Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – Spaceflight Now

Perseverance rover aces first test drive on Mars

March 5, 2021 Stephen Clark

Two weeks into its mission of exploration on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover is doing an “exceptional job” and has completed its first test drive, mission managers said Friday.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera spots Perseverance rover after landing

March 5, 2021 Stephen Clark

A high-resolution camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted the Perseverance rover after landing on the Red Planet last month, showing the nuclear-powered robot sitting on the Martian surface with its supersonic parachute and other landing system components scattered nearby.

NASA is counting on long-lived Mars orbiter lasting another decade

April 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

With NASA’s attention at the red planet shifting to collecting and bringing rock samples back to Earth — a feat that could take a decade with costs that will leave little money for other Mars missions — the space agency is counting on its workhorse Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter continuing its imaging and radio relay functions for nearly 10 more years.

Scientists suggest streaks on Martian hillsides are dry flows

November 26, 2017 Stephen Clark

Intermittent flows that appear on steep slopes on Mars are likely formed by flowing sand, and not water as some scientists previously suspected, according to a new study.

First aerial color photo of Mars rover’s “hole-in-one” landing site

May 3, 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA has released the first high-resolution aerial color image of the Opportunity rover’s landing site on a sprawling Martian plain, where the airbag-cushioned robot fortuitously rolled into a Eagle Crater in January 2004, putting its scientific instruments face-to-face with a block of sedimentary rock that gave ground teams confirmation Mars was once a warmer, wetter, and habitable planet.

Planet Earth observed through telescope orbiting Mars

January 10, 2017 Stephen Clark

One of NASA’s satellites orbiting Mars has looked back home to record a Martians-eye view of the Earth and moon from 127 million miles across the solar system.

New images resolve finer details of Mars lander’s crash site

October 27, 2016 Stephen Clark

Imagery captured by a sharp-eyed camera aboard a NASA orbiter shows where Europe’s Schiaparelli lander cratered on Mars last week, exploding into fine bits of shrapnel and debris after after an apparent software problem doomed the mission, officials said Thursday.

Mars orbiter locates Schiaparelli lander’s crash site

October 21, 2016 Stephen Clark

Views from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter released Friday show the crash site where Europe’s Schiaparelli lander fell to the red planet’s surface from a height of several miles, leaving a distinct dark patch on the Martian landscape.

Pluto probe’s extended mission approved, but new Dawn destination denied

July 2, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA managers formally approved the New Horizons mission another speedy encounter with an object at the frontier of the solar system, but denied a request from scientists to redirect the Dawn spacecraft to visit a third destination in the asteroid belt, opting to keep it in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres, officials said Friday.

NASA confirms intermittent water flows on Mars

September 28, 2015 William Harwood

Researchers using data from a NASA satellite orbiting Mars said Monday they have found clear evidence of intermittent flows of salty water on the red planet, the first “unambiguous” signs of liquid water on the frigid world and a possible indicator of microbe-friendly environments below the surface.