Mars Report: February 2018

NASA's InSight arrives at Vandenberg AFB and readies for launch, Opportunity uses its abrasion tool for the first time in 300 sols, and Curiosity celebrates 2,000 Martian days on the Red Planet.



​TRANSCRIPT

Opportunity Rover
Opportunity was built to last 90 sols, or Martian days. More than 5,000 sols later she's still making discoveries like these stone stripes on Mars, which resemble similar geology on Earth. She even took her first selfie using her microscopic imager. It was a little blurry-her camera wasn't made for selfies!

Curiosity Rover
The Curiosity rover has spotted tiny crystals and stick-like figures on Mars. These tiny crystals may be what's left from an ancient lake or when past groundwater
moved through sediment.

Mars 2020
A piece of Mars will be going home with NASA's 2020 mission. A Martian meteorite will be on the new rover to serve as a practice target for one of the rover's
high precision lasers.

Coming soon: Mars Cube One (MarCO)
When NASA launches the InSight mission to Mars this spring the rocket will also carry a technology demonstration. Two smallsats, known as Mars Cube One (MarCO) will serve as a communications relay for InSight during landing. Engineers recently installed and tested MarCO's solar arrays.

Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech