What's New

Camera images from Mars tell a story about wind.
 Read More

Two asteroids now bear the names of NASA's two Mars rovers exploring the red planet.
 Read More

On Jan. 24, 2004, halfway around the planet from Spirit's landing site, the airbags cushioning the Opportunity rover slammed into the surface, bounced high into the atmosphere, hit the ground again, and continued bouncing and landing and bouncing and landing before slowly rolling to a halt.
 Read More

Mark Adler is a mission manager who lives in a spacecraft operations world of computer commands and logic. At times when he is speaking, it seems his mind is working so fast that his words can barely keep up. Thinking fast was essential when Adler's team rescued the rovers from death's door in a race against time to keep their batteries from failing.
 Read More

At times during the Mars rover mission, the tension was palpable even as far away as NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. This was especially true about 18 months before launch, when the airbags that cushioned the landers began tearing apart during testing, and again about a year before launch, when the parachutes failed.
 Read More

Named after 2001: A Space Odyssey, the movie that inspired a generation to believe in a future where travelers on their way to Jupiter could call loved ones from space hotels via live television links, NASA's 2001 Odyssey orbiter mission has actually brought that fantasy one step closer to reality -- via Mars.
 Read More

Racking against the clock; complex engineering challenges.
 Read More

The JPL team that sent two rovers to Mars this year made history because they completed in 3 1/2 years what mission planners usually complete in seven.
 Read More

Both Mars Exploration Rovers are fighters, beating the count a handful of times on Earth and on Mars. Having flown in the face of "old age" and impending demise, Spirit and Opportunity might also be able to resist the reduction of direct sunlight and Mother Nature?s minions of martian winter clouds.
 Read More

With Spirit?s right front wheel showing signs of age, engineers are finding creative ways to keep the rover moving. They?re inventing a whole new rule book, such as driving forward in reverse and turning the wheels to go straight.
 Read More

Students share the excitement (and hard work) of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission.
 Read More

The inventors of digital camera technology bring you breathtaking pictures from space and keep the Mars rovers safe.
 Read More

As Spirit comes up on its 3,000-meter check-up, the rover may need a lube job to rejuvenate one of its wheels. Even so, the spacecraft's designers are thrilled that the rover has far exceeded its original warranty.
 Read More

Steep Grade Ahead: Can the Rover Make It? - Jun 10, 2004
At the edge of Endurance Crater, Opportunity was poised for the biggest challenge of its short existence: a drive down into Endurance Crater. Due to extensive testing, engineers became optimistic that the rover could make it in safely, on its way to determine more about the history of water on Mars.
 Read More

Less than two weeks after Spirit landed on Mars, rover engineers and scientists were already planning Spirit's itinerary on the surface. "Go To That Crater And Turn Right" read the headline of a January 13 press release. Needless to say, generically referring to features as "that crater," "this rock," or "these hills" could quickly become confusing.
 Read More

MARSIS will look for what's hidden on Mars. Engineers give the go-ahead for the MARSIS antenna to look for what's hidden beneath the surface of Mars.
 Read More

To land in a precise location on Mars after traveling over 300 million miles, navigators at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) had to overcome the head-spinning challenges of calculating the exact speeds of a rotating Earth, a rotating Mars, and a rotating spacecraft, while they all simultaneously are spinning in their own radical orbits around the Sun.
 Read More

On Saturday night, January 3, the Mission Support Area (otherwise known as "mission control") at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be filled, with every seat at every station occupied by members of the Mars Exploration Rover team. Everyone will be holding a collective breath in anticipation of a safe landing.
 Read More