NASA has shared a new Mars image, but instead of featuring the Red Planet's dusty orange landscape, we're greeted with far more unusual sight: "brain terrain." Scientists gave this mysterious surface its nickname due to its texture, which resembles the color and folds of a brain. The space agency has shared a high-resolution version of the image for the public to download.
China has plans to launch four deep space missions by 2030, and one of those projects will include launching its own Mars lander. The nation anticipates launching multiple Mars probes, the first scheduled for a 2020 launch with the goal of putting a lander on the Red Planet. Assuming it is successful, the rover would join NASA's still-operational Curiosity and InSight landers.
China has a rover on the moon's far side right now called Chang'e 4, and it has shared photos of the far side in the past. China has plans for more moon missions in the future with the launch of the Chang'e 5 planned for later this year. China also wants to go to the moon and is working on a Mars rover for 2020.
Last year Mars Express detected water under Mars' south pole - now it's become more clear to which extent that water represented Mars' watery past. According to new findings with the ESA and Mars Express here in the present, early Mars had water - lots and lots of water, on the surface, in liquid form. Researchers found evidence of massive amounts of water by studying 24 individual deep, enclosed craters in the planet's northern hemisphere. They found features that couldn't have formed in any way other than in the presence of liquid water.
Canada reached an agreement to partner with NASA to assist with the Gateway lunar outpost and deep space exploration. Did you know that Canada was the third nation in the world to launch their very own satellite into orbit around out planet? That was the craft known as Alouette 1, and Canada's been working on robotics for space missions - and the like - ever since. Now they're going to the moon with NASA!
![Opportunity Mars rover’s watch is ended [UPDATE: NASA now live]](https://edge.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/marsopportunity-1280x720.jpg)
NASA's Opportunity Rover mission's craft has spoken its last, and after 5,352 days on Mars, its watch is ended. NASA's Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA science division chief, are expected to hold a conference at 2PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, February 13th, 2019, to make this announcement official. The day this rover died will be Sol 5352 (Martian solar days in operation), after 15 years and 20 days in service, having started roving on January 25th, 2004.
Mars One's mission to take humans to the red planet isn't over, the company insists, claiming talks with a new investor could bring the ill-fated space travel company out of bankruptcy. If the deal goes through, Mars One Ventures says, it'll take a new approach to publicizing - and funding - the whole project.
While some are still arguing whether man even landed on the moon at all or not, there are those who have already set their eyes on making Mars humanity's next home. Elon Musk immediately comes to mind, but he was hardly the only one. Almost seven years ago, a never before heard of organization proposed landing humans on the red planet to eventually establish a colony. Unsurprisingly, there was no small amount of suspicion over the years but all the speculation has ended now that the tiny company has run into bankruptcy.
NASA launched a pair of spacecraft that were very small, about the size of a briefcase, known collectively as MarCO last year. NASA knew when the spacecraft launched that they would be pushing the limits by merely operating in deep space, and their success was measured in survival. The MarCo (short for Mars Cube One) mission was the first interplanetary mission to use small CubeSats.
In December, NASA's InSight rover successfully deployed its seismometer instrument on the Martian surface. This was the mission's first big milestone, one recently joined by another completed effort: giving the instrument its own small house. The dome-shaped shelter, which NASA calls a shield, is positioned on top of the seismometer to help protect it from the elements.
Back in the Apollo mission days to the moon in 1972, the moon rover that the astronauts drove around had instruments on board to measure the gravity of the surface. Scientists wanted to measure the gravity on the surface of Mars, but the Curiosity rover lacks sensors for such measurements. That didn't stop researchers from figuring out a way to measure gravity with what Curiosity does have on board.
After more than a year spent in the region, NASA's Curiosity rover has departed from the Red Planet's Vera Rubin Ridge and is now making its way toward Mount Sharp. The departure was marked by a selfie at Vera Rubin Ridge's "Rock Hall" drill site, according to NASA, which published an image of the area on Monday. The upcoming new project will help shed light on Mars' history.