Spotlight on Mars

For a behind-the-scenes view of Mars exploration, we hope you enjoy our spotlight stories. See also our press releases.

15-December-2009	Unexpected Wheel-Test Results
	Diagnostic tests were run on Spirit's right-rear wheel and right-front wheel on Sol 2113 (Dec. 12, 2009). Read More...
10-December-2009	Rear Wheel Trouble Continues
	Results of diagnostic tests on Spirit's right-rear wheel on Sol 2109 (Dec. 8, 2009) continue to indicate a troubled wheel, which may leave the rover with only four operable wheels. Read More...
07-December-2009	Further Tests Designed for Rover's Right-Rear Wheel
	A series of diagnostic tests on Spirit's right-rear wheel on sols 2104 and 2105 (Dec. 3 and 4) investigated stalls that occurred on Sol 2099 (Nov. 28) and earlier. Read More...
02-December-2009	Sandtrapped Rover Makes a Big Discovery
	Homer's Iliad tells the story of Troy, a city besieged by the Greeks in the Trojan War. Today, a lone robot sits besieged in the sands of Troy while engineers and scientists plot its escape. Read More...
01-December-2009	Another Stall of Right-Rear Wheel Ends Drive
	Spirit's right-rear wheel stalled again on Sol 2099 (Nov. 28, 2009) during the first step of a two-step extrication maneuver. This stall is different in some characteristics from the stall on Sol 2092 (Nov. 21). Read More...
25-November-2009	No Wheel Stall in Diagnostic Drive
	On Sol 2095 (Tuesday, Nov. 24), Spirit performed a set of diagnostic actions related to a stall of the right-rear wheel on the previous drive, three days earlier. Read More...
23-November-2009	Third Extrication Drive Ends With Wheel Stall
	Spirit experienced a wheel stall with the right-rear wheel during the second step of a two-step drive on Sol 2092 (Saturday, Nov. 21). This is not the same wheel that stalled on Sol 1899 (May 6), the left-middle wheel. Read More...
20-November-2009	Team Sets Plan for Third Extrication Drive
	Spirit successfully completed the first step of its planned two-step motion on Sol 2090 (Nov. 19). Read More...
19-November-2009	Second Extrication Drive Yields Slight Progress
	Another drive is planned for Spirit on Sol 2092 (Saturday, Nov. 21). Read More...
18-November-2009	Second Planned Extrication Drive is Straight Ahead Again
	The plan for an extrication drive on Sol 2090 (Nov. 19) will essentially be a repeat of the first drive plan, but with improved rover attitude knowledge. Read More...
17-November-2009	Tilt Parameters End First Extrication Drive
	The preliminary results from the first extrication drive for Spirit on Sol 2088 (Nov. 17, 2009) indicate the rover stopped less than 1 second after it began, sensing more vehicle lateral tilt than permitted. Read More...
16-November-2009	Team Prepares to Uplink Commands to Spirit
	Driving commands are being prepared to instruct Spirit to attempt to drive forward. These are the first driving commands since Spirit became embedded in a Martian sandtrap approximately six months ago. Read More...
30-October-2009	Amnesia-Like Behavior Returns on Spirit
	Until Oct. 24, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover had gone more than six months without an episode of amnesia-like symptoms like those that appeared on four occasions earlier this year. Read More...
30-October-2009	A Mars Rover Named "Curiosity"
	NASA's next Mars rover, a super-capable robot named "Curiosity," will push Mars exploration to a new level. Read More...
19-October-2009	Team Runs Operational Test to Prepare for Extracting Spirit
	Engineers using test rovers on Earth to prepare for extracting the sand-trapped Spirit rover on Mars have added a new challenge to their preparations. Read More...
05-October-2009	Squyres Wins Carl Sagan Medal For Public Outreach
	The principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rovers is honored for excellence in communicating the mission to the public. Read More...
14-September-2009	Computer Modeling Supplements Dusty Testing
	Tests on Earth simulating Spirit's predicament on Mars have reinforced understanding that getting Spirit to rove again will be very difficult. Read More...
25-August-2009	Dust Storm Passing Over Spirit
	The amount of electricity generated by the solar panels on Spirit has been declining for the past several Martian days, or sols, as a regional dust storm moved southward and blocked some of the sunshine at Spirit's location. Read More...
21-August-2009	Second Test Rover Added to Driving Experiments
	A second, lighter-weight test rover has entered the testing setup at JPL where rover team members are assessing strategy for getting Spirit out of soft soil where it is embedded on Mars. Read More...
19-August-2009	Spring Training for the Rover Science Team
	Just as baseball players must train together before the season starts, the science team for "Curiosity" must be in top shape to operate the rover's 10 science instruments when it lands on Mars in 2012. Read More...
13-August-2009	Planned Rover Test to Run a Week or More
	Mars rover team members are planning a long-duration experiment with the test rover at JPL beginning next week. Read More...
10-Aug-2009	JPL Blog: Five Things About Viewing Mars in August
	If you’re like me, you may have received an e-mail this summer telling you go outside on August 27 and look up in the sky. The e-mail, most likely forwarded to you by a friend or relative, promises that Mars will look as big as the moon on that date, and that no one will ever see this view again. Read More...
07-August-2009	More Testing Before Driving on Mars
	A review on Aug. 6 of test results to date yielded a decision to conduct further checkouts in an augmented testing set-up on Earth before beginning to send driving commands to Spirit. Read More...
