NASA launched Spirit, a Mars rover wrapped in airbags and designed for a 90-sol mission. It not only landed safely using an ...

The Mars Pathfinder mission, landing on July 4, 1997, delivered the Sojourner rover using a groundbreaking airbag landing system instead of rockets.

Twelve years ago, NASA landed its six-wheeled science lab using a daring new technology that lowers the rover using a robotic jetpack. NASA's Curiosity rover mission is celebrating a dozen years ...

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity rover, is scheduled to land on the Red Planet on Aug. 5, 2012. Here's how the rover will touch down on the planet's surface.

Spot the Mars Rover Family Portrait Perseverance Took to the Red Planet. Published Feb 26, 2021 at 3:59 AM EST. ... Like Sojourner, they bounced rather than touched down on Mars using airbags.

P A S A D E N A, Calif., May 15 -- After two consecutive Mars failures, NASA is considering returning to the Red Planet with a rover that would land in an air bag cocoon like the one used by the ...

Unlike past Mars missions, Curiosity will be lowered to the ground and set on its wheels by a slowly descending "sky crane" designed to unreel the lander like a lure on a fishing line.

The Opportunity rover landed in rockier terrain, so it hasn't been going as fast or as far as the Spirit. Spirit landed on a smoother surface, and has managed three kilometers, or two miles, on Mars.

Rover images, then and now. Sojourner’s images were an absolute sensation at the time. They looked so crisp and clear that people felt like they were transported to Mars just by looking at them.

Imagine: You’ve designed and built a billion-dollar rover to investigate another planet and launched it into space. It’s made its way through the darkness on a seven-month journey to Mars, and ...

At first blush, using a rocket-powered flying crane to lower a $2.5 billion nuclear-powered rover to the surface of Mars seems risky at best. But engineers say it solves a host of daunting challenges.