Presentation slides from Elon Musk’s talk at the International Astronautical Congress on September 27, 2016 detailing SpaceX’s plans for establishing a cargo and crew architecture for future exploration and settlement on Mars.
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NASA approved the InSight Mission for a May 2018 launch to Mars after the flight had to be delayed from its March 2016 launch slot due to a serious problem with one of the Mars Lander’s seismic instruments.
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The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter completed a major course correction on Thursday, setting its aim on Mars for an October 19 orbital insertion and landing of the Schiaparelli pathfinder.
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NASA’s Dawn spacecraft in orbit around Ceres and New Horizons roaming the distant Kuiper Belt are among nine missions awarded funding for extended missions.
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SpaceX announced on Wednesday plans to send an unpiloted Dragon 2 spacecraft to Mars as early as 2018 to demonstrate the technologies needed for landing large payloads on the planet – an absolute necessity for future human exploration of our neighbor in the solar system.
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The United Arab Emirates Space Agency picked Japan’s H-IIA launch vehicle to launch the Mars Hope mission in 2020, the agency confirmed on Tuesday.
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ExoMars 2016 has been sent on its way to Mars on Monday after a day-long ascent mission atop a Proton-M/Briz-M launch vehicle taking the heaviest craft to visit Mars three times around planet Earth before being injected onto its Trans-Martian Trajectory.
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A heavy-lift Proton-M rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Monday, carrying the Russian-European ExoMars 2016 spacecraft to set out on a nine-month journey to Mars for an ambitious mission of discovery to unlock the secrets of the Martian past and present.
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A Proton-M rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 9:31 UTC on Monday, carrying the Russian-European ExoMars 2016 mission, set for a seven-month flight to deliver to Mars the Trace Gas Orbiter to study the Martian atmosphere and the Schiaparelli lander for an Entry, Descent and Landing demonstration.
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ExoMars 2016 is set for liftoff atop a Russian Proton rocket on Monday, blasting off from Site 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 9:31:42 UTC on a mission of ten hours and 44 minutes, delivering the 4,332-Kilogram Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander to a trans-Martian Trajectory for a seven-month transit.
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NASA is not giving up on the Mars InSight mission, the agency announced on Wednesday, noting that the mission is targeting a launch date of May 5, 2018 after its 2016 launch campaign had to be suspended due to problems with the prime instrument of the stationary Mars lander.
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NASA announced on Tuesday that the Mars InSight mission is forced to suspend its plans of a March 2016 launch after the key instrument of the stationary Mars lander suffered a series of leaks that can not be repaired in time to meet the planetary launch window.
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India’s Mars Orbiter Mission recently celebrated the two-year anniversary of its launch after the mission was already able to mark its first anniversary in orbit around the Red Planet.
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NASA’s MAVEN mission presented in its initial science findings a key factor that played a role in the loss of most of the Martian atmosphere and the transition of Mars from a warm and wet environment capable of supporting life to the cold, deserted world we see today.
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The Curiosity rover on Mars is in the midst of its ninth drilling campaign since landing on the Red Planet a little over three years ago. The drilling operation is part of the rover’s ascent of the slopes of Mount Sharp to present scientists with a look at the different periods of ancient Martian environments that – even for extended periods – provided all ingredients needed for harboring life.
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The MAVEN spacecraft in orbit around Mars is getting ready for an interruption in its busy science mission to wait out this year’s solar conjunction when Mars and Earth line up on opposite sides in their respective orbits with the sun in between, preventing reliable communications between Earth and Mars and thus requiring all missions on or around the red planet to come to a stand still.
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For previous MAVEN Mission Updates from October 2013 through May 2015, please visit the Spaceflight101 Archive Site.
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