Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS)

Technology

Nine Finalists Advance in NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge

NASA has named nine finalists out of the 45 semifinalist student essays in the Power to Explore Challenge, a national writing competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes.

Posted April 23, 2025

Perseverance (Rover)

Johnson Space Center

Mars

Mars 2020

How NASA’s Perseverance Is Helping Prepare Astronauts for Mars

The rover carries several swatches of spacesuit materials, and scientists are assessing how they’ve held up after four years on the Red Planet. NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021 to search for signs of ancient microbial life and to help scientists understand the planet’s climate and geography. But another key objective is to […]

Posted March 26, 2025

Glenn Research Center

Opportunities to Contribute to NASA Missions & Get Involved

Technology

NASA Reveals Semifinalists of Power to Explore Challenge

NASA has selected the 45 semifinalists of the Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes.

Posted March 21, 2025

Curiosity (Rover)

Mars

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport)

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Captures Colorful Clouds Drifting Over Mars

While the Martian clouds may look like the kind seen in Earth’s skies, they include frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice. Red-and-green-tinted clouds drift through the Martian sky in a new set of images captured by NASA’s Curiosity rover using its Mastcam — its main set of “eyes.” Taken over 16 minutes on Jan. 17 […]

Posted February 11, 2025

Mars

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

NASA Mars Orbiter Spots Retired InSight Lander to Study Dust Movement

New images taken from space show how dust on and around InSight is changing over time — information that can help scientists learn more about the Red Planet. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) caught a glimpse of the agency’s retired InSight lander recently, documenting the accumulation of dust on the spacecraft’s solar panels. In the […]

Posted December 16, 2024

Technology

After 60 Years, Nuclear Power for Spaceflight is Still Tried and True

Six decades after the launch of the first nuclear-powered space mission, NASA is embarking on a bold future of human exploration and scientific discovery.

Posted October 23, 2024

Get Involved

Glenn Research Center

Planetary Science

Science-enabling Technology

STEM Engagement at NASA

Technology

Perseverance Pays Off for Student Challenge Winners

As radioisotopes power the Perseverance rover to explore Mars, perseverance “powered” three winners to write essays each year till they achieved their mission goal of winning NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge. These students explored behind the scenes at NASA’s Glenn Research Center.

Posted August 14, 2024

Curiosity (Rover)

Mars

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Here’s How Curiosity’s Sky Crane Changed the Way NASA Explores Mars

Twelve years ago, NASA landed its six-wheeled science lab using a daring new technology that lowers the rover using a robotic jetpack. NASA’s Curiosity rover mission is celebrating a dozen years on the Red Planet, where the six-wheeled scientist continues to make big discoveries as it inches up the foothills of a Martian mountain. Just […]

Posted August 7, 2024

Perseverance (Rover)

Astrobiology

High-Tech Computing

Mars

Mars 2020