Tag Archives: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

InSight: Studying Mars while standing still

Posted on October 24, 2018 by rburnham

You don’t need wheels to explore Mars. After touching down in November, NASA’s InSight spacecraft will spread its solar panels, unfold a robotic arm … and stay put. Unlike the space agency’s rovers, InSight is a lander designed to study … Continue reading →

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InSight: Winning the ‘Claw Game’ on Mars

Posted on October 16, 2018 by rburnham

If you’ve ever played the claw machine at an arcade, you know how hard it can be to maneuver the metal “hand” to pick up a prize. Imagine trying to play that game when the claw is on Mars, the … Continue reading →

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MarCO makes space for small explorers

Posted on September 13, 2018 by rburnham

Twenty years ago, CubeSats — a class of boxy satellites small enough to fit in a backpack — were used by universities as a teaching aid. Simpler, smaller and cheaper than traditional satellites, they’ve made space more accessible to private … Continue reading →

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InSight: Taking Mars’ internal temperature

Posted on August 28, 2018 by rburnham

Ambitious climbers, forget Mt. Everest. Dream about Mars. The Red Planet has some of the tallest mountains in the solar system. They include Olympus Mons, a volcano nearly three times the height of Everest. It borders a region called the … Continue reading →

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InSight: Halfway to Mars, instruments check in

Posted on August 20, 2018 by rburnham

NASA’s InSight spacecraft, en route to a Nov. 26 landing on Mars, passed the halfway mark on Aug. 6. All of its instruments have been tested and are working well. As of Aug. 20, the spacecraft had covered 172 million … Continue reading →

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InSight: Meet the people leading the mission

Posted on August 3, 2018 by rburnham

A new series of videos introduces some of the people leading NASA’s InSight, the agency’s next mission to Mars. “Behind the Spacecraft” profiles the men and women working on the first mission ever dedicated to studying Mars’ deep interior. The … Continue reading →

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CubeSats steer toward Mars

Posted on June 1, 2018 by rburnham

NASA has achieved a first for the class of tiny spacecraft known as CubeSats, which are opening new access to space. Over the past week, two CubeSats called MarCO-A and MarCO-B have been firing their propulsion systems to guide themselves … Continue reading →

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NASA video Mars report

Posted on May 25, 2018 by rburnham

What’s the latest news from Mars? NASA’s InSight lander and MarCO CubeSats are on their way to the Red Planet, a tiny helicopter will hitch a ride with the Mars 2020 rover mission, and Curiosity’s drill is back in business! … Continue reading →

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InSight: First course correction successful

Posted on May 23, 2018 by rburnham

NASA’s InSight lander has made its first course correction toward Mars. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is the first mission dedicated to exploring the deep interior of Mars. The lander is currently encapsulated … Continue reading →

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How active is Mars seismically? A prediction

Posted on May 22, 2018 by rburnham

The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport (InSight) mission arrives on Mars in November 2018. In anticipation of its arrival, a group of researchers led by Dr. Ana-Catalina Plesa have focused on the seismic experiments, which aim to … Continue reading →

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