mars rover

For the first time since its descent onto the red planet, the Mars rover Curiosity is getting a little alone time.

The rover and NASA scientists are having a communication breakdown, of sorts. But, not to worry, no hurt feelings are involved. The issue is that the sun has got in the way.

Once every 26 months, as the Earth and Mars rotate around the sun, the two planets end up on opposite sides of the star in an event called the Mars solar conjunction. Because of the sun's massive size, any communication sent between the two planets can … Read more

The Curiosity rover's powerful impact drill has successfully collected its first subsurface sample, about a tablespoon of powdered rock that will be fed into the spacecraft's on-board laboratory instruments for detailed chemical analysis, project officials said Wednesday.

The drill is the last major system on the rover to be tested since landing in Gale Crater last August and the successful collection of subsurface material marks a major milestone in Curiosity's quest to find signs of past or present habitability.

"Curiosity's first drill hole at the John Klein site is a historic moment for the MSL (… Read more

It's as if you've just strolled up to Curiosity on the surface of Mars and surprised the rover as -- convinced that everyone at Mission Control is on a coffee break -- it's decided to ditch the scientific research for a bit and build a martian sand castle instead.

One of the latest Curiosity images posted by NASA is a stunning self-portrait made up of 55 high-rez images taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager. The base of Mount Sharp serves as a dramatic backdrop, swooping up toward the right, and in front of the rover, you can see four hand-size holes in the ground where Curiosity had just started building its sand castle gathered scoops of martian dirt for analysis. The scoop site is poetically named "Rocknest."… Read more

Seeing as Mars is much further away from the sun than Earth is, a solar eclipse would look different than it does here. Curiosity -- NASA's Mars rover -- caught an image of what this phenomenon looks like from the Red Planet.

While somewhat less impressive than what a solar eclipse looks like from Earth, appearing as a tiny black blip on a small white blip, this photo is still fascinating. Mars has two moons that orbit it, so the moon seen in this image is called Phobos.

To get this photo, Curiosity -- ever the clever rover -- … Read more

Time to learn German for Wednesday's tech news roundup:

On August 19, 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover used the ChemCam, its laser-camera combo unit, for the first time on Mars, firing an energy beam at a small rock called "Coronation."

Having excited the atoms in a target rock into an ionized, glowing plasma with its million watt laser, ChemCam can then use its telescopic camera to watch the light emitted and analyze it with three spectrometers for information about elemental composition.

This first firing of the laser was primarily for target practice and calibration, but the ChemCam team expects to eventually take about a dozen compositional measurements … Read more

Any objection to Monday's top tech headlines is overruled:

The Apple vs. Samsung trial is almost at a close. The jury is expected to begin deliberations Tuesday. The two tech giants spent three weeks battling over patents and accusations of copying.

OnLive is facing some rough days ahead. The cloud-based gaming service sold its assets to an investor Friday and laid off employees, but said it will rehire many back as the newly restructured company (which will still be called OnLive). The company says subscribers shouldn't see any problems or interruptions in service during this restructuring.

College students … Read more