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NASA to broadcast Curiosity's 1st anniversary celebration on August 6th 10:45 ET
It's hard to believe August 5th marks Curiosity's first year on Mars -- it seems like only yesterday that we were on tenterhooks during the rover's precarious landing on the red planet. Within that...
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Life on Mars cast into doubt as Curiosity fails to find methane
[Click] Hi, is that David Bowie? [Silence] ... It's NASA here. We've got some news. While it's not a conclusive answer, the Curiosity Rover wasn't able to detect any traces of methane in the Gale...
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NASA's Curiosity finds two percent of Martian soil is composed of water
We already knew Mars was blanketed in ancient riverbeds, which points to the existence of water in the distant past. What we didn't know, however, is that H2O exists on Mars in the here and now --...
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Watch NASA simulate a Mars landing on Earth to test supersonic parachutes
To make sure the (very expensive) equipment we're sending to Mars don't crash into the ground, NASA's putting its huge supersonic parachutes through a grueling test. Wait, what do parachutes have to...
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Visualized: Curiosity rover takes us back to the surface of Mars
Been a while since you last took a trip to Mars? Once again, photographer Andrew Bodrov has stitched together the latest shots from the Curiosity rover so that you can spend a little time on another...
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Curiosity celebrates its first action-packed Martian year
Curiosity feted its first Martian year on the red planet (687 earth days) with a stiched-up selfie while NASA reflected on the Mars rover's triumphs and setbacks. So far, it has achieved most of its...
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Mars 2020 rover will give us a way to know the red planet better
NASA's been planning for the Mars 2020 rover for a long time now, back when Curiosity was just making its way to the red planet. Now, the agency has finally chosen seven scientific instruments that'll...
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NASA panel says Curiosity needs to drive less and drill more
NASA is not getting its money's worth of Curiosity, according to a review panel looking at seven planetary missions. The senior scientists criticized the nuclear-powered Mars rover, saying it needed...
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India put a satellite in orbit around Mars for a fraction of what NASA spent
India can rightly feel proud of itself today as its Mangalyaan "MOM" satellite mission successfully entered orbit around Mars. In the process, the country has broken at least three records, including...
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NASA: Mars' Gale Crater held a huge lake for millions of years
Humans have been speculating about water on Mars for hundreds of years, and now thanks to the Curiosity rover we're getting a better sense of how wet the Red Planet used to be. NASA revealed today...
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Curiosity detects organic molecules in Martian atmosphere and soil
NASA's Curiosity rover is still going strong on the red planet, observing the atmosphere and analyzing soil samples for the sake of future missions. For instance, the agency has revealed that the...
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Curiosity learns to drill into Mars rocks without breaking them
It's no secret that scientists want the Curiosity rover to drill into Mars more often. However, it first has to learn how to drill properly -- until now, it was so aggressive that it sometimes broke...
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Curiosity rover's arm is suffering short circuits, but it's OK
The Curiosity rover's drilling career is in danger. Its robotic arm has been having sporadic short circuits ever since late February. Its issues started on February 27th, when a surge of current shut...
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Peter Molyneux's Godus scheduled to land on Mac on September 13
If you've not heard of Godus, the upcoming deity simulator by heralded developer Peter Molyneux, you need only glance at the game's ultra successful Kickstarter to see how popular it already is. The...
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Peter Molyneux talks royalties and offline play for Godus
Bryan Henderson, the winner of Peter Molyneux's Curiosity experiment, will be receiving a "financially worthwhile" percentage of the game's profits when he takes on the (temporary) role of god of gods...
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Barely Related: The Interview didn't go well
Happy holidays, everyone! Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week....
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Curiosity finds evidence of life-giving nitrates in Mars rocks
NASA's Curiosity rover isn't done finding signs that Mars once had the prime ingredients for life... not by a longshot. The explorer robot has discovered evidence of nitrates, the nitrogen compounds...
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NASA patched Curiosity rover's autofocus problem over the air
Pardon me while I say something that might not be entirely popular: Software updates are pretty awesome. Maybe not so much for game consoles, but, I digress because the Curiosity rover recently...
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Space drones will collect samples from planets and asteroids
While Curiosity's doing a great job on the red planet, there are still areas it can't go to, such as steep cliffