Mars

Mars

Martian Barchan Dunes

On Jan. 16, 2020, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this image of two types of sand dunes on Mars: barchan and linear dunes. The small dots are called barchan dunes, and from their shape we can tell that they are upwind. The downwind dunes are long and linear. These two types of dune each […]

Posted March 8, 2024

Mars Exploration Rovers (MER)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars

Mars Exploration Program

Opportunity (Rover)

Spirit (Rover)

20 Years After Landing: How NASA’s Twin Rovers Changed Mars Science

This month marks the 20th anniversary of Spirit and Opportunity’s landing on Mars, part of a mission whose legacy will extend far into the future. In January 2004, twin NASA rovers named Spirit and Opportunity touched down on opposite sides of Mars, kicking off a new era of interplanetary robotic exploration. They arrived in dramatic […]

Posted January 17, 2024

People of Goddard

Climate Change

Earth

Goddard Space Flight Center

Mars

Planetary Geosciences & Geophysics

Planetary Science

Planetary Science Division

Michael Thorpe Studies Sediment from Source to Sink

Sedimentary and planetary geologist Michael Thorpe finds the stories rocks have to tell, those on Earth and those from Mars.

Posted January 17, 2024

Curiosity (Rover)

Mars

Planets

The Solar System

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Captures a Martian Day, From Dawn to Dusk

Videos from the rover show its shadow moving across the Martian surface during a 12-hour sequence while Curiosity remained parked. When NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover isn’t on the move, it works pretty well as a sundial, as seen in two black-and-white videos recorded on Nov. 8, the 4,002nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. […]

Posted December 28, 2023

Mars

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

Ice Flows on Mars

On Aug. 18, 2023, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured ridged lines carved onto Mars’ landscape by the gradual movement of ice. While surface ice deposits are mostly limited to Mars’ polar caps, these patterns appear in many non-polar Martian regions. As ice flows downhill, rock and soil are plucked from the surrounding landscape and […]

Posted December 18, 2023

Perseverance (Rover)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars

Mars 2020

The Solar System

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Deciphers Ancient History of Martian Lake

Now at 1,000 days on Mars, the mission has traversed an ancient river and lake system, collecting valuable samples along the way. Marking its 1,000th Martian day on the Red Planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover recently completed its exploration of the ancient river delta that holds evidence of a lake that filled Jezero Crater billions of […]

Posted December 12, 2023

MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN)

Goddard Space Flight Center

Heliophysics

Mars

Solar Wind

Space Weather

The Solar System

The Sun

NASA’s MAVEN Observes the Disappearing Solar Wind

In December 2022, NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission observed the dramatic and unexpected “disappearance” of a stream of charged particles constantly emanating off the Sun, known as the solar wind. This was caused by a special type of solar event that was so powerful, it created a void in its wake as […]

Posted December 11, 2023

Asteroids

Jupiter

Mars

Pioneer

Pioneer 10

Planets

The Solar System

Pioneer 10 Crosses the Asteroid Belt

This illustration made on Nov. 26, 1974, by Rick Giudice shows the Pioneer 10 spacecraft traveling through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. At the time, it was uncertain whether it would traverse it safely since the density of particles large enough to damage the craft was […]

Posted December 4, 2023

Mariner 3

Mariner 4

Mars

Planets

The Solar System

A Miniature Mariner-C

A model of the Mariner-C spacecraft seems to float in the darkness of space in this photo from a June 1964 Conference on New Technology at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Mariner-C and Mariner-D were identical spacecraft designed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to fly by Mars and photograph the Martian surface. Mariner-C was […]

Posted November 28, 2023

Mars

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars 2020

MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN)

Perseverance (Rover)

The Solar System

NASA’s Mars Fleet Will Still Conduct Science While Lying Low

Rovers and orbiters will continue collecting limited data during a two-week communications pause due to the position of Earth, the Sun, and the Red Planet. NASA will hold off sending commands to its Mars fleet for two weeks, from Nov. 11 to 25, while Earth and the Red Planet are on opposite sides of the […]

Posted November 10, 2023