In a once-in-a-million-years encounter, a comet, the size of a small mountain, flew past Mars on Sunday.
Pictures beamed back by the rover show a bright object lying in the Martian dirt, and a closer look suggests the object is a piece of plastic wrapper that has fallen from the robot.
Mars, which is already bright, will be more brighter on the eastern sky -- the brightest light in the midnight sky other than moon.
NASA's Curiosity rover has found geological evidence of water which once ran vigorously across the area on Mars, after discovering gravel carried by an ancient stream on the Red planet.
Indian Space Research Organisation's Mars Orbiter, which was placed in inter-Mars trajectory in the early hours on Sunday, has crossed Moon's orbit and is travelling beyond Earth's natural satellite.
.jpg)
The 56 and-a-half hour countdown for the launch of India's first space mission to Mars, slated for November 5, commenced on Sunday at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
NASA's Mars rover 'Curiosity' has fired its laser for the first time on the red planet, using the beam from a science instrument to interrogate a fist-size rock.
Giving new insight into the Mars landscape, NASA's Curiosity has sent first set of colour images from the 'Red planet', the United States space agency said.
Sit back, and join us in our joy ride to our planetary neighbour! Bharat Mata ki Jai!
Ahead of India's Mars orbiter's scheduled rendezvous with the red planet on September 24, ISRO is all set for the crucial fourth trajectory correction manoeuvre and test fire of the main liquid engine on the spacecraft on Monday.
India successfully placed its spacecraft in orbit around Mars, becoming the first country in the world to succeed in such an inter-planetary mission in the maiden attempt itself.
.jpg)
The final leg of putting India's Mangalyaan into the Martian orbit began early Wednesday morning.
An Italian space buff has claimed to have spotted the face of Mahatma Gandhi etched into the rocks of Mars while scanning through latest pictures of the Red Planet.
Among all the celebrations for Red Bull's second Formula One constructors' championship in South Korea on Sunday, one familiar team face was notably absent.
We invited readers to send in their interesting summer snapshots. Here are some more responses -- and you can share yours too!
After a nearly seven month journey through space, Perseverance -- the largest and the most advanced rover NASA has ever sent to another world -- successfully touched down on the surface of Mars on Friday.
As India prepares to launch its Rs 450 crore mission to Mars this year, a top space official says the country's first martian odyssey -- that has attracted some criticism -- is not just for pride but for undertaking "meaningful research".
Britain's top space expert Nick Pope hailed the new evidence of life as "the most important discovery of all time". He said: "What could be more profound than to know it's not just us out there?"
The United States aims to put a man on Mars by 2037 and build a space civilisation. "We have a long-term plan to put a man on Mars by 2037," Administrator of National Aeronautics and Space Administration Michael Griffin said.
Take the poll and tell us if the singer managed to grab your attention in red.
Monkeys may become the first earthlings to set foot on Mars. A troop of 40 macaque monkeys are being groomed at the Sochi Institute of Medical Primatology, at Vesyoloye near the Black Sea, to undertake a journey to the red planet, ahead of a human mission.
India and the United States, after sending their own respective spacecraft into Mars' orbit, have now agreed to cooperate on future explorations of the Red Planet, which America said will yield "tangible benefits" to both the countries and the world at large.
China, which sent its first lunar orbiter to probe the moon's surface recently, will launch its maiden Mars probe onboard a Russian rocket in October 2009, state media reported.
Started in August 2013 as a technology development project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Mars Helicopter had to prove that big things could come in small packages.
Congratulate ISRO and its brilliant scientists for positioning the country in an elite group of nations exploring outer space.
NASA's Mars rover Spirit has found concentrated salt below the surface of the Red Planet, offering more evidence that water once existed on Mars.
According to the European Space Agency, the unmanned spacecraft -- Schiaparelli -- exploded on impact with the Martian surface after falling from as high as 13,000 ft (4,000 m).
On August 27, there is nothing special connected with Mars
Although the designed mission life of MOM was six months, the satellite has continued to beam back science data from Mars for the past four years.
The camera has already taken hundreds of images of the Martian surface and the instrument will obtain about 5000 for every year till 2010.
The mission has been extended by another six months due to surplus fuel
The winners -- Saatvik Agarwal and Vignan Pattamatta -- will be part of a team of student astronauts who will analyse Mars Exploration Rover mission images and data as they are received from the spacecraft, IPC said in a release.
There was, however, no official word from the country's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru.
passengers get to feel the environment, its rocks, craters, the volcanoes, stormy weather and can even see a robot collecting dust and sending pictures to earth.
The Mars Colour Camera onboard Indian Space Research Organisation's Mars Orbiter Mission has captured the image of Phobos, the closest and biggest moon of Mars.
This is the full text of the address to the nation by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of India's 78th Independence Day.
India's Mars orbiter has sent a picture of regional dust storm activities over the northern hemisphere of the red planet, Indian Space Research Organisation said on Monday.
Since its August 2012 landing inside Mars' Gale Crater, Curiosity has been studying the planet's ancient and modern environments.
India's maiden Mars mission is a success. And minutes after Mangalyaan made history it joined the Twitterati club.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances