Mar 10, 2020 - Science

Curiosity rover captures a Martian panorama

Miriam Kramer

Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The hiking on Mars must be pretty sweet. A new panoramic image taken by NASA's Curiosity shows the mountains of the Red Planet in all their glory.

Why it matters: The 1.8-billion-pixel panorama is the highest-resolution photo of its kind taken by Curiosity so far.

How it works: The panorama — released last week — was created from more than 1,000 photos taken during the 2019 Thanksgiving holiday by Curiosity from its position on the side of Mount Sharp in the Gale Crater.

  • "It required more than 6 1/2 hours over the four days for Curiosity to capture the individual shots," NASA said in a statement.

Go deeper: NASA's next Mars rover is named Perseverance

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Miriam Kramer

NASA's next Mars rover is named Perseverance

Artist's illustration of the Perseverance rover on Mars. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's next Mars rover, expected to launch to the Red Planet in July, is officially named Perseverance.

The big picture: Once on Mars, the mission is designed to search out possible signs of past life on the planet and cache samples for a future mission to return back to Earth one day.

Go deeperArrowMar 5, 2020 - Science
Miriam Kramer

Applications are now open to become a NASA astronaut

Photo: NASA

Applications are now open for every fifth grader's dream job: NASA astronaut.

Why it matters: The space agency doesn't put out a call for new astronauts unless they have a need to fill.

Go deeperArrowMar 3, 2020 - Science
Miriam Kramer

The coronavirus pandemic is setting back the space industry

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

From canceled conferences to a delayed Mars mission, the space industry is starting to feel the effects of the coronavirus pandemic as it spreads across the globe.

Why it matters: Hundreds of thousands of people are already experiencing the devastating effects of the pandemic.

Go deeperArrowMar 17, 2020 - Science