Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Curiosity rover appears as a dark speck in this contrast-enhanced view captured on Feb. 28, 2025, by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Trailing Curiosity are the rover’s tracks, which can linger on the Martian surface for months before being erased by the wind. NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona The image marks what may be the first time one of the agency’s Mars orbiters has captured the rover driving.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has never been camera shy, having been seen in selfies and images taken from space. But on Feb. 28 — the 4,466th Martian day, or sol, of the mission — Curiosity was captured in what is believed to be the first orbital image of the rover mid-drive across the Red Planet.
Taken by the HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the image shows Curiosity as a dark speck at the front of a long trail of rover tracks. Likely to last for months before being erased by wind, the tracks span about 1,050 feet (320 meters). They represent roughly 11 drives starting on Feb. 2 as Curiosity trucked along at a top speed of 0.1 mph (0.16 kph) from Gediz Vallis channel on the journey to its next science stop: a region with potential boxwork formations, possibly made by groundwater billions of years ago.
How quickly the rover reaches the area depends on a number of factors, including how its software navigates the surface and how challenging the terrain is to climb. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads Curiosity’s mission, work with scientists to plan each day’s trek.
“By comparing the time HiRISE took the image to the rover’s commands for the day, we can see it was nearly done with a 69-foot drive,” said Doug Ellison, Curiosity’s planning team chief at JPL.
Designed to ensure the best spatial resolution, HiRISE takes an image with the majority of the scene in black and white and a strip of color down the middle. While the camera has captured Curiosity in color before, this time the rover happened to fall within the black-and-white part of the image.
In the new image, Curiosity’s tracks lead to the base of a steep slope. The rover has since ascended that slope since then, and it is expected to reach its new science location within a month or so.
More About Curiosity and MRO
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover was built at JPL, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL manages both the Curiosity and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of the agency’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado.
For more about the missions, visit:
science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter
News Media Contacts
Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
2025-059
Share
Details
Last Updated Apr 24, 2025 Related Terms
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity (Rover) Mars Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Explore More
5 min read Eye on Infinity: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit
In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35 years in Earth orbit, NASA is releasing…
Article 1 day ago 3 min read NASA’s Curiosity Rover May Have Solved Mars’ Missing Carbonate Mystery
Article 7 days ago 6 min read NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Studies Trove of Rocks on Crater Rim
Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
View the full article
-
By NASA
NASA/George Shelton A dolphin swims through the water in the Launch Complex 39 Area turn basin at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 6, 2007. The turn basin was carved out of the Banana River when NASA Kennedy was built. Dolphins are a frequent sight in the rivers around Kennedy, which shares a boundary with the Merritt Island Wildlife Nature Refuge.
The refuge was established in 1963 for the protection of migratory birds. Consisting of 140,000 acres, the refuge provides a wide variety of habitats: coastal dunes, saltwater marshes, managed impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks. These habitats provide a home for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals and 15 federally listed species.
Image credit: NASA/George Shelton
View the full article
-
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 4464-4465: Making Good Progress
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Front Hazard Avoidance Camera (Front Hazcam) on Feb. 23, 2025 — sol 4462, or Martian day 4,462 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 21:43:37 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center
Earth planning date: Monday, Feb. 24, 2025
Over the weekend Curiosity drove about 48 meters (about 157 feet) to the southwest, continuing to march along on our traverse past Texoli butte and Gould Mesa. I was on shift as the LTP today, and it was great to see the good drive progress, interesting workspace, and exciting stratigraphy that lies ahead.
Today’s two-sol plan includes contact science and a drive on the first sol, followed by untargeted remote sensing on the second sol. The Geology theme group got straight to work evaluating contact science targets, and decided on a nodular block named “Matilija Poppy” for APXS and MAHLI observations. Then the team turned their attention to the remote sensing activities. There are a variety of interesting rock textures near the rover, so the team spent some time planning Mastcam imaging and ChemCam LIBS activities to assess the diversity. Some blocks have polygonal fractures with raised ridges, while other blocks are more nodular or well-laminated. In addition to looking at the bedrock, Mastcam will document local troughs in the loose sand between blocks, to understand more recent surface processes. The team planned a ChemCam LIBS observation on one of the polygonal fractures at a target named “East Fork” and two long-distance ChemCam RMI mosaics of Gould Mesa to assess the distant stratigraphy. Then Curiosity will drive about 30 meters (about 98 feet) further to the south, and take post-drive imaging to prepare for Wednesday’s plan.
