Clay Minerals From Mars’ Most Ancient Past?

Recent detections of clay-bearing bedrock on Jezero’s crater rim have the Perseverance Science Team excited and eager to sample. Written by Alex Jones, Ph.D. candidate at Imperial College London  Since finishing its exploration of spherule-rich stratigraphy at Witch Hazel Hill, Perseverance has been exploring the Krokodillen plateau, a relatively low-lying terrain on the outer slopes […]

NASA Fosters Innovative, Far-Out Tech for the Future of Aerospace

Through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, NASA nurtures visionary yet credible concepts that could one day “change the possible” in aerospace, while engaging America’s innovators and entrepreneurs as partners in the journey.   These concepts span various disciplines and aim to advance capabilities such as finding resources on distant planets, making space travel safer […]

Heather Cowardin Safeguards the Future of Space Exploration  

As branch chief of the Hypervelocity Impact and Orbital Debris Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Dr. Heather Cowardin leads a team tasked with a critical mission: characterizing and mitigating orbital debris—space junk that poses a growing risk to satellites, spacecraft, and human spaceflight.  Long before Cowardin was a scientist safeguarding NASA’s mission, […]

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4577-4579: Watch the Skies

Written by Deborah Padgett, OPGS Task Lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Friday, June 20, 2025 During the plan covering Sols 4575-4576, Curiosity continued our investigation of mysterious boxwork structures on the shoulders of Mount Sharp. After a successful 56-meter drive (about 184 feet), Curiosity is now parked in a trough cutting […]

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4575-4576: Perfect Parking Spot

Written by Lucy Thompson, APXS Collaborator and Senior Research Scientist at the University of New Brunswick Earth planning date: Wednesday, June 18,  2025 Not only did our drive execute perfectly, Curiosity ended up in one of the safest, most stable parking spots of the whole mission. We often come into the start of planning hoping […]

NASA Tech to Use Moonlight to Enhance Measurements from Space

NASA will soon launch a one-of-a-kind instrument, called Arcstone, to improve the quality of data from Earth-viewing sensors in orbit. In this technology demonstration, the mission will measure sunlight reflected from the Moon— a technique called lunar calibration. Such measurements of lunar spectral reflectance can ultimately be used to set a high-accuracy, universal standard for […]