Mars Curiosity Archives

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image showing its wheel awkwardly perched atop one of the rocks in this location, as well as the textures of the layered sulfate unit bedrock blocks. The rover used its Left Navigation Camera (Navcam), one of a pair of stereo cameras on either side of the rover’s masthead, to record the image on Feb. 28, 2025, on sol 4466, or Martian day 4,466 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, at 00:34:10 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech larger image

Mars, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

Mars Science Laboratory Sols 4468-4470: A Wintry Mix of Mars Science

by Keith CowingMarch 10, 2025March 9, 2025

Earth planning date: Friday, Feb. 28, 2025

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Enhancing Rover Mobility Monitoring: Autoencoder-driven Anomaly Detection for Curiosity

by Keith CowingDecember 1, 2024November 30, 2024

Over eleven years into its mission, the Mars Science Laboratory remains vital to NASA’s Mars exploration. Safeguarding the rover’s long-term functionality is a top mission priority.

Mars today bear signs of once having had abundant water, with features resembling valleys and deltas, and minerals that only form in the presence of liquid water. This artist’s concept shows how the Red Planet could have appeared billions of years ago. Credit: NASA/The Lunar and Planetary Institute

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

New Insights Into How Mars Became Uninhabitable

by Keith CowingOctober 7, 2024October 7, 2024

NASA’s Curiosity rover, currently exploring Gale Crater on Mars, is providing new details about how the ancient Martian climate went from potentially suitable for life — with evidence for widespread […]

Daybreak at the Gale Crater on Mars where organic material was found Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS CREDIT NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

Organic Material From Mars Reveals The Likely Origin Of Life’s Building Blocks

by Keith CowingJuly 2, 2024July 1, 2024

Two samples from Mars together deliver the “smoking gun” in a new study showing the origin of Martian organic material. The study presents solid evidence for a prediction made over […]

This image of an area the Mars Perseverance rover team calls "Faillefeu" was captured by NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 13th flight at Mars on Sept. 4, 2021. Images of the geologic feature were taken at the request of the Mars Perseverance rover science team, which was considering visiting the geologic feature during the first science campaign. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Exploration Gear & Tech, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Astrobiology Droid Traverse Planning Via Open Science Mars Mapping

by Keith CowingJuly 1, 2024July 1, 2024

Combining images from orbit with images from the surface, a JPL-developed tool allows researchers to zoom in to see individual boulders and zoom out to see all of Mars.

Preferential dissociation of 12CO2 against 13CO2 is expected in a wavelength region from 170 nm to 200 nm, which is responsible for solar UV photolysis of CO2. a, Actinic UV spectra. Red: solar spectrum from ref. 43. Blue: calculated spectrum at 30 km altitude (alt.) of model early Mars (10 mbar CO2 at surface) (Methods). Black: measured UV spectrum of the high pressure Xe lamp used in the laboratory experiment (Methods). b, Calculated absorption cross sections of 12CO2 (black) and 13CO2 (orange) at 295 K from ref. 17. c, Calculated isotope effect (1,000 ln α1) as a function of wavelength for the 295 K absorption spectra. Results were averaged over a 1 nm (black) and 5 nm (red) windows. Oxygen isotopic fractionation and its implications for Mars atmosphere were given elsewhere. -- CREDIT Tokyo Tech

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Mars, Press Release

Tracing The Origins of Organic Matter in Martian Sediments

by Keith CowingMay 14, 2024

Although Mars presents a barren, dusty landscape with no signs of life so far, its geological features such as deltas, lakebeds, and river valleys strongly suggest a past where water […]

Mastcam mosaic from the sol 1686 rover location looking behind the rover (downslope) at the transition point between the Sutton Island and Blunts Point Murray members. Images from sols 1685–1689 display sedimentary textures of dark-toned Mn-rich sandstones and nearby rocks. Dashed line boxes in the large mosaic are shown as insets along the bottom of figure. Small red outlines show the approximate locations and extent of ChemCam observations (portions of the Remote Micro Imager images of these observations are shown in Figure 3). Throughout this transition area, dark-toned sandstones (presumably Mn-rich based on ChemCam observations at three locations) overlie light-toned materials. Insets from left to right: (a) Denning Brook, a Mn-rich fine-grained dark-toned sandstone ChemCam observation; (b) & (c) two light-toned blocks with cross-stratified textures, highlighted with yellow lines, 6 m away from Denning Brook and to the upper left in the large mosaic; (d) dark-toned materials (center of mosaic); and E1) Newport Ledge, E2) AEGIS post 1685a, E3) Sugarloaf Mountain, three thin planar laminated dark-toned sandstones. NASA/Caltech-JPL/MSSS.

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

New Findings Point To An Earth-like Environment On Ancient Mars

by Keith CowingMay 2, 2024May 2, 2024

A research team using the ChemCam instrument onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered higher-than-usual amounts of manganese in lakebed rocks within Gale Crater on Mars, which indicates that the sediments were […]

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Mars, Press Release, Radiation, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Space Weather & Heliophysics

Studying The Impact Of Solar Storms At Mars

by Keith CowingApril 30, 2024April 30, 2024

The Sun will be at peak activity this year, providing a rare opportunity to study how solar storms and radiation could affect future astronauts on the Red Planet.

Filled with briny lakes, the Quisquiro salt flat in South America's Altiplano represents the kind of landscape that scientists think may have existed in Gale Crater, which NASA's Curiosity rover is exploring. This salt flat is located in Chile, though the Altiplano sprawls across countries. Streams and rivers flowing from mountain ranges into this arid, high-altitude plateau lead to closed basins similar to Mars' ancient Gale Crater. Lakes on the Altiplano are heavily influenced by climate in the same way as Gale. -- NASA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors

Why Is Methane Seeping on Mars? NASA Scientists Have New Ideas

by Keith CowingApril 23, 2024April 23, 2024

A recent paper may help explain why a portable chemistry lab on NASA’s Curiosity rover has continually sniffed out traces of the gas near the surface of Gale Crater.