On the second sol Curiosity will take an autonomously selected ChemCam target, along with multiple environmental monitoring observations to search for dust devils, monitor atmospheric dust, and evaluate clouds. It was a pretty smooth day of planning, and it’s always nice to see how the team works together to accomplish a lot of great science. Looking forward to continuing to make great progress as we start climbing uphill again!
Share
Details
Last Updated Feb 26, 2025 Related Terms
Blogs Explore More
3 min read Sols 4461-4463: Salty Salton Sea?
Article
21 hours ago
2 min read Gardens on Mars? No, Just Rocks!
Article
4 days ago
2 min read Sols 4458-4460: Winter Schminter
Article
6 days ago
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…
All Mars Resources
Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…
Rover Basics
Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…
Mars Exploration: Science Goals
The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…
View the full article
-
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 2 min read
Sols 4450-4451: Making the Most of a Monday
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of its brightly lit workspace and its right-front wheel in the shadows, perched on some tall rocks. The rover used its Right Front Hazcam (Front Hazard Avoidance Camera) to capture the image on sol 4449 — or Martian day 4,449 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — Feb. 10, 2025, at 10:44:45 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, Feb. 10, 2025
Last Saturday around 20:00 Pacific Standard Time I saw a 22-degree halo encircling our mostly-full Moon and Mars; an entire planet hanging in the sky between our Moon and the atmospheric phenomenon. As I took in the view I wondered what our rover was doing at that moment… turns out the Sun had just risen over Gale crater and Curiosity was still asleep, waiting for her alarm to go off in about 2.5 hours for another full day of science.
She wouldn’t start the weekend’s drive until Monday morning about 1:30, while I was still asleep waiting for my alarm to sound at 5:15. The drive’s data arrived on Earth about 5:30, and told us we drove until our time-of-day limit for driving — stopping about 36 meters (about 118 feet) away from Friday’s location. Unfortunately, our right-front wheel was shown to be perched on some tall rocks and we couldn’t quantify the drop risk if we unstowed the arm. We decided to play it safe and keep the arm stowed instead.
Today’s two-sol plan would normally be in “nominal” sols — meaning we’d get a full day of science and a drive on the second sol — but due to some DSN downtime on Earth we moved our drive to the first sol, therefore switching to “restricted” sols a bit earlier than usual after our last soliday. Even though we couldn’t plan contact science, we’re making the most of our plan with almost 90 minutes of remote sensing. Mastcam will take an approximately 24-frame stereo mosaic of Wilkerson butte to the north, and ChemCam will shoot their laser at a rock in our workspace named “Carbon Canyon,” as well as three separate RMI mosaics! We’ll then attempt to drive until our time-of-day limit of about 15:00 local Gale time, hopefully getting us to a more stable spot on Wednesday for contact science. The second sol contains our usual dust-devil surveys with Navcam, atmospheric opacity measurements with Mastcam, and a blind LIBS on a piece of bedrock the rover chooses autonomously.
Written by Natalie Moore, Mission Operations Specialist at Malin Space Science Systems
Share
Details
Last Updated Feb 11, 2025 Related Terms
Blogs Explore More
3 min read Sols 4447–4449: Looking Back at the Marker Band Valley
Article
1 day ago
4 min read Sols 4445–4446: Cloudy Days are Here
Article
5 days ago
2 min read Sols 4443-4444: Four Fours for February
Article
6 days ago
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…
All Mars Resources
Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…
Rover Basics
Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…
Mars Exploration: Science Goals
The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…
View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
A pair of spacecraft were launched together today from India with the potential to change the nature of future space missions. ESA’s twin Proba-3 platforms will perform precise formation flying down to a single millimetre, as if they were one single giant spacecraft. To demonstrate their degree of control, the pair will produce artificial solar eclipses in orbit, giving prolonged views of the Sun’s ghostly surrounding atmosphere, the corona.
View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.