Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 29, 2022
After a successful 13 meter weekend drive, Curiosity finds itself in the middle of "Marker Band" valley. The underlaying bedrock has changed dramatically over the last week, from dark and nodular to light-toned and relatively smooth. This area has been of interest to the science team since Gale crater was first selected as the landing site, 10 years in the making! The orbital mineralogical

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 01, 2022
We kicked off Curiosity operations this morning with the news that our previous drive did not complete as planned. Some of the sand in the area caused the rover to veer ever-so-slightly off course, which then caused the right side of the vehicle to just clip the edge of a large rock. When the onboard safety check sensed the wheels were climbing a feature larger than anticipated, Curiosity

Boston MA (SPX) Sep 01, 2022
On the red and dusty surface of Mars, nearly 100 million miles from Earth, an instrument the size of a lunchbox is proving it can reliably do the work of a small tree. The MIT-led Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE, has been successfully making oxygen from the Red Planet's carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere since April 2021, about two months after it touched down on

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 01, 2022
These images, acquired using with DLR High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), reveal a chaotic region on our neighbouring planet. It is located near Holden Crater in the southern Martian highlands and is part of a vast valley system through which considerable masses of water once flowed in a northerly direction. The HRSC has been mapping the Red Planet on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft

Boulder CO (SPX) Sep 01, 2022
NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission and the United Arab Emirates' Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) have released joint observations of dynamic proton aurora events at Mars. Remote auroral observations by EMM paired with in-situ plasma observations made by MAVEN open new avenues for understanding the Martian atmosphere. This collaboration was made possible by recent data-shar

Bangalore, India (SPX) Sep 01, 2022
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has made a strategic investment, through Accenture Ventures, in Pixxel, a leader in cutting-edge earth imaging technology. Based in Bangalore with a presence in Los Angeles, Pixxel is building the world's highest resolution hyperspectral imaging satellite constellation in order to offer industry AI-powered insights that discover, solve, and predict climate issues at a fract

Santa Monica CA (SPX) Sep 01, 2022
Outpost Technologies Corporation ("Outpost"), the sustainable space company, announced the closing of a $7.1M Series Seed round. During a bearish fundraising environment, this round was oversubscribed, demonstrating Outpost's visionary approach to disrupting the satellite market. The company has developed, and flight tested a novel re-entry method that e

Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Sep 01, 2022
It was 1972 when the last humans landed on the Moon. The Apollo programme was discontinued thereafter. But interest in the Moon has been rekindled. With China having landed a robot - and raised its flag - on the far side of the Moon in 2020, NASA is planning for its Artemis programme to land in the lunar south pole region, probably between 2025 and 2028. Astronauts will then concentrate their ex

Boulder CO (SPX) Sep 01, 2022
Two papers recently released in the scholarly journal Science by Farley et al. and Liu et al., which describe recent major results from NASA's Mars 2020 mission provide new insight into the history of water on Mars. The first samples analyzed by NASA's Perseverance Rover, in the former crater lake named Jezero, are an intriguing mix of igneous minerals (e.g., from lava) and salt patches in

Washington DC (UPI) Sep 1, 2021
NASA has awarded five new missions to private exploration company SpaceX in a deal worth $1.4 billion that will transport astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station over the next eight years. The contracts were awarded as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract (CCtCap), an initiative that opens the door for business with the private sector, the sp