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A green glow in the martian night
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By NASA
NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, and Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, walk on the crew access arm of the mobile launcher in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
On Aug. 11 and 12, teams with the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems Program along with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, practiced launch day operations if launch occurs at night. They simulated putting their spacesuits on and driving to the launch pad as well as emergency procedures they would use in the unlikely event of an emergency during the launch countdown requiring them to evacuate the launch pad.
Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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By European Space Agency
In its latest postcard from Mars, the European Space Agency’s Mars Express returns to Acheron Fossae: a dramatic network of chasms carved into the surface of the Red Planet.
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By NASA
1 min read
NASA’s Black Marble: Stories from the Night Sky
Earth (ESD) Earth Explore Explore Earth Home Air Quality Climate Change Freshwater Life on Earth Severe Storms Snow and Ice The Global Ocean Science at Work Earth Science at Work Technology and Innovation Powering Business Multimedia Image Collections Videos Data For Researchers About Us Viewed from space, Earth at night tells endless stories. Using satellite data, we can track population growth, natural disaster damage, cultural celebrations, and even space weather. Studying these glowing patterns helps us understand human activity, respond to disasters, and witness a changing world.
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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, looking south across the large boxwork structures, using its Left Navigation Camera on July 17, 2025. A series of ridges and hollows forms the dramatic topography in the foreground, while the distant buttes expose additional sedimentary structures. Curiosity acquired this image on Sol 4602, or Martian day 4,602 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, at 17:49:18 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center
Earth planning date: Friday, July 18, 2025
Curiosity has started to investigate the main exposure of the boxwork structures! What was once a distant target is now on our doorstep, and Curiosity is beginning to explore the ridges and hollows that make up this terrain, to better understand their chemistry, morphology, and sedimentary structures.
I was on shift as Long Term Planner during this three-sol weekend plan, and the team put together a very full set of activities to thoroughly investigate this site — from the sky to the sand. The plan starts with Navcam and Mastcam observations to assess the amount of dust in the atmosphere, followed by a large Mastcam mosaic to characterize the resistant ridge on which the rover is parked. ChemCam will also acquire a LIBS observation on a target named “Vicuna” to assess the chemistry of a well-exposed vein. The team chose this parking location to characterize the chemistry and textures of this topographic ridge (to compare with topographic lows), so the next part of the plan involves contact science using APXS and MAHLI to look at different parts of the nodular bedrock in our workspace, at targets named “Totoral” and “Sillar.” There’s also a MAHLI observation of the same vein that ChemCam targeted.
The second sol involves more Mastcam imaging to look at different parts of this prominent ridge, along with a ChemCam LIBS observation on top of the ridge, and a ChemCam RMI mosaic to document the sedimentary structures in a distant boxwork feature. Navcam will also be used to look for dust devils. Then Curiosity will take a short drive of about 5 meters (about 16 feet) to explore the adjacent hollow (seen as the low point in the foreground of the above Navcam image). After the drive we’ll take more images for context, and to prepare for targeting in Monday’s plan.
After all of this work it’s time to pause and take a deep breath… of Martian atmosphere. The weekend plan involves an exciting campaign to look for variations in atmospheric chemistry between night and day. So Curiosity will take an overnight APXS atmospheric observation at the same time that two instruments within SAM assess its chemical and isotopic abundance.
On the third sol Curiosity will acquire a ChemCam passive sky observation, leading to a great set of atmospheric data. These measurements will be compared to even more atmospheric activities in Monday’s plan to get the full picture. As you can imagine, this plan requires a lot of power, but it’s worth it for all of the exciting science that we can accomplish here.
The road ahead has many highs and lows (literally), but I can’t wait to see what Curiosity will accomplish. The distant buttes remind us that there’s so much more to explore, and I look forward to continuing to see where Curiosity will take us.
For more Curiosity blog posts, visit MSL Mission Updates
Learn more about Curiosity’s science instruments
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By European Space Agency
The most complex parachute system to ever deploy on Mars has successfully slowed down an ExoMars mock-up landing platform for a safe touchdown on Earth.
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