The Mars Society is excited to welcome the Nissan Advanced Technology Center – Silicon Valley (NATC-SV) as a sponsor of the 2024 University Rover Challenge. Based in Santa Clara, Calif., NATC-SV is the center of global excellence for Artificial Intelligence and next-generation mobility solutions at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Researchers and scientists at the center study all areas of automotive research, from the use of AI for developing new battery materials to the design of new systems on a chip for the… READ MORE >
Topic Area: Mars Rover
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Kevin Sloan, Director of the Mars Society’s University Rover Challenge (URC), and several student team participants will be joining Red Planet Live host Ashton Zeth on Tuesday, August 15th (5:00 pm PT) to talk about the recent rover competition held in Utah, robotics, and STEM education. Launched in 2006, URC is the world’s premier robotics competition consistently drawing talented and promising university students from around the world. Held annually in the desert of… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to welcome back to its International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for October 20-23, 2022 at Arizona State University, Dr. Vandi Verma, JPL Chief Engineer for Robotic Operations for NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rover missions currently operating on the surface of Mars. Dr. Verma will give a virtual address from JPL titled “Mars Rover Operations and the Role of Autonomy and Humans in Sample Return.” She joined JPL’s Mobility and Robotics Systems Section 14 years ago,… READ MORE >
Ten missions have now been successfully landed on the planet Mars since 1976, including six rovers that have traversed across a total of more than 50 kms of terrain. Arizona State University’s Dr. Jim Bell has been the lead or deputy scientist in charge of the science cameras on NASA’s Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance rovers, providing him with an amazing front row seat for their photographic and geological adventures. The Mars Society will be welcoming Dr. Bell as a… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Relativity Space, a Los Angeles-based aerospace company, has joined the growing ranks of official sponsors of our University Rover Challenge (URC), the world’s premier Mars robotics competition for college students held annually at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. Relativity is at the forefront of software-defined manufacturing, using 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and autonomous robotics to revolutionize how rockets are built and flown. The company intends to develop the world’s first entirely… READ MORE >
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Vandi Verma, Chief Engineer of JPL Robotic Operations for NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rover missions, will be joining our Red Planet Live video podcast on Thursday, April 21 (6pm PT / 9pm ET) to talk about how the two robotic explorers navigate on the surface of Mars. Having joined JPL’s Mars rover team in 2008, Dr. Verma specializes in space robotics, autonomous robots and robotic operations. She has also designed, developed, and operated… READ MORE >
Dr. Vandi Verma, JPL Supervisor of Operable Robotics for Mars Perseverance and Mars Curiosity, will provide a virtual update about navigating the two rover missions on the surface of Mars during the 24th Annual International Mars Society Convention, set for October 14-17, 2021. Dr. Verma joined JPL’s Mobility and Robotics Systems Section 14 years ago, with research interest in robotic software that enables autonomy and commanding under uncertainty for coordinated manipulation, mobility, sampling and science. Since 2008, she has been driving Mars rovers… READ MORE >
By Lawrence Klaes, Guest Writer, The Mars Society If there is one highlight among many that the Twenty-First Century can be noted for when it comes to space exploration, it is as the era when the automated rover really took off – and all over – the planet Mars. At this moment, there are three functioning multi-wheeled explorers making their way across different parts of the Red Planet, their suites of instruments gleaning what they can about their new homes… READ MORE >
The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Katie Stack Morgan, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Deputy Project Scientist for NASA’s Perseverance rover, will provide an update about the mission’s current work exploring the Martian surface as well as future planning during the 24th Annual International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for October 14-17, 2021. The Perseverance rover landed on the planet Mars earlier this year in February, with the goal of searching for signs of ancient life and collecting samples of… READ MORE >
The Mars Society will be hosting a virtual Facebook Watch Party for the upcoming landing of NASA’s Perseverance Rover on the surface of the planet Mars. Launched on June 30, 2020, “Percy” is scheduled to set down on February 18th inside the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero Crater, where it will then begin its mission to explore the nearby area in search of signs of past and present life. We invite you to mark the arrival of the latest Mars rover by joining our live Facebook… READ MORE >
Kevin Sloan, long-time Director of the Mars Society’s University Rover Challenge, will give a presentation about the URC program and plans for next year’s rover design competition (this summer’s URC was postponed due to COVID-19) during the 23rd Annual International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for October 15-18. As the premier robotics competition for college students from around the world held annually at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, URC challenges student teams to design and build the next generation… READ MORE >
The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across all branches of the economy worldwide; leaving some of them profoundly impacted for the foreseeable future. The space industry has not been insulated from the virus either and some Space 4.0 start-ups have declared bankruptcy. The most important events of the space year were at best rescheduled and at worst canceled indefinitely. What brings a little consolation is the fact that the companies whose employees could work from home made that shift quite… READ MORE >
Dr. Abigail Fraeman, a planetary scientist and deputy project scientist for NASA-JPL’s Curiosity rover mission, will provide an update about the space agency’s Mars rover missions during the 23rd Annual International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for October 15-18. Her experience with NASA-JPL missions to the solar system are extensive, including having served as co-investigator for the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), principal investigator for NASA Development & Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation, co-investigator for NASA Planetary Data Analysis &… READ MORE >
Dr. Sarah Milkovich, lead Science Systems Engineer for NASA-JPL’s Mars Perseverance rover, scheduled to launch this July, will give a virtual update about the mission to the 23rd Annual International Mars Society Convention, set for October 15-18. During her 14 years at JPL, Dr. Milkovich has specialized in science planning and operations for landed and orbital spacecraft, geomorphology and planetary science research, science communication and the ability to handle nebulous problems. Prior to the Mars 2020 rover mission, she served… READ MORE >