Places and Things

Volcanic Activity on Mars Upends Red Planet Assumptions For decades, planetary scientists assumed Mars was dead. Geologically, that is. Smaller than Earth, the planet would have cooled faster than ours after it formed. It was, for a time, quite volcanically active. Continue Reading . . . https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/volcanic-activity-on-mars-upends-red-planet-assumptions/

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity’s 4K images from 13th flight and full video footage On September 8, 2021 NASA demonstrated Ingenuity’s 4K images from 13th flight on Mars with high-detail structure of surface formation and full video of the 13th flight. This time Ingenuity Helciopter flew at lower altitude (8 meters) to make detailed surface images of Southwest Séítah. On Flight Continue Reading . . . https://youtu.be/oYE3knI__5M

China’s Zhurong rover sends a selfie from Mars China has released new images from its Zhurong rover, which began wheeling its way around Mars in late May. One of the photos is a lovely selfie of Zhurong posed next to its landing platform. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/11/22529603/china-cnsa-zhurong-rover-selfie-mars-perseverance

China's first Mars rover has rolled onto the planet's surface A week after the China National Space Administration reported its Tianwen-1 mission had achieved a safe landing on Mars, the Zhurong rover has rolled off of its platform and onto the planet's surface. Continue Reading . . . https://www.engadget.com/cnsa-zhurong-rover-095207429.html

The Morning After: NASA makes more flight plans for the Mars copter Remember game demos? While there are many free-to-play titles these days, it seems like most high-profile games don’t give players a way to try them out without paying the full price up front. Continue Reading . . . https://www.engadget.com/ingenuity-mars-drone-tma-135905103.html

Why Mars? The fascination with exploring the red planet The mystique of Mars is one that humans can't seem to resist. The red planet has easily captured our interest for centuries, heavily featured in science fiction books and films and the subject of robotic exploration since the 1960s. Continue Reading . . . https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/15/world/mars-exploration-humankind-scn/index.html

NASA's Mars helicopter becomes the first aircraft to fly on another planet NASA just made aviation history. The agency has confirmed that the Ingenuity Mars helicopter completed its initial test flight, making it the first aircraft to fly on another planet. Continue Reading . . . https://www.engadget.com/nasa-mars-ingenuity-helicopter-first-flight-124343002.html

Nasa successfully flies small helicopter on Mars The American space agency has successfully flown a small helicopter on Mars. The drone, called Ingenuity, was airborne for less than a minute, but Nasa is celebrating what represents the first powered, controlled flight by an aircraft on another world. Continue Reading . . . https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56799755

Watch NASA’s mission control track the first flight on Mars NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is slated to attempt the first-ever powered flight on another world at 3:30AM ET on Monday. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/18/22376033/nasa-ingenuity-helicopter-watch-ground-control-live-stream-time

NASA will attempt to fly its Mars helicopter on April 19th NASA finally has a new flight date for its Mars helicopter after a bug fix prompted a delay. The space agency now expects to fly Ingenuity "no earlier than" April 19th at about 3:30AM Eastern. Don't worry about staying up all night to follow along, though. Continue Reading . . . https://www.engadget.com/nasa-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-flight-date-184556782.html

NASA’s new Mars rover is about to spawn a tiny helicopter NASA’s Perseverance rover is getting ready to deploy a mini-helicopter named Ingenuity on Mars. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/22/22345034/nasa-mars-rover-perseverance-ingenuity-helicopter

China's Tianwen-1 probe captures incredible HD images of Mars China's Tianwen-1 probe has spent nearly a month orbiting Mars, and now we have stunning images from the voyage. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) released three images earlier this month, two in black and white and one in color. Continue Reading . . . https://www.dpreview.com/news/0185990956/china-s-tianwen-1-probe-captures-incredible-hd-images-of-mars

How a metal with a memory will shape our future on Mars A rover on the Moon has metal wheels that can flex around rocky obstacles, then reshape back to their original form. On Earth, surgeons install tiny mesh tubes that can dilate a heart patient’s blood vessels all on their own, without mechanical inputs or any wires to help. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/17/22334611/nitinol-metal-shape-memory-alloy-mars-nasa

NASA’s Perseverance Drives on Mars’ Terrain for First Time NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover performed its first drive on Mars March 4, covering 21.3 feet (6.5 meters) across the Martian landscape. Continue Reading . . . https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-perseverance-drives-on-mars-terrain-for-first-time

NASA’s latest Mars rover has the same processor as an iMac from 1998 NASA’s brand-new Perseverance rover is the most advanced machine that’s ever landed on Mars. But when it comes to rovers, “state of the art” is a subjective term. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2021/3/2/22309412/nasa-perseverance-mars-rover-processor-cpu-imac-1998

Listen to the Mars wind blow in these 1st sounds from the Perseverance rover These sounds are truly otherworldly. NASA's Perseverance rover recorded 60 seconds of Martian sound on Saturday (Feb. 20), just two days after its picture-perfect touchdown inside Jezero Crater. Continue Reading . . . https://www.space.com/perseverance-rover-first-mars-sounds-audio

There’s a hidden message in the parachute of NASA’s Mars rover The parachute that helped NASA’s Perseverance rover land on Mars last week unfurled to reveal a seemingly random pattern of colors in video clips of the rover’s landing. But there was more to the story: NASA officials later said it contained a hidden message written in binary computer code. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/23/22297094/hidden-message-parachute-nasa-mars-perseverance-rover

The Morning After: More Mars pictures, videos and sound Spotify is splitting its ambitions between podcasts and music. For the latter, it’s teasing a high-fidelity service that will arrive later this year, an idea the company has been testing since 2017. Continue Reading . . . https://www.engadget.com/perseverance-rover-videos-tma-123956911.html

Here’s an interactive 4K view of Perseverance’s Mars landing site NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has posted an interactive 360-degree view of the Perseverance landing site on Mars in 4K resolution. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/23/22296788/interactive-4k-360-degree-view-mars-perseverances-landing-site

NASA shares photos from Perseverance's descent to Mars The image you see above was taken just moments before NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully landed on the surface of Mars, and it’s just the first of many high-resolution photos to come. Continue Reading . . . https://www.engadget.com/nasa-perseverance-descent-images-214156371.html