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High levels of methane could potentially be generated underground by microbes called methanogens that survive without oxygen and produce the gas as a metabolic byproduct. Project scientist Ashwin R. Vasavada told the Curiosity science team in an email that “Given this surprising result, we’ve reorganized the weekend to run a follow-up experiment,” the Times wrote. The readings on Wednesday are over three times that of a sudden spike in 2013 that lasted several months; after first finding nothing after its touchdown in 2012, Curiosity detected approximately seven parts per billion of methane later in the year. The newest measurements are...

"The animation was created using my image from June 28th taken from Chile using a 1-meter telescope and the MGS basemap of the exact same longitude," Peach told Space.com via email. (MGS is NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, which studied the Red Planet from orbit from 1997 to 2006.) The animation was created using my image from June 28th taken from Chile using a 1-meter telescope and the MGS basemap of the exact same longitude," Peach told Space.com via email. (MGS is NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, which studied the Red Planet from orbit from 1997 to 2006.) The dust...

A mysterious circular rock formation on the surface of Mars has been captured by one of NASA's Orbiters. The formation was photographed by the Curiosity Rover this week and has excited alien hunters who invited speculation over how it came to be online. They suggested that the rocks were 'arranged', laid out by another form of life, or that it was part of a larger, buried structure which has never before been seen.

Explanation: Where is NASA's rover Curiosity going on Mars? Its geographical goals are on the slopes of Mount Sharp, whose peak is seen in the background on the right. A key scientific goal, however, remains to better assess when and where conditions on Mars were once suitable for life, in particular microbial life. To further this goal, Curiosity was directed to cross the rugged terrain of Nautkluft Plateau, visible in the featured image on the foreground left. Curiosity is crossing toward smoother uphill sites with rocks containing hematite and sulfates, sites that could give the rolling rover new clues on...

Explanation: A curious robot almost completely straddles this rocky little planet. Of course, the planet is really Mars and the robot is the car-sized Curiosity Rover, posing over its recent drilling target in the Marias Pass area of lower Mount Sharp. The 92 images used to assemble the little planet projection, a digitally warped and stitched mosaic covering 360x180 degrees, were taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the Curiosity mission sol (martian day) 1065. That corresponds to 2015 August 5, three Earth years since Curiosity landed on the surface of the Red Planet. The composite selfie...

Curiosity has left it's base deployment and afaik no external cameras exist. So does anyone know how this picture was taken? The original article is at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/20/curiosity_rolls_over_onto_martian_wet_patch_takes_happy_selfie/

A science blogger with a keen sense of vision claims to have spotted a lizard meandering around Mars. The unknown spotter is from Japan and alerted the website, UFO Sightings Daily, of the unusual sight. The rather unbelievable and completely unsubstantiated claim has caused some excitable conspiracy theorists to fear that the NASA could be planting life on the planet for scientific testing.

Yahoo News posted this photo and others today. As I looked over several, I noticed a strange flying object in one that is clearly seen above the mountains in the distance. Someone found a HD version of the photo and made a cool video of it. Tell us what you think it is below please. You should check out the photos on Yahoo because Yahoo photo links usually only stay around for several weeks. This photo is a bit baffling. The object could be a UFO or a flying insect...yeah NASA doesn't tell the public everything. If they said life...

Wheels and a Destination This view of the three left wheels of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines two images that were taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 34th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Sept. 9, 2012). In the distance is the lower slope of Mount Sharp. The camera is located in the turret of tools at the end of Curiosity's robotic arm. The Sol 34 imaging by MAHLI was part of a week-long set of activities for characterizing the movement of the arm in Mars conditions. The main purpose of Curiosity's...

A misadventure that turned into a most excellent adventure happened to me this past week. It started on the 16th with train reservations to D.C. for the 18th... My ride to the train station never showed so I missed the train. Instead of meeting my friends in D.C., I ended leaving Summerville at 10pm on the 18th and arriving in Statesville, NC on the morning of the 19th ... At 5am... On a bus (shudder). I hope that I never have to take a bus on a long trip again! I can promise you this - you will meet all...