31-July-2009	Possible Meteorite Imaged by Opportunity Rover
	The Opportunity rover has eyed an odd-shaped, dark rock, about 0.6 meters (2 feet) across on the surface of Mars, which may be a meteorite. Read More...
30-July-2009	Free Spirit Testing Nearing Completion
	Mars rover engineers at JPL are winding down testing of different escape maneuvers using a test rover in a sand box filled with soil to mimic the Martian surface. Read More...
24-July-2009	Longer Tests Beginning
	Mars rover team members have begun a new phase of testing at JPL -- using longer-duration experiments -- in their preparations for driving Spirit again on Mars. Read More...
21-July-2009	Next Step: Combinations of Basic Moves
	As the Mars rover team uses testing at JPL to evaluate possible ways to drive Spirit out of loose soil on Mars, the team is finishing tests of individual "building block" maneuvers and is about to begin stringing some of those together. Read More...
16-July-2009	Test Rover Checks Pivoting Technique
	The Mars rover team is using a test rover at JPL to assess various extraction techniques that might get Spirit out of the loose soil of "Troy" on Mars. Read More...
14-July-2009	Mars Dust Devil Has Colorful Effect in Image Series
	Scientists have combined a trio of shots taken seconds apart through different colored filters to create a special-effects portrait of a moving dust devil on Mars. Read More...
13-July-2009	Rover Engineers Test More Maneuvers
	Engineers checking possible rover movements to get Spirit out of the "Troy" sand trap on Mars are evaluating how a comparable rover at JPL fares in a crablike backward drive, with all four corner wheels turned 60 degrees toward the right. Read More...
10-July-2009	Tests Evaluating Crabwalk Moves
	On firm ground, NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers can make crablike moves by turning all four steerable wheels to the same side angle, then rotating the wheels either forward or backward. Read More...
08-July-2009	Second Rover Test Maneuver is Backwards
	Engineers used straight-backward driving of a test rover on Earth on Wednesday, July 8, as they evaluate maneuvers that might be useful for getting Spirit out of a sandtrap on Mars. Read More...
06-July-2009	Rover Extraction Tests Begin
	Using a test rover in a sandbox at JPL with special soil simulating Spirit's predicament on Mars, engineers are assessing possible maneuvers for getting Spirit out and onto firmer ground. Read More...
02-July-2009	NASA Phoenix Results Point to Martian Climate Cycles
	Favorable chemistry and episodes with thin films of liquid water during ongoing, long-term climate cycles may sometimes make the area where NASA's Phoenix Mars mission landed last year a favorable environment for microbes. Read More...
01-July-2009	Rock Under the Belly
	Engineers placed a rock underneath the test rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., on July 1, 2009, to more closely simulate Spirit's predicament on Mars. Read More...
30-June-2009	Test Rover Rolls In
	After several days of preparing a sloped area of soft, fine soil to simulate Spirit's current sandtrap on Mars, the rover team drove a test rover into the material on June 30, 2009. Read More...
26-June-2009	The Mixing Begins
	Rover team members mix materials to fill the testbed box. Once filled, the rover will be driven into the test area and set in place to mimic how the actual rover sits on Mars. Read More...
25-June-2009	Mars Team Digs in To Free Spirit
	Mars team members have rolled up their sleeves and will be shaping a few tons of diatomaceous Earth and clay into an exact replica of the area where the Spirit rover is embedded on Mars. Read More...
12-June-2009	The Rover Gets Strong-Armed
	The Mars Science Laboratory rover will sport the biggest, toughest robotic arm the red planet's ever seen! This super-limb must lift 34 kilograms (almost 75 pounds) of instruments to reach out and test martian rocks and soil, which may hold clues about whether Mars could have supported life. Read More...
08-June-2009	'Curiosity,' Meet Clara
	Twelve-year-old Clara Ma flew from Kansas to JPL to meet and sign the next rover that will zoom millions of miles to Mars. The trip is Clara's prize for winning an essay contest in which she named the rover "Curiosity." Read More... View more images on Facebook >>
03-June-2009	Spirit Takes a Peek at Her Belly
	A new image of Spirit's underbelly is helping engineers assess the rover's current state and plan her escape from soft soil. The panoramic mosaic of multiple images was taken by the microscopic imager instrument at the end of Spirit's robotic arm--the first time that imager has been used to assess the underside and wheels of the rover. Read More...
19-May-2009	JPL Blog: Got Water?
	A theme of Mars exploration is "Follow the Water," since understanding the history of water on our planetary neighbor will help us understand if there were environments favorable for life to occur and how climate has changed over time. Read More...
15-Apr-2009	Martian Dust Storm near South Polar Cap
	This nearly global mosaic of observations made by the Mars Color Imager on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows billowing clouds of dust being lifted into the atmosphere by a storm near the edge of the seasonal polar cap of southern Mars. Read More...
14-April-2009	Mars Science Laboratory Parachute Qualification
	The parachute for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory passed flight-qualification testing in March and April 2009 inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Read More...
28-March-2009	Heavy Duty Trust Building
	Trust--it's vital for each step of the Mars Science Laboratory mission. Engineers must trust each other and all the tests they've done while building the rover. Read More...
24-February-2009	Mars Science Laboratory Talks, Rocks, Bakes and Chills
	Before leaving Earth, Mars Science Laboratory is really put to the test to make sure it can survive the trip to the red planet. Read More...