, on the Viking spacecraft, arrived in 1976, the year of the U.S. bicentennial. Read More...
20-August-2008	Driving Test is a Wheel Success
	Like a racecar in need of high-performance tires, the next rover to explore Mars needs a rugged set of wheels. Like the racing tires, the off-road wheels must perform flawlessly. Together with a rugged suspension system, they must be lightweight, strong, and agile enough to handle extreme terrain. takes a lot of drilling to prepare to use a drill 100 million miles away, beyond the reach of humans. The Mars Science Laboratory rover is wasting no time doing just that. With an industrial-strength drill, the rover will pulverize the inside of hard, volcanic rocks on Mars and study the powder. Read More...
14-August-2008	Seeing Through Hidden Layers of Mars
	Mars' north polar cap swirls like a slowly melting ice-cream cake. Hidden within the layers is a record of the seasons, as polar ice disappears in summer and reappears in winter. The record is as old as the layers are deep, like the pages of a history book. Read More...
28-July-2008	Plucky Rover Doesn't Give Up Easily
	If you've ever gotten stuck while driving on a sandy beach or road, you can imagine Opportunity's recent experience on Mars. At times, the rover's wheels have done more slipping than advancing. Like a hardy dune buggy, the rover keeps driving. Read More...
28-July-2008	Rivers Ran Through It
	Lakes and rivers with the potential to support life covered much of ancient Mars. Those areas where water deposited clay minerals would be good places to search for signs of past life. Read More...
30-June-2008	Mars Rover Gets the Drill
	It takes a lot of drilling to prepare to use a drill 100 million miles away, beyond the reach of humans. The Mars Science Laboratory rover is wasting no time doing just that. With an industrial-strength drill, the rover will pulverize the inside of hard, volcanic rocks on Mars and study the powder. Read More...
24-June-2008	Midwinter Energy Diet
	Imagine having only enough energy to run a microwave oven for seven minutes each day. Think of it as your energy diet -- it's all you have to survive. Basically, that's what NASA's Mars rover, Spirit, experienced in June 2008. Read More...
19-June-2008	The Perfect Weather Forecast
	Let's say you live in Miami. If Earth's weather were as predictable as Mars' weather, you could expect a hurricane similar in magnitude to hit Miami year after year, within about two weeks of the same date. Read More...
09-June-2008	Two Kinds of Ice
	Mars has two kinds of ice in its polar caps, frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice)! To humans, they look the same -- snowy and white -- but a NASA spacecraft "sees" the difference with a special detector. Read More...
26-May-2008	How Phoenix Talks to Earth
	NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander communicates with Earth using the Odyssey orbiter as a two-way communications link in the Martian sky. Read More...
23-May-2008	Getting By with a Little Help from Friends
	When NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander prepares for landing on May 25, 2008, it won't be alone. Three spacecraft in orbit will serve as a welcome committee. Read More...
21-May-2008	Watching Seasons Pass on Mars
	Just as migrating birds herald the changing seasons on Earth, sand dunes show seasonal change on the fourth rock from the Sun. From a distance, crescent-shaped dunes near the north pole of Mars can even resemble birds in flight. Read More...
12-May-2008	Third-Generation Mars Rover Dwarfs Predecessors
	Mars rovers appear to be shrinking with age! The biggest, baddest, newest rover being built is the Mars Science Laboratory rover (right). It's the size of a small sport-utility vehicle. Still exploring Mars four years after landing are the dune-buggy-sized rovers Spirit and Opportunity (left). The first-generation rover, Sojourner, is the size of a microwave oven. Read More...
09-May-2008	Intense Testing Paved Phoenix Road to Mars
	When NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander descends to the surface of the Red Planet on May 25, few will be watching as closely as those who have spent years planning, analyzing and conducting tests to prepare for the dramatic and nerve-wracking event. Read More...
21-April-2008	Martian Eyes Are Watching
	The next set of "eyes" to journey to Mars are already busy observing people and objects on Earth. Keen vision will be essential to keeping the Mars Science Laboratory rover, a vehicle the size of a small SUV, out of trouble amid the red planet's cliffs, sand, and boulders. Read More...
20-April-2008	Wanted:  Space-Age Dust Removal
	If Mars had an on-line Web site for ads, one of them might say something like this: "Wanted: Gentle space-age dust removal system to clean solar cells without leaving grit behind. Please direct inquiries to NASA." Read More...
16-April-2008	To Follow the Water on Mars, Look for Fins!
	Though they're not attached to creatures of the deep, fins made of rock poke up above the surface and suggest past water on Mars. NASA's Opportunity rover took images of a thin fin on the edge of a rock in "Victoria Crater." The fin was rich in hematite, a mineral that often forms in the presence of water. Read More...
15-April-2008	Like Martian Water for Chocolate
	If you smacked a frozen chocolate bar on a table, it would break into bite-size pieces resembling the terrain in this Martian crater. To a planetary scientist, this pattern is a tantalizing clue that the ground once contained water ice. When the frozen terrain cracked, in some places the ice melted into flows chock full of sediment. Perhaps the ground is still filled with layers of near-surface ice. Read More...
09-April-2008	Images of Phobos
	The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took these images of the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos, on March 23, 2008. Read More...
09-April-2008	Spot-on Science!
	Instead of taking spots out, NASA's Mars rovers put spots in! While driving backward down the north rim of "Home Plate," Spirit used its robotic arm to clear away grit from flat rocks under its wheels. Upon taking a second look, Spirit discovered not only spots but stripes. Read More...
02-April-2008	No Speed Limit on Mars
	It's a good thing there's no speed limit on Mars, because the next parachute to fly to the red planet deploys faster than you can legally drive on a California freeway! Read More...
24-March-2008	Watching Martian Clouds Go By
	Opportunity turned its rover eyes skyward to observe clouds drifting overhead that look like cirrus clouds on Earth -- featherlike formations composed mostly of ice crystals. Read More...
18-March-2008	A Woman's Place Is... in Space!
	Nowadays it's not unusual to find a woman at the helm -- leading a corporation, commanding a space shuttle, or even operating a rover on Mars, but it's rare to have a supermajority of women in some technical fields. Read More...
11-March-2008	Keeping Time to a New Rover Beat
	Engineers worked late on March 7th, "keeping time" with an aggressive schedule for building the Mars Science Laboratory rover. Getting into a new rhythm of hard work to come, the mission team was upbeat as they kicked off a mission phase called ATLO (Assembly, Testing, and Launch Operations). Read More...
10-March-2008	The Incredible Mars Telescope
	Imagine having a backyard telescope so powerful you could easily see details on another planet. NASA has such an instrument at Mars and recently pointed it at Earth! Read More...
07-March-2008	Big Wheels Cross The Finish Line...for Now!
	NASA's next mission to Mars gets rolling, as engineers on the mobility team cross a finish line of their own. Read More...
03-March-2008	A Woman's Place Is... in Space!
	Nowadays it's not unusual to find a woman at the helm -- leading a corporation, commanding a space shuttle, or even operating a rover on Mars, but it's rare to have a supermajority of women in some technical fields. Read More...
09-January-2008	Out of Bounds
	Steep terrain can be a hindrance on Mars as well as Earth. NASA's Mars rover Opportunity recently encountered a band of darker rocks inside "Victoria Crater" that increased in steepness. Read More...