Tag: Mars
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Fitted with super-clean sample tubes, NASA’s next Mars rover nears launch date
Technicians installed sample collection tubes into NASA’s Perseverance rover May 21 before launch to Mars in July. Credit: NASA/JPL The Perseverance rover’s sterilized sample tubes — designed to seal Martian rock and sediment for eventual return to Earth — are installed on the spacecraft as teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center prepare to enclose the…
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After crane problem, ULA caps build-up of Atlas 5 rocket for Mars rover launch
The first stage of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, seen here with its RD-180 engine, is lifted into position on a mobile launch platform inside ULA’s Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: Kim Shiflett/NASA United Launch Alliance has completed stacking of the major elements of the Atlas 5 rocket…
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Launch preparations continue for NASA’s next Mars rover
NASA’s Perseverance rover is seen underneath its back shell inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 29. Credit: NASA JPL/Christian Mangano On track for launch from Cape Canaveral in July, NASA’s Perseverance rover has been secured to its rocket-powered descent stage and back shell, part of the…
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NASA takes high-school student’s suggestion and gives Mars Helicopter a new name: Ingenuity
Picking up on a suggestion from an Alabama high-school junior, NASA has given an ingenious name to the first helicopter due to take flight on Mars. The new name, Ingenuity, was submitted by Vaneeza Rupani of Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Ala., for NASA’s “Name the Rover” essay contest. NASA went with a different…
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UAE-built Mars orbiter arrives at launch site ahead of July liftoff
An Emirati-built Mars explorer, named Al Amal (“Hope” in English) and developed by engineers at the Mohammed bin Rashed Space Centre, has been shipped to the JAXA-run Tanegashima Space Center for final checkouts and preparations ahead of its launch aboard an H-IIA rocket. The launch window for this mission is currently scheduled to open July…
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NASA narrows design for rocket to launch samples off of Mars
This illustration shows a concept of how the NASA Mars Ascent Vehicle, carrying tubes containing rock and soil samples, could be launched from the surface of Mars in one step of the Mars sample return mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Catlech After years of studies, test-firings and a survey of U.S. industry in preparation for launch of a…
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Ground teams fuel Perseverance rover landing system, attach Mars Helicopter
The Mars Helicopter was installed on NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover April 6 inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/JPL Working under the cloud of the global coronavirus pandemic, technicians and engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center have installed a rotor-driven drone on the agency’s next Mars rover…
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Perseverance Mars rover in critical pre-launch testing at Kennedy
With its launch just over three months away, NASA’s Perseverance rover is undergoing final critical pre-launch testing and checkouts at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The series of verification and validation activities not only occurred on the rover itself but also on the helicopter it will take with it to the Red Planet. Presently,…
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Curiosity climbs and tilts at Mount Sharp; InSight offers surprises
As the Perseverance — formerly known as Mars 2020 — rover continues preparations for its launch to Mars in July, its older cousin, Curiosity, and extended family member, InSight, continue to reveal new and fascinating features of the Red Planet. For Curiosity, Mount Sharp has provided a new driving route to quickly reach a fascinating…
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Launch of ExoMars rover delayed to 2022
The Rosalind Franklin rover for the ExoMars mission completed a series of environmental tests at an Airbus Defense and Space facility in Toulouse, France, in late 2019. Credit: Airbus Most parts of the joint European-Russian ExoMars lander and rover are nearly ready for launch, but trouble with parachutes, electronics, software and concerns about the growing…