Sun’s Curtain Call: Mars Missions Go Rogue During Solar Conjunction
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….
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter News
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft launched by NASA on August 12, 2005, with the mission of studying Mars from orbit. Equipped with a suite of scientific instruments, MRO has been pivotal in providing detailed, high-resolution imagery and data about the planet’s surface, climate, and atmosphere. Its capabilities include identifying water-related deposits, analyzing minerals, monitoring daily weather and surface conditions, and scouting potential landing sites for future missions. The orbiter’s HiRISE camera, one of the most powerful space cameras ever built, can capture images of the Martian surface with resolutions that reveal features as small as a kitchen table. The MRO has also played a key role as a communication relay, transmitting data between Earth and landers or rovers on Mars, greatly enhancing our understanding of the planet and aiding in the planning of future manned and unmanned missions.
“End of an Era” – NASA Shuts Down Mineral Mapping Instrument on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
One of six instruments aboard the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, CRISM produced global maps of minerals on the Red Planet’s surface. After 17 years of…
Mars in Unprecedented Detail: Get Lost in the Red Planet’s 5.7 Terapixel Landscape!
A groundbreaking 5.7 terapixel image of Mars has been unveiled, offering a 20-fold increase in resolution for a detailed view of the planet’s surface. A…
Welcome to Mars! Caltech’s Jaw-Dropping, 5.7 Terapixel Virtual Expedition Across the Red Planet
Both scientists and the public can navigate a new global image of the Red Planet that was made at Caltech using data from NASA’s Mars…
Strange Circular Sand Dunes Discovered on Mars by NASA Spacecraft
Sand dunes of many shapes and sizes are common on Mars. In this example, the dunes are almost perfectly circular, which is unusual. They are…
NASA’s HiRISE Captures a Bear’s Face on Mars – What Is It Really?
This feature on the surface of Mars looks a bit like a bear’s face. What is it really? There’s a hill with a V-shaped collapse…
New Mars Water Map Will Prove Invaluable for Future Exploration Missions
A new map of Mars is altering our perception of the planet’s watery past, and indicating potential landing sites for future missions. The map shows…
NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Releasing Spectacular 5.6-Gigapixel Map of the Red Planet
The rainbow-colored map, to be released in batches over six months, covers the vast majority of the planet Mars, revealing dozens of minerals found on…
Help NASA Solve a Fundamental Martian Mystery
Find Clouds on Mars to Help NASA Scientists By spotting clouds in data collected by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the public can increase scientists’ understanding…
Breathtaking NASA Photo of Martian Crater Looks Like “Alien Footprint”
Although the photo above isn’t new (it was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on September 8, 2021),…
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Captures Images of China’s Rover From Space
China’s Tianwen-1 lander and Zhurong rover touched down on the Martian plain Utopia Planitia on May 14, 2021 after spending about three months orbiting the…
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: Water Flowed on Mars a Billion Years Longer Than Thought
Caltech researchers used the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to determine that surface water left salt minerals behind as recently as 2 billion years ago. Mars once…
International Trio of Mars Orbiters Shows Small Dust Storms Help Dry Out the Red Planet
By combining observations from three international spacecraft at Mars, scientists were able to show that regional dust storms play a huge role in drying out…
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Captured Perseverance During Descent to Red Planet
The descent stage holding NASA’s Perseverance rover can be seen falling through the Martian atmosphere, its parachute trailing behind, in this image taken on February…
Incredible Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Views of Craters, Dust Devils, and Avalanches on the Red Planet
Marking its 15th anniversary since launch, one of the oldest spacecraft at the Red Planet has provided glimpses of dust devils, avalanches, and more. Since…
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Is Offline for Maintenance – Here’s Why
Other orbiters will continue relaying data from Mars surface missions for a two-week period. From February 17 to February 29, 2020, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter…
There’s Buried Treasure on Mars – Here’s NASA’s Treasure Map
NASA has big plans for returning astronauts to the Moon in 2024, a stepping stone on the path to sending humans to Mars. But where…
Global Storms on Mars Launch Dust Towers 50 Miles Into the Sky
Dust storms are common on Mars. But every decade or so, something unpredictable happens: A series of runaway storms breaks out, covering the entire planet…