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Software upgrade for 19-year-old martian water-spotter
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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 Space Force
Space Operations Command, in partnership with Space Systems Command, approved the operational acceptance of a milestone upgrade to the Ground-Based Optical Sensor System at the Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance site in White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
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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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By NASA
Andy Burroughs (left) and Paul Friz in the roles of air taxi pilots running through air taxi integration simulations focusing on urban air space at NASA’s Langley Research in Hampton, Virginia on Sept. 25, 2024.Credit: NASA NASA’s latest open Software Catalog, released Wednesday, offers more than 1,200 downloadable codes developed by agency engineers that could enable faster solutions to energize the space economy and stimulate American ingenuity. The catalog is part of NASA’s effort to place advanced technologies, including agency software, into the hands of businesses, researchers, and entrepreneurs to foster economic growth and innovation.
Agency developers will provide more information about the Software Catalog, the only repository of its kind in the federal government, during NASA’s summer software webinar series beginning Tuesday, July 22.
“NASA has droves of talented experts creating software to automate elements of agency missions,” said Dan Lockney, program executive, Technology Transfer at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The resulting efficiency benefits humankind, and its public value increases exponentially when the agency provides access to those software programs for companies, enabling them to save time and money, improve commercial offerings, and build their businesses.”
The four webinars accompanying this year’s NASA Software Catalog feature developers of popular programs for mission planning, systems design, propulsion analysis, and more, each consisting of a presentation followed by a live question-and-answer session.
Programs offered in NASA’s 2025-2026 Software Catalog are grouped into 15 categories that may be useful for organizations working with spacecraft and aircraft. For example, the Vehicle Management category includes a tool for designing satellite constellations and a software library for minimizing public safety risks around expendable launch vehicles. The Aeronautics section includes several programs that are widely used by industry for creating, modifying, and analyzing aircraft designs.
Although the categories have specific themes, the codes are meant to be useful to various innovators. Companies can use aircraft programs NASA wrote to design cars, trucks, and countless other products. The catalog’s Business Systems and Project Management section includes software for estimating project costs, building and assessing complex schedules, and uncovering root causes of mishaps. Other popular programs support 3D rendering for simulation and virtual reality, bring hyper-accuracy to GPS tracking, and analyze electrical power system architectures.
NASA released its first Software Catalog more than a decade ago in 2013, and since then, the agency’s annual rate of software downloads has skyrocketed, reaching up to 5,722 downloads in a single year.
The Software Catalog is a product of NASA’s Technology Transfer program, managed by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA routinely makes improvements to the Software Catalog website, ensuring the process is fast and easy. Access restrictions apply to some software that may be limited to use by U.S. citizens or for U.S. government purposes only.
View and learn more about NASA’s Software Catalog by visiting:
https://software.nasa.gov
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Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
321-432-4624
jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 16, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Space Technology Mission Directorate Ames Research Center Armstrong Flight Research Center Glenn Research Center Johnson Space Center Kennedy Space Center Langley Research Center Marshall Space Flight Center NASA Headquarters Stennis Space Center View the full article
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