mars rover
-
NASA
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4695-4701: Searching for Answers at Monte Grande
Written by William Farrand, Senior Research Scientist, Space Science Institute Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 24, 2025 Curiosity has successfully drilled its 44th hole on Mars, which is a major milestone in our investigation of the enigmatic “boxwork unit,” a region of resistant ridges surrounding pits or “hollows” of less-resistant rock. The drilling took place over the past weekend within the…
Read More » -
NASA
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4689-4694: Drill in the Boxwork Unit is GO!
Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, APXS Payload Uplink/Downlink Lead, University of New Brunswick Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 17, 2025 Curiosity has been investigating the “boxwork unit” for several months now. Readers might remember we drilled at the edge of the boxwork at “Altadena,” back in June. Since then, we have driven just under a kilometer across the boxwork unit (about 0.6…
Read More » -
NASA
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4682-4688: Seven Mars Years
Written by Diana Hayes, Graduate Student at York University, Toronto Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 10, 2025 This week was one of seasonal changes and milestones for the mission. As was mentioned several weeks ago, Mars has now moved out of its “cloudy season” and is transitioning into the “dusty season” as the planet moves closer to the Sun. This means…
Read More » -
NASA
A Stranger in Our Midst?
Written by Candice Bedford, Research Scientist at Purdue University Oct. 1, 2025 During the rover’s recent investigation of the bedrock at “Vernodden,” Perseverance encountered an unusually shaped rock about 80 centimeters across (about 31 inches) called “Phippsaksla.” This rock was identified as a target of interest based on its sculpted, high-standing appearance that differed from that of the low-lying, flat…
Read More » -
NASA
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4661-4667: Peaking Into the Hollows
By Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at The Open University, UK Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 19, 2025 Curiosity is currently driving along the ridges of a very uneven terrain. One of the bigger ridges we nicknamed “Autobahn,” which is the German word for a highway. But the rover didn’t stay on that autobahn, now more officially named…
Read More » -
NASA
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4655-4660: Boxworks With a View
Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Earth planning date: Friday Sept. 12, 2025 Curiosity continues to image, analyze, and traverse through a landscape characterized by higher standing ridges separating low-lying depressions (hollows) — a surface known as the boxwork terrain on Mount Sharp. The science team is actively characterizing the texture, chemistry, and…
Read More » -
NASA
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4649-4654: Ridges, Hollows and Nodules, Oh My
Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Scientist and APXS Team Member, University of New Brunswick, Canada Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 Curiosity is in the midst of the boxwork campaign, trying to decipher why we see such pronounced ridges and hollows in this area of Mount Sharp. When this terrain was first identified from orbit it was hypothesized that…
Read More » -
NASA
To See the World in a Grain of Sand: Investigating Megaripples at ‘Kerrlaguna’
Written by Athanasios Klidaras, Ph.D. candidate at Purdue University On Mars, the past is written in stone — but the present is written in sand. Last week, Perseverance explored inactive megaripples to learn more about the wind-driven processes that are reshaping the Martian landscape every day. After wrapping up its investigation at the contact between clay and olivine-bearing rocks at “Westport,” Perseverance…
Read More » -
NASA
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4624-4626: A Busy Weekend at the Boxwork
Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 8, 2025 We continue to progress through the boxwork structures, arriving today at the “peace sign” ridges we were aiming for in our last drive. We’re spending the first two sols of the weekend at this location, learning everything we can about the boxwork ridges all around…
Read More » -
NASA
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Captures Mars Vista As Clear As Day
‘Float rocks,’ sand ripples, and vast distances are among the sights to see in the latest high-resolution panorama by the six-wheeled scientist. The imaging team of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took advantage of clear skies on the Red Planet to capture one of the sharpest panoramas of its mission so far. Visible in the mosaic, which was stitched together from…
Read More »