Scientists on NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission have discovered a key piece of the puzzle in understanding certain types of auroras on Mars, discovering that they form similarly to terrestrial auroras.Results published Thursday in Nature Communications show that the same mechanism that circulates and catapults charged particles into Earth’s atmosphere is happening
This composite photograph released on July 17, 2026 shows Mars’ crescent growing as NASA’s Psyche spacecraft approaches the planet for gravitational assistance. Psyche flew by Mars on May 15, 2026, using the planet’s gravity to gain speed and slightly tilt its trajectory. The flyby also gave the team a chance to prepare for the science
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“Landing, we have touchdown!” At 5:12 a.m. PDT on July 20, 1976, mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory erupted in cheers upon learning that the Viking 1 lander had survived its descent through the thin Martian atmosphere. Forty minutes later, the first image of the lander began to appear on their monitors, slowly forming
Fifty years ago, NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 landers made the first successful landings on Mars, opening a new era in planetary exploration. Behind that achievement was a team at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, whose consistent leadership and technical expertise helped turn an ambitious idea into a mission that reshaped the way
This composite of images taken by NASA’s Psyche mission shows the Mars crescent growing as the spacecraft approaches the planet for gravitational assistance from May 2 to 15, 2026. The series begins with the smaller crescent in the center of the image when Mars is furthest from the spacecraft, and progressively grows larger as the