Explore Worlds
Find Life
Defend Earth
All
All
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Some fun with Curiosity MARDI images
Yesterday Curiosity returned a pile of full-resolution descent imager photos to Earth. The full-resolution MARDI images are just as great as we anticipated.
Curiosity's Marsdial is on Mars!
Following the successful landing of the Curiosity rover, it is gratifying indeed to see the third MarsDial© photometric calibration (cal) target on the planet Mars. It is something near and dear to me personally, and it's good for all of us, because it helps us do good science.
Curiosity sol 4: EDL updates, rover ready for software upgrade
A recap of the final Curiosity press conference of the week: lots of updates from the entry, descent and landing (EDL) team that safely deposited the rover on Mars, as well as an overview of the rover's R10 software upgrade.
Curiosity's high-res Navcam panorama in striking color
So far, the only high-resolution surface panorama we've seen from Curiosity is the black and white Navcam image. The Mastcam shot a color panorama, but the only version we have so far was created from the lower-resolution thumbnails.
Curiosity: Most of sol 2 Navcam panorama, plus 18 full-res Descent Imager frames available
A look at the latest raw data dump from Curiosity: our first sharp view of the rover and immediate surroundings, plus 18 of the full-resolution descent imager frames are now available. Check out the gravel on Curiosity's deck!!
Curiosity sol 3: First Mastcam color thumbnails down, everything "flawless," "nominal"
Curiosity's third day on Mars has been completed flawlessly, and the first preliminary color view from her Mastcam is lovely.
Planetfest 2012 Was a Huge Success
Planetfest 2012 ended in the best possible way: the Curiosity rover touched down safely on the surface of Mars. In our ballroom, almost two thousand people leapt to their feet and provided thunderous applause to accompany the joyous celebration at mission control.
Grab your 3D glasses for this view of Curiosity's landscape on Mars
Curiosity fired up her Navigational Cameras on Sol 2 and began to take a look around her. The first four full-resolution frames are enough for a small 3D panorama that shows a lovely landscape. I think we're going to like it here!
Curiosity's MAHLI camera: Much more than a microscopic imager
Today's press briefing featured the first image from MAHLI, the Mars Hand Lens Imager, so it's time for me to dive in to this camera's capabilities.
First full-resolution MARDI frame: Bye-bye, heat shield
The thumbnail versions of the Mars Descent Imager images have shown up on the Curiosity raw images page, and hiding among them was a single full-resolution frame containing the heat shield.
Getting the most out of those first images from Mars
It's such a rare joy to be able to dive into the images returned from a brand-new mission. The very first images that come to Earth and get posted on the Web are usually of relatively poor quality compared to what comes later, and Curiosity's are no exception to that rule.
Curiosity: Notes from the two day-after-landing press briefings
Notes on Curiosity's physical state, future activities, landing site, and other stuff gleaned from the two press briefings conducted at JPL today.
First look at Curiosity MARDI's descent animation (WOW WOW)
Even a preliminary, low-resolution, low-frame-rate version of Curiosity's descent imager animation of the arrival on Mars contains almost more awesome than I can stand.
A "long" view of the Curiosity Descending image
A wider (well, longer) view of the amazing HiRISE image that shows Curiosity descending under parachute to Mars
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE has done it again!!
In 2008, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped an amazing photo of Phoenix descending to the surface of Mars under its parachute. Now it's repeated the feat, with Curiosity.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Works on a Whim, Team to Stand Down for Curiosity
Opportunity roved on to new targets near the rim of Endeavour Crater in July, as the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) team prepared to stand down for the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity
HiWishing for 3D Mars images, part III
The final article of a three-part series of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera.
Pretty Panoramas: Opportunity at Whim Creek
I know it’s been all Curiosity, all the time on this blog for the last couple of weeks, and that’s not likely to change much for the next couple of weeks. But I don’t want people to forget that there’s another rover exploring Mars’ ancient geology. Opportunity has been taking spectacular photos of Whim Creek and Endeavour Crater this last week.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Digs Cape York, Roves to New Milestone
Even robots deserve a break once in a while, and when the Mars Odyssey orbiter went into safe mode in June, Opportunity got the chance to hang out and leisurely take in her surroundings at the Red Planet, while the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission downshifted into lower gear.
HiWishing for 3D Mars images, part II
Part two of a three-part series of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera.