Category: Blogs

Written by Eleanor Moreland, Ph.D. Student Collaborator at Rice University For the past month and a half, Perseverance has been exploring the Krokodillen plateau in search of clay-bearing rocks. An earlier blog discussed that these rocks could hold clues to Mars’ watery past, and Perseverance has been exploring multiple potential locations to find a suitable […]

Written by Abigail Fraeman, Deputy Project Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Thursday, July 3, 2025 The team was delighted this morning to learn that Wednesday’s drive had completed flawlessly, placing us in a stable position facing a ~3 foot high ridge located ~35 feet away.  This ridge is the eastern edge […]

Written by Lucy Thompson, APXS Collaborator and Senior Research Scientist at the University of New Brunswick, CanadaEarth planning date: Wednesday, July 2, 2025As we traverse the boxwork terrain, we are encountering a series of more resistant ridges/bedrock patches, and areas that are more rubbly and tend to form lower relief polygonal or trough-like features. We […]

Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University in St. Louis Earth planning date: Monday, June 30, 2025 Our weekend drive placed Curiosity exactly where we had hoped: on lighter-toned, resistant bedrock we have been eyeing for close study. Curiosity’s workspace tosol did not contain any targets suitable for DRT. After a detailed discussion […]

A behind-the-scenes look at the annual Mars 2020 Science Team Meeting Written by Katie Stack Morgan, Mars 2020 Acting Project Scientist  The Mars 2020 Science Team gathered for a week in June to discuss recent science results, synthesize earlier mission observations, and discuss future plans for continued exploration of Jezero’s crater rim. It was also […]

Written by Abigail Fraeman, Deputy Project Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Friday, June 27, 2025 We weren’t able to unstow Curiosity’s robotic arm on Wednesday because of some potentially unstable rocks under Curiosity’s wheels, but we liked the rocks at Wednesday’s location enough that we decided to spend a sol repositioning […]

Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University in St. Louis Earth planning date: Monday, June 23, 2025 Curiosity was back at work on Monday, with a full slate of activities planned. While summer has officially arrived for much of Curiosity’s team back on Earth, Mars’ eldest active rover is recently through the depths […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]