NASA says the probe's thrusters switched to backups on their own, and a power-saving swap of three heaters has extended the life of its remaining instruments.
The polygonal fractures in Valle Grande measure two to three inches across and climb a 20-foot butte. Scientists have three competing explanations and no answer yet.
The spacecraft skimmed 2,864 miles above Mars on May 15 to steal speed for its trip to a metal asteroid. The flyby doubled as a full dress rehearsal — and produced a timelapse of the Red Planet.
An upgraded quantum facility aboard the International Space Station is chilling atoms to near absolute zero, exploiting weightlessness to build matter waves impossible to make on Earth.
A routine drill into a sandstone slab nicknamed 'Atacama' lifted the entire chunk out of Gale Crater and stuck it to the rover's drill sleeve — an annoying first that handed scientists their first ever look at pristine, unweathered Martian bedrock from below.
The magnetoplasmadynamic engine ran 25 times more powerful than the thrusters now flying on the Psyche mission, hitting tungsten temperatures above 5,000°F and marking the highest-power electric propulsion test ever conducted in the United States.
JPL says its High-Performance Spaceflight Computing processor, built jointly with Microchip Technology, has cleared early radiation testing well beyond its 100x design target and is on track to fly on Artemis lunar missions and Mars Sample Return.
Lithium-powered engine reaches record 120 kilowatts in JPL test, glowing hotter than molten lava inside specialized vacuum chamber.
The experimental lithium-powered engine reached 120 kilowatts during testing at JPL, glowing hotter than molten lava and generating 25 times more power than current spacecraft thrusters.
A revolutionary electromagnetic engine reached record-breaking power levels at JPL, firing hotter than molten lava while demonstrating technology that could transform space travel.