Mars

Mars

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Starts Unpacking Boxwork Formations

The rover recently drilled a sample from a new region with features that could reveal whether Mars’ subsurface once provided an environment suitable for life. New images from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover show the first close-up views of a region scientists had previously observed only from orbit. The images and data being collected are already […]

Posted June 23, 2025

Mars

A Martian Volcano in the Mist

Arsia Mons, one of the Red Planet’s largest volcanoes, peeks through a blanket of water ice clouds in this image captured by NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter on May 2, 2025. Odyssey used a camera called the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) to capture this view while studying the Martian atmosphere, which appears here as […]

Posted June 23, 2025

Mars Odyssey

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars

NASA Mars Orbiter Captures Volcano Peeking Above Morning Cloud Tops

The 2001 Odyssey spacecraft captured a first-of-its-kind look at Arsia Mons, which dwarfs Earth’s tallest volcanoes. A new panorama from NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter shows one of the Red Planet’s biggest volcanoes, Arsia Mons, poking through a canopy of clouds just before dawn. Arsia Mons and two other volcanoes form what is known as […]

Posted June 6, 2025

Mars

MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN)

Planets

NASA’s MAVEN Makes First Observation of Atmospheric Sputtering at Mars

After a decade of searching, NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere Volatile Evolution) mission has, for the first time, reported a direct observation of an elusive atmospheric escape process called sputtering that could help answer longstanding questions about the history of water loss on Mars.

Posted May 29, 2025

Perseverance (Rover)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars

Mars 2020

Devil’s in Details in Selfie Taken by NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover

The rover took the image — its fifth since landing in February 2021 — between stops investigating the Martian surface. A Martian dust devil photobombed NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover as it took a selfie on May 10 to mark its 1,500th sol (Martian day) exploring the Red Planet. At the time, the six-wheeled rover was […]

Posted May 21, 2025

Mars

Spirit (Rover)

Sunset on Mars

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars 20 years ago. In this image, the bluish glow in the sky above the Sun would be visible to us if we were there, but an artifact of the panoramic camera’s infrared imaging capabilities […]

Posted May 20, 2025

Perseverance (Rover)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars

NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover to Take Bite Out of ‘Krokodillen’

Scientists expect the new area of interest on the lower slope of Jezero Crater’s rim to offer up some of the oldest rocks on the Red Planet. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is exploring a new region of interest the team is calling “Krokodillen” that may contain some of the oldest rocks on Mars. The area […]

Posted May 19, 2025

Mars

Mars Moons

Perseverance (Rover)

Deimos Before Dawn

NASA’s Perseverance rover captured this view of Deimos, the smaller of Mars’ two moons, shining in the sky at 4:27 a.m. local time on March 1, 2025, the 1,433rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. In the dark before dawn, the rover’s left navigation camera used its maximum long-exposure time of 3.28 seconds for […]

Posted May 15, 2025

Goddard Space Flight Center

Mars

MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN)

NASA Observes First Visible-light Auroras at Mars

On March 15, 2024, near the peak of the current solar cycle, the Sun produced a solar flare and an accompanying coronal mass ejection (CME), a massive explosion of gas and magnetic energy that carries with it large amounts of solar energetic particles. This solar activity led to stunning auroras across the solar system, including […]

Posted May 14, 2025

Europa Clipper

Europa

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars

NASA’s Europa Clipper Captures Mars in Infrared

Headed for Jupiter’s moon Europa, the spacecraft did some sightseeing, using a flyby of Mars to calibrate its infrared imaging instrument. On its recent swing by Mars, NASA’s Europa Clipper took the opportunity to capture infrared images of the Red Planet.

Posted May 12, 2025