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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 1 min read
Sols 4539-4540: Back After a Productive Weekend Plan
NASA’’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on May 11, 2025 — Sol 4537, or Martian day 4,537 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 22:26:23 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University
Earth planning date: Monday, May 12, 2025
Curiosity was back to work Monday, picking up where it left off from Friday’s plan. Tosol’s plan started with an APXS analysis on the target “Jeffrey Pine,” though the DRT was kept on the sidelines this time. Curiosity then proceeded to image Jeffrey Pine and “Canyon Oak” with MAHLI while simultaneously executing a DAN passive analysis. Mastcam documented “Santiago Peak” as well as Canyon Oak, prior to a ChemCam 5-spot analysis on the latter. Following a drive of about 30 meters (about 98 feet), Curiosity rounded out the two-sol plan with untargeted and environmental monitoring activities, including Navcam dust-devil and cloud-shadow movies.
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Last Updated May 13, 2025 Related Terms
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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 2 min read
Sols 4536-4538: Dusty Martian Magnets
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, used to inspect the magnet on its MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager), a camera on the turret of tools at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. The main purpose of Curiosity’s MAHLI camera is to acquire close-up, high-resolution views of rocks and regolith in the field; it can focus on any target from about 0.8 inches (2.1 centimeters) to infinity. Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Sept. 1, 2024 — Sol 4291, or Martian day 4,291 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 05:48:14 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Written by Remington Free, Operations Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth planning date: Friday, May 9, 2025
I was on downlink today for SA-SPaH, our robotic arm team. We successfully completed a number of fun arm activities, including a DRT brushing and APXS observations of a bedrock target, and also completed a traverse of about 25 meters (about 82 feet). Exciting!
Today, our uplink team planned three sols of activities. On Sol 4536, we are using the arm to do some inspection imaging of the MAHLI magnet using Mastcam. This magnet allows us to determine whether or not the MAHLI cover has successfully opened or closed. These magnets accumulate a lot of Martian dust particles, so we periodically take imaging to inspect the quantity of dust and get a better understanding of the state of the hardware. I’ve included above an image of the MAHLI instrument, from our last inspection on Sol 4291. After the magnet inspection, we’ll do some more typical arm activities, which include some APXS placements, DRT brushing, and MAHLI imaging on targets of interest.
In this workspace, we are interested in targets characterizing the pale layered sulfate unit we’ve been driving on, as well as a target in the new ridge-forming unit. Beyond our arm activities, we’ll do additional science observations of the surface using Mastcam and ChemCam.
On Sol 4537, we’ll focus on driving! Prior to our drive, we’ll take some more scientific observations, including a Navcam cloud movie, Mastcam documentation of some geological units, and ChemCam LIBS on a ridge-forming unit. We have then planned a 21-meter drive (about 69 feet) to take us to a bedrock area of scientific interest. We’re excited because the terrain looks pretty benign, so we’re hoping it all goes smoothly!
Post-drive, we’ll take some Mastcam survey imaging of clasts and soils along the traverse. Finally on Sol 4538, we’ll aim our focus upwards and take a number of observations of the sky. We’ll start with a Navcam large dust-devil survey, a Mastcam tau measurement of the atmospheric optical depth, and a ChemCam passive sky observation to study atmospheric composition. Early the following morning, we’ll take some additional Navcam observations of clouds, and complete another Mastcam tau measurement of optical depth.
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Last Updated May 13, 2025 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
As the night closed in on Spain and Portugal on 28 April, polar satellites followed the blackout that lasted well into the early hours of the morning in several regions.
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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 2 min read
Sols 4532-4533: Polygon Heaven
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image, showing an example of the polygonally fractured terrain that it has been driving over, using its Right Navigation Camera. The rover captured the image on May 4, 2025 — Sol 4530, or Martian day 4,530 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 18:07:04 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick
Earth planning date: Monday, May 5, 2025
Our 29-meter weekend drive (about 95 feet) was successful, and we are still in the band of polygon-rich bedrock.
The origin of these cracks is not clear — could they have formed as desiccation cracks as Mars began to get drier, billions of years ago? Or during later periods when groundwater moved through the bedrock? Spending time in this area will help us to tease out their origin by sampling as much of the diversity as we can, from regular bedrock to the stranger textured targets. Touch and Go plans allow only a few hours of science at a given workspace — in this plan, the rover turns on around 9 a.m. local time, and by 2 p.m. we have picked up and moved on to the next stop. So planning on a day like today is quite the balancing act, trying to cram in as much science, as efficiently as possible, in a small amount of time.
On Friday, I helped plan APXS on some of the polygon features, so today we were able to concentrate on more typical bedrock without polygonal features, to compare with our last targets. We wiIl acquire a short APXS integration on the brushed target “Encinitas,” and image the target with MAHLI. In contrast, ChemCam will use LIBS to analyze “Jack Creek,” an elongated vein feature about 30 centimeters long (about 12 inches), which may be related to the polygon features. Both Mastcam and MAHLI will image this vein.
Beyond the workspace, but relatively closer to the rover, Mastcam will image “Loma Verde” on a small, overturned block and “Temescal Canyon,” looking at a larger expanse of bedrock with polygonal structures. Further afield, ChemCam will acquire a long-distance image at “Agua Tibia,” which is close to “Torote Bowl,” a circular feature that we have been imaging periodically since sol 4486.
Once all the science has been gathered here in our very busy morning, we move on in a 26-meter drive (about 85 feet). We are edging closer to the “boxwork structures” — it feels like we have been saying this in every blog for a long time, but we will have “wheels on” for the first time within the next few drives.
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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA Expands SPHEREx Science Return Through Commercial Partnership
A sectional rendering of NASA's SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer). Credits: NASA NASA is partnering with commercial industry to expand our knowledge of Earth, our solar system, and beyond. Recently, NASA collaborated with Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) to support data transfer for the agency’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission to explore the origins of the universe.
“Not only is NASA moving toward commercialization, the agency is making technological advancements to existing systems and saving millions of dollars in the process — all while expanding human knowledge through science and exploration missions,” said Kevin Coggins, associate administrator for NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program.
To receive data from missions in space, NASA relies on the Near Space Network and Deep Space Network, a collection of antennas around the globe.
In preparation for the recently-launched SPHEREx observatory, NASA needed to upgrade an antenna on the world’s most remote continent: Antarctica.
Transmitted via NASA’s Near Space Network, this video shows SPHEREx scanning a region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The shifting colors represent different infrared wavelengths detected by the telescope’s two arrays. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s SCaN program took a novel approach by leveraging its established commercial partnership with KSAT. While upgraded KSAT antennas were added to the Near Space Network in 2023, SPHEREx required an additional Antarctic antenna that could link to online data storage.
To support SPHEREx’s polar orbit, KSAT upgraded its Troll, Antarctica antenna and incorporated their own cloud storage system. NASA then connected KSAT’s cloud to the NASA cloud, DAPHNE+ (Data Acquisition Process and Handling Environment).
As the Near Space Network’s operational cloud services system, DAPHNE+ enables science missions to transmit their data to the network for virtual file storage, processing, and management.
“By connecting the Troll antenna to DAPHNE+, we eliminated the need for large, undersea fiberoptic cables by virtually connecting private and government-owned cloud systems, reducing the project’s cost and complexity,” said Matt Vincent, the SPHEREx mission manager for the Near Space Network at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Each day, SPHEREx downlinks a portion of its 20 gigabits of science data through the Troll antenna, which transfers the files across KSAT’s network of relay satellites to the DAPHNE+ cloud. The cloud system combines and centralizes the data from each antenna, allowing access to all of SPHEREx’s health and science data in one convenient place.
The SPHEREx mission data is transmitted from space to the Troll Satellite Station, relayed through a network of satellites, and stored in the Near Space Network’s cloud system for easily-accessible analysis by scientists around the world.NASA/Dave Ryan With coverage throughout its orbit, SPHEREx transmits its 3D maps of the celestial sky, offering new insight into what happened a fraction of a second after the big bang.
“Missions like SPHEREx use the Near Space Network’s combination of commercial and government antennas,” explained Michael Skube, DAPHNE+ manager at NASA Goddard. “And that is the benefit of DAPHNE+ — it enables the network to pull different sources of information into one central location. The DAPHNE+ system treats government and commercial antennas as part of the same network.”
The partnership is mutually beneficial. NASA’s Near Space Network maintains a data connection with SPHEREx as it traverses both poles and KSAT benefits from its antennas’ integration into a robust global network – no new cables required.
“We were able to find a networking solution with KSAT that did not require us to put additional hardware in Antarctica,” said Vincent. “Now we are operating with the highest data rate we have ever downlinked from that location.”
The upgraded ground station antenna at Troll Satellite Station supports cloud-based space communications, enabling NASA’s Near Space Network to support scientific missions via a wireless cloud network.Kongsberg Satellite Services For NASA, its commercial partners, and other global space agencies, this expansion means more reliable space communications with fewer expenses.
Troll’s successful integration into the Near Space Network is a case study for future private and government partnerships. As SPHEREx measures the collective glow of over 450 million galaxies as far as 10 billion light-years away, SCaN continues to innovate how its discoveries safely return to Earth.
The SPHEREx mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA-IPAC Infrared Science Archive. Funding and oversight for DAPHNE+ and the Near Space Network come from the SCaN program office at NASA Headquarters and operate out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The Troll Satellite Station is owned and operated by Kongsberg Satellite Services and located in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica.
About the Author
Korine Powers
Lead Writer and Communications StrategistKorine Powers, Ph.D. is a writer for NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office and covers emerging technologies, commercialization efforts, exploration activities, and more.
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Last Updated May 06, 2025 Related Terms
Communicating and Navigating with Missions Commercial Space Space Communications & Navigation Program SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) View the full article
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