2 min read Sols 4161-4163: Double Contact Science This image was taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4159 (2024-04-18 13:24:29 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Earth planning date: Friday, April 19, 2024 Curiosity has a three-sol weekend plan coming up as it makes progress along the edge of upper Gediz Vallis ridge. … Read more
Living creatures produce most of the methane on Earth. But scientists haven’t found convincing signs of current or ancient life on Mars, and thus didn’t expect to find methane there. Yet, the portable chemistry lab aboard Curiosity, known as SAM, or Sample Analysis at Mars, has continually sniffed out traces of the gas near the … Read more
3 min read Sols 4159-4160: A Fully Loaded First Sol This image was taken by Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4158 (2024-04-17 07:52:27 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL Earth planning date: Wednesday, April 17, 2024 Curiosity continues to make progress along the margin of upper Gediz Vallis ridge, investigating the broken bedrock … Read more
Videos from the rover show its shadow moving across the Martian surface during a 12-hour sequence while Curiosity remained parked. When NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover isn’t on the move, it works pretty well as a sundial, as seen in two black-and-white videos recorded on Nov. 8, the 4,002nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. … Read more
The mission team is making sure the robotic scientist, now in its fourth extended mission, is staying strong, despite wear and tear from its 11-year journey. Four thousand Martian days after setting its wheels in Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, NASA’s Curiosity rover remains busy conducting exciting science. The rover recently drilled its 39th sample then … Read more