Death Valley Archives

Researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California monitor a research drone in the Dumont Dunes area of the Mojave Desert in September as part of a test campaign to develop navigation software to guide future rotorcraft on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

NASA Tests Future Mars Droids In Death Valley

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2025December 2, 2025

Next-generation drone flight software is just one of 25 technologies for the Red Planet that the space agency funded for development this year.

Various small shelly fossils recovered from the beds surrounding the Cambrian reefs. Scale bar is 1 mm. Credit Photo courtesy Sarah Jacquet

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Fossils Reveal New Clues About Early Ocean Life On Earth

by Keith CowingJune 16, 2025June 14, 2025

More than 514 million years ago, long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, sponge-like creatures called archaeocyathids were already busy building some of the planet’s earliest reefs — just north of […]

The Desert Research Institute team extracting samples from the bore hole at Death Valley. CREDIT Duane Moser, Desert Research Institute

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release

Searching For Subsurface Life: Bigelow Laboratory For Ocean Sciences

by Keith CowingApril 2, 2024April 2, 2024

A team of scientists led by researchers at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences have developed an innovative method to link the genetics and function of individual microbes living without oxygen […]