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In August of 2012, NASA's biggest, baddest, and most scientifically capable rover ever, Curiosity, will touch down on the surface of Mars. More »
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For decades, humanity has been launching missions to Mars, in hopes of making sense of the enigma that is our solar system's most Earth-like planet. And as with all good mysteries, many of our investigations have simply led to more questions. More »
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It's not exactly the secret origin that Marvel Comics promised us, but a cosmic ray may have given NASA's Mars rover Spirit the superpower of... forgetfulness. Are strange things afoot on the red planet? More »
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Is The Spirit just like Sin City — actually a playfully dark thriller, and we've all just missed the good jokes? See for yourself in these six Spirit clips. More »
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Sad news for the Mars Science Lab (MSL) mega-rover, big sister to the little rovers who've been roaming Mars for the past few years. The robot was supposed to launch next year, and start exploring Mars with a lot more scientific equipment (including a laser) than the current rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. It would have arrived just in the nick of time, since no one is sure if Spirit and Opportunity will last another Martian winter. But now word has come down that the MSL launch won't happen until 2011. More »
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Since 1960 we've been attempting to explore the red planet, and along the way there have been countless failures and lost spacecraft that attest to just how hard it is to fly those 35 million miles from here to there. However, there have also been success stories, like the twin rovers Opportunity and Spirit, who have both overcome mechanical problems, braved dust storms, and sent back enormous amounts of data. Today, after being threatened with a shutdown due to budget cuts, the Martian rovers got a reprieve. They'll be rolling along for many months to come. To celebrate, check out our list of Martian robots and landers who have already served their robotic duty as our slaves, erm we mean allies, on the red planet. More »
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The brave, unflagging Mars rover Spirit, who has lived on the Red Planet for almost four years, has been given a death sentence by the U.S. government. Right now, the little robot is resting on a sunny slope, waiting out the winter and preparing to do more tests on the Martian atmosphere. But now it looks like Spirit has rolled on its six wheels and done science experiments for the very last time. The U.S. government has forced NASA, this country's national space agency, to cut its budget by 4 million dollars. And that means only one rover, Opportunity, will survive. To say that this is a tragedy is an understatement. More »
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Definitely one of the coolest symposia at AAAS was the one this afternoon devoted to the Martian rovers — past, present, and future. On the panel were NASA's Richard Cook, who helped design Spirit and Opportunity as well as the next Martian rover; Steven Squyres, a Cornell geologist who has been working with Spirit and Opportunity to get as many geological samples as he can while the rovers survive; and Andrew Knoll, a Harvard planetologist who has studied the evidence for Martian water extensively (including whether it could support life as we know it). I've got highlights from the panel below, plus a giant gallery of pictures of a life-sized model of the new rover, the Mars Science Lab Rover (MSL), which will be blasting off late next year and landing on the red planet in 2010. More »
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Is that a little man on Mars in this picture from NASA's Mars Spirit explorer? We didn't even bother to blog this image when we saw it the other day, but tons of British newspapers have seized on it. Sample headline: "Crikey! There's A Little Green Man On Mars!" Actually, my favorite is the one that points out he's naked (gasp!). So what do the experts think? More »
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