News Center: Headline Archive

December 19, 2007
Global Map Reveals Mineral Distribution on Mars
More than 200 just-released “spectral maps” reveal the distribution of various minerals on the surface of Mars—the first installment of the Global Mars Map, which will eventually cover the entire planet. The map is built from tens of thousands of image strips each about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) wide and thousands of kilometers long, revealing data from 72 carefully selected wavelengths that cover absorptions indicative of the mineral groups that CRISM is looking for on Mars. + Read More

October 19, 2007
CRISM Has Key Role in Selecting Next Mars Rover Landing Site
Scientists scouting potential landing sites for NASA’s next Mars rover mission are using new data from CRISM to narrow the site selection. + Read more

September 21, 2007
NASA Orbiter Provides Insights About Mars Water and Climate
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is examining several features on Mars that address the role of water at different times in Martian history. Features examined with the orbiter's advanced instruments (such as CRISM) include material deposited in two gullies within the past eight years, polar ice layers formed in the recent geologic past, and signs of water released by large impacts when Mars was older. + Read more

June 27, 2007
CRISM Data Available on NASA’s Online Archive
The first images from the most powerful spectral camera ever sent to Mars – and innovative tools for working with this information – are now available on NASA’s online planetary data archive. [more]

June 7, 2007
New Web Program Offers a Ride around the Red Planet
If you’ve ever wanted to soar over the surface of Mars, now you can – through the simulated eyes of CRISM. [more]

March 14, 2007
CRISM Tracks Unearthly Processes on the Martian South Polar Cap [View Press Conference Graphics]

February 16, 2007
CRISM Uncovering Clues of Martian Surface Composition
Reaching its first 100 days of operations, the powerful mineral-detector aboard the newest satellite to circle Mars is changing the way scientists view the history of water on the red planet. [more]

December 13, 2006
NASA Spacecraft Read Layered Clues to Changes on Mars
Layers on Mars are yielding history lessons revealed by instruments flying overhead and rolling across the surface. Some of the first radar and imaging results from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - including data from CRISM - show details in layers of ice-rich deposits near the poles. [more]

October 16, 2006
NASA Orbiter Reveals New Details of Mars
During their first week of observations from low orbit, CRISM and other instruments aboard NASA's newest Mars spacecraft are already revealing new clues about both recent and ancient environments on the red planet. [more]

October 12, 2006
CRISM Images Featured in Oct. 16 Mars Briefing
CRISM images will be among those discussed at a NASA news briefing at noon EDT on Monday, Oct. 16. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team will present remarkably detailed images the spacecraft snapped during its first week of low-orbit observations. The briefing, held at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Calif., will air live on NASA TV and on the Web. [more]

September 27, 2006
Cover Open, CRISM Ready to Work
CRISM, the most powerful mineral-mapper ever sent to Mars, has opened its protective cover and is about to begin its search for hints of past water on the red planet. CRISM's spring-loaded cover had been closed to protect the imager's sensitive telescope optics from fuel residue and heat as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter eased into orbit around Mars. Today, a day after turning on CRISM's power and putting the device through a series of performance tests, operators opened the cover and verified that it had deployed properly. [more]

September 6, 2006
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Adjusts Angle of Orbit
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter fired its six intermediate-size thrusters for 210 seconds Tuesday in a maneuver to make the shape of its orbit closer to the planned geometry for the mission's main science phase, beginning in November. [more]

October 16, 2006
NASA Orbiter Reveals New Details of Mars
During their first week of observations from low orbit, CRISM and other instruments aboard NASA's newest Mars spacecraft are already revealing new clues about both recent and ancient environments on the red planet. [more]

June 19, 2006
Pace Quickens for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA's newest spacecraft at Mars has already cut the size and duration of each orbit by more than half, just 11 weeks into a 23-week process of shrinking its orbit. By other indicators, the lion's share of the job lies ahead. [more]

May 10, 2006
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Continues Aerobraking
NASA's latest orbiter to visit the Red Planet is well into its main phase of aerobraking. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has cut about 10 hours off its initial orbit by strategically dipping in and out of Mars' thin atmosphere. [more]

March 21, 2006
CRISM Reaches the Red Planet
NASA's newest spacecraft to Mars is now circling the Red Planet - with the powerful CRISM instrument poised to scan the Martian surface in unprecedented detail. [more]

November 18, 2005
MRO Tweaks Course, Passes Halfway Point
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully fired six engines for about 20 seconds today to adjust its flight path in advance of its March 10, 2006, arrival at the Red Planet. [more]

August 12, 2005
CRISM Heads to Mars
With today's successful launch of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, CRISM is on the way to an unprecedented study of the Red Planet. [more]

August 10, 2005
CRISM Ready for Ride Aboard MRO
The launch of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is set for Thursday, August 11, from 7:50 to 9:35 a.m. EDT. Catch NASA's Live Web Coverage of the pre-launch activities and liftoff! [more]

July 21, 2005
NASA's New Mars Orbiter Will Sharpen Vision of Exploration
NASA's next mission to Mars will examine the Red Planet in unprecedented detail from low orbit and provide more data about the intriguing planet than all previous missions combined. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its launch vehicle are nearing final stages of preparation at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., for a launch opportunity that begins Aug. 10. [more]

July 8, 2005
Fairing Prepares for Farewell
NASA puts the finishing touches on the protective fairing that will encapsulate the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter atop an Atlas V rocket. [more]

April 30, 2005
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Arrives in Florida for Final Checkout
A large spacecraft destined to be Earth's next robotic emissary to Mars has completed the first leg of its journey, a cargo-plane ride from Colorado to Florida in preparation for an August launch. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is an important next step in fulfilling NASA's vision of space exploration and ultimately sending human explorers to Mars and beyond. [more]

April 7, 2005
Lockheed Martin Delivers MRO's Launch Vehicle to Cape Canaveral
Lockheed Martin delivered the vehicle that will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission to Mars. The Atlas V, designated AV-007, arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., where the launch team will now begin preparations for the August 10 liftoff. [more]

August 9, 2004
MRO: One Year and Counting
With one very busy year remaining before launch, the team preparing the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has begun integrating and testing the spacecraft's versatile payload. [more]

January 7 , 2004
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Status
Even as the Spirit and Opportunity rovers complete a year of successful operation on Mars, the next major step in Mars Exploration is taking shape with preparation of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for launch in just seven months. [more]

November 13, 2003
Did a River Run Through Mars?
Newly seen details in a fan-shaped apron of debris on Mars may help settle a decades-long debate about whether the planet had long-lasting rivers instead of just brief, intense floods. [more]

September 25, 2003
NASA Eyes Next Trip to Mars
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - with a payload that includes the CRISM instrument - will make a more comprehensive inspection of our planetary neighbor than any previous mission. [more]

May 1, 2003
Learn More About CRISM and Mars Exploration!
Join CRISM scientist Ben Bussey and the Maryland Science Center for a Teacher Thursday distance learning program on May 1, 2003. [more]

April 28, 2003
CRISM Marks Successful Design Review
The CRISM team passed a key development milestone this month when it successfully completed a Critical Design Review. The instrument is on track to join the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter payload. [more]

March 6, 2003
Scientists Say Mars Has a Liquid Iron Core
New information about what is inside Mars shows the Red Planet has a molten liquid iron core, confirming the interior of the planet has some similarity to Earth and Venus. [more]

February 19, 2003
Snow Gullies on Mars
When NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft photographed what looked like fresh rain gullies on Mars three years ago, researchers were baffled. The surface of Mars is extraordinarily dry. What could have carved the curious features? Now, thanks to data from the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, there's a new answer: melting snow. [more]

February 18, 2003
Women Working on Mars
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mars Exploration Program and Robotics Education Project presented "Women Working on Mars: Engineering on the Red Planet" - a look at some of the engineers who design, build and test robots destined for Mars. Click here for more information on this cool Webcast.

November 5, 2002
Imagine That! Mars Webcast Set for Dec. 13
On Dec. 13, 2002, as part of the Imagine Mars Project, Bill Nye the Science Guy and dancer/choreographer Debbie Allen will combine science and art in an interactive Webcast from 11 a.m. to noon PST. [more]

November 4, 2002
NASA Launches "Name the Rovers" Contest
American school kids can make history by naming two rovers that will explore Mars. The LEGO Company will manage NASA's "Name the Rovers" contest in conjunction with The Planetary Society. The contest is open for submissions through Jan. 31, 2003. [more]

June 11, 2002
MRO Gets a Ride!
NASA has chosen the Atlas III expendable vehicle for the launch of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scheduled in 2005. [more]

May 28, 2002
A Cool Discovery: Water Ice on Mars!
Using instruments on NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, surprised scientists have found enormous quantities of buried treasure lying just under the surface of Mars - enough water ice to fill Lake Michigan twice over. Check out a NASA Science News story on this amazing discovery. [more]

May 11, 2002
Seeing Mars through a CRISM
During Comcast-Discovery Space Academy: Mission Mars, more than 100 middle schoolers learned how scientists from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab will use CRISM to explore the Red Planet. [more]

Nov. 9, 2001
APL Joins Search for Water on Mars
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., will provide a key science instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the spacecraft NASA plans to send to the Red Planet in 2005. [more]

Nov. 9, 2001
NASA Selects 10 Investigations for 2005 Mars Orbiter
NASA announced the selection of 10 scientific investigations as part of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. The 2005 mission will carry six primary instruments that will greatly enhance the search for evidence of water, take pictures of objects about the size of a beach ball, and search for future landing sites on the Martian surface. [more]