LAST UPDATED : May 30, 2019, 03:18 PM IST
- Curiosity rover finds clay cache on Mars: Nasa
Nasa's Curiosity Mars rover has found the highest amounts of clay minerals ever found during its mission on the red planet, the US space agency said. It is likely that the rocks in the area formed as layers of mud in ancient lakes. Other than proof that there was a significant amount of water once in Gale Crater, what these findings mean is still up for debate.
- NASA's Curiosity images two solar eclipses on Mars
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has send back spectacular imagery of two solar eclipses caused by Phobos and Deimos — two Moons of the Red Planet. Phobos, which is about 11.5 km across, was imaged on March 26, while Deimos, which is about 2.3 km across, was photographed on March 17. As the moon's shadow passed over the rover during sunset, it momentarily darkened the light.
- Mars more porous than thought, NASA's Curiosity rover finds
Researchers, including those from Arizona State University (ASU) in the US, measured the density of rock layers in 154-kilometre-wide Gale Crater on Mars. The findings, published in the journal Science, show that the layers are more porous than scientists had suspected.
- Nasa's Curiosity rover drilling Mars rocks again
Drilling is a vitally important part of Curiosity's capabilities to study Mars. Inside the rover are two laboratories that are able to conduct chemical and mineralogical analyses of rock and soil samples. The samples are acquired from Gale Crater, which the rover has been exploring since 2012.
- Nasa Curiosity rover analysing Mars rocks again
Nasa's Curiosity rover is analysing drilled samples on Mars in one of its onboard labs for the first time in more than a year, the US space agency said. The rover drilled its last scheduled rock sample in October 2016. On May 20, a technique called "feed extended drilling" allowed Curiosity to drill its first rock sample since October 2016.
- Nasa renames street for 'hidden' black women mathematicians
Nasa has renamed the street outside its Washington headquarters to honour three black female mathematicians whose pioneering work on the agency's early space program was chronicled in the film 'Hidden Figures.' Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson provided pivotal contributions to space flight research from the 1940s through to the 1960s, when the US first sent men to orbit and then walk on the Moon.
- Bengaluru firm to build moon lander for Nasa 2020 mission
Nasa’s efforts to get astronauts to land on the moon by 2024 will now have a key contribution from India. Bengaluru-based private firm Team Indus is part of a consortium that has bagged a contract from the US space agency to design and build a lander for its next lunar mission in 2020. Team Indus is the only company with lander-making credentials.
- Donald Trump seeks extra $1.6 bln in Nasa spending under goal of returning to moon
The Trump administration asked Congress on Monday to increase NASA spending next year by an extra $1.6 billion as a "down payment" to accommodate the accelerated goal of returning Americans to the surface of the moon by 2024. The proposed increase would bring Nasa's total spending level for the 2020 fiscal year to $22.6 billion.