Space and astronomy news
NASA’s Opportunity rover has reached the end of its life. Initially designed to last 90 days, and to travel only 1000 meters (1100 yards), the rover spent almost 15 years exploring the surface of Mars. During that time, it travelled more than 45 kilometers (28 miles.)
While some of us might only be dreaming of sticking our toes in the sand right about now, the Curiosity rover is actually doing so. But it’s no vacation for the rover, even though she stopped to take a selfie.
Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have announced that the Mars Science Lab (MSL), Curiosity Rover, has reached the base of the central peak inside Gale Crater, Aeolis Mons also known as Mount Sharp. Mount Sharp is a prime objective of NASA’s Curiosity journey. The mountain is like a layer cake, holding a chronology of past events, …
Continue reading “An Incredible Journey, Mars Curiosity Rover Reaches the Base of Mount Sharp”
Hey, it’s Mars in your browser! Panning around this scene that the Mars Curiosity rover captured earlier this month is the next best thing to being on the Red Planet. Close by the rover’s is the terrain that proved far more challenging for mission planners than anticipated, and further in the distance you can see …
Continue reading “Mars Panorama Shows Off Rocks, Mountains and Curiosity Rover”
Fancy a little Mars in your daily life? You need go no further than the excellent raw image archive that NASA generously provides on its website, showing the view from the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers as they make their way on the surface. Opportunity is rolling along in its eleventh year of operations, busily exploring …
Continue reading “Mountains, Gandalf! Red Planet Pictures Show Mars In The Eyes Of The Rovers”
Mars Panorama – Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 647 in out-of-this-world Here’s the latest interactive panorama via panoramacist Andrew Bodrov from imagery taken by the Curiosity Mars at Gale Crater, from Sol 647 (May 1, 2014). The images for panorama were obtained by the rover’s 34-millimeter Mast Camera. The mosaic, which stretches about 30,000 pixels …
Continue reading “Zoom Around Curiosity’s View on Mars with a New Interactive Panorama”
Mars Panorama – Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 613 in Out of this World The Curiosity rover looks like she’s concentrating hard on her tasks on Mars, and now you can zoom around and see what it would look like to be standing next to the rover in Gale Crater. This new interactive image put …
Continue reading “An Interactive Version of Curiosity’s Latest “Selfie””
Mars Panorama – Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 530 in world “Red Rover, Red Rover, I’m looking right over… this sand dune on Mars,” said the Curiosity rover on Twitter, as well as quoting photographer Ansel Adams, “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” This new interactive image put …
Continue reading “New Interactive Panorama Shows Curiosity’s View from the Dingo Gap Sand Dune”
1st 360 Degree Color Panorama from China’s Chang’e-3 Lunar Lander Portion of 1st color panorama from Chang’e-3 lander focuses on the ‘Yutu’ lunar rover and the impressive tracks it left behind after initially rolling all six wheels onto the pockmarked and gray lunar terrain on Dec. 15, 2013. Mosaic Credit: CNSA/Chinanews/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo See …
Continue reading “1st 360 Degree Color Panorama from China’s Chang’e-3 Lunar Lander”
Here’s a nice distraction to start off the day: pretend you’re playing in the sandbox of Mars alongside Curiosity. This new panorama shows the NASA Rover hanging out somewhat nearby Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons), its ultimate destination for the two-year prime mission it’s currently on. “The images for panorama [were] obtained by the rover’s 34-millimeter …
Continue reading “Go Mars-Digging Beside Curiosity In New Interactive Panorama”