Spotlight on Mars

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

10-Aug-2009	JPL Blog: Five Things About Viewing Mars in August
	If you’re like me, you may have received an e-mail this summer telling you go outside on August 27 and look up in the sky. The e-mail, most likely forwarded to you by a friend or relative, promises that Mars will look as big as the moon on that date, and that no one will ever see this view again. Read More...
07-August-2009	More Testing Before Driving on Mars
	A review on Aug. 6 of test results to date yielded a decision to conduct further checkouts in an augmented testing set-up on Earth before beginning to send driving commands to Spirit. Read More...
31-July-2009	Possible Meteorite Imaged by Opportunity Rover
	The Opportunity rover has eyed an odd-shaped, dark rock, about 0.6 meters (2 feet) across on the surface of Mars, which may be a meteorite. Read More...
30-July-2009	Free Spirit Testing Nearing Completion
	Mars rover engineers at JPL are winding down testing of different escape maneuvers using a test rover in a sand box filled with soil to mimic the Martian surface. Read More...
24-July-2009	Longer Tests Beginning
	Mars rover team members have begun a new phase of testing at JPL -- using longer-duration experiments -- in their preparations for driving Spirit again on Mars. Read More...
21-July-2009	Next Step: Combinations of Basic Moves
	As the Mars rover team uses testing at JPL to evaluate possible ways to drive Spirit out of loose soil on Mars, the team is finishing tests of individual "building block" maneuvers and is about to begin stringing some of those together. Read More...
16-July-2009	Test Rover Checks Pivoting Technique
	The Mars rover team is using a test rover at JPL to assess various extraction techniques that might get Spirit out of the loose soil of "Troy" on Mars. Read More...
14-July-2009	Mars Dust Devil Has Colorful Effect in Image Series
	Scientists have combined a trio of shots taken seconds apart through different colored filters to create a special-effects portrait of a moving dust devil on Mars. Read More...
13-July-2009	Rover Engineers Test More Maneuvers
	Engineers checking possible rover movements to get Spirit out of the "Troy" sand trap on Mars are evaluating how a comparable rover at JPL fares in a crablike backward drive, with all four corner wheels turned 60 degrees toward the right. Read More...
10-July-2009	Tests Evaluating Crabwalk Moves
	On firm ground, NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers can make crablike moves by turning all four steerable wheels to the same side angle, then rotating the wheels either forward or backward. Read More...
08-July-2009	Second Rover Test Maneuver is Backwards
	Engineers used straight-backward driving of a test rover on Earth on Wednesday, July 8, as they evaluate maneuvers that might be useful for getting Spirit out of a sandtrap on Mars. Read More...
06-July-2009	Rover Extraction Tests Begin
	Using a test rover in a sandbox at JPL with special soil simulating Spirit's predicament on Mars, engineers are assessing possible maneuvers for getting Spirit out and onto firmer ground. Read More...
02-July-2009	NASA Phoenix Results Point to Martian Climate Cycles
	Favorable chemistry and episodes with thin films of liquid water during ongoing, long-term climate cycles may sometimes make the area where NASA's Phoenix Mars mission landed last year a favorable environment for microbes. Read More...
01-July-2009	Rock Under the Belly
	Engineers placed a rock underneath the test rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., on July 1, 2009, to more closely simulate Spirit's predicament on Mars. Read More...
30-June-2009	Test Rover Rolls In
	After several days of preparing a sloped area of soft, fine soil to simulate Spirit's current sandtrap on Mars, the rover team drove a test rover into the material on June 30, 2009. Read More...
26-June-2009	The Mixing Begins
	Rover team members mix materials to fill the testbed box. Once filled, the rover will be driven into the test area and set in place to mimic how the actual rover sits on Mars. Read More...
25-June-2009	Mars Team Digs in To Free Spirit
	Mars team members have rolled up their sleeves and will be shaping a few tons of diatomaceous Earth and clay into an exact replica of the area where the Spirit rover is embedded on Mars. Read More...
12-June-2009	The Rover Gets Strong-Armed
	The Mars Science Laboratory rover will sport the biggest, toughest robotic arm the red planet's ever seen! This super-limb must lift 34 kilograms (almost 75 pounds) of instruments to reach out and test martian rocks and soil, which may hold clues about whether Mars could have supported life. Read More...
08-June-2009	'Curiosity,' Meet Clara
	Twelve-year-old Clara Ma flew from Kansas to JPL to meet and sign the next rover that will zoom millions of miles to Mars. The trip is Clara's prize for winning an essay contest in which she named the rover "Curiosity." Read More... View more images on Facebook >>
03-June-2009	Spirit Takes a Peek at Her Belly
	A new image of Spirit's underbelly is helping engineers assess the rover's current state and plan her escape from soft soil. The panoramic mosaic of multiple images was taken by the microscopic imager instrument at the end of Spirit's robotic arm--the first time that imager has been used to assess the underside and wheels of the rover. Read More...
19-May-2009	JPL Blog: Got Water?
	A theme of Mars exploration is "Follow the Water," since understanding the history of water on our planetary neighbor will help us understand if there were environments favorable for life to occur and how climate has changed over time. Read More...
15-Apr-2009	Martian Dust Storm near South Polar Cap
	This nearly global mosaic of observations made by the Mars Color Imager on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows billowing clouds of dust being lifted into the atmosphere by a storm near the edge of the seasonal polar cap of southern Mars. Read More...
14-April-2009	Mars Science Laboratory Parachute Qualification
	The parachute for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory passed flight-qualification testing in March and April 2009 inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Read More...
28-March-2009	Heavy Duty Trust Building
	Trust--it's vital for each step of the Mars Science Laboratory mission. Engineers must trust each other and all the tests they've done while building the rover. Read More...
24-February-2009	Mars Science Laboratory Talks, Rocks, Bakes and Chills
	Before leaving Earth, Mars Science Laboratory is really put to the test to make sure it can survive the trip to the red planet. Read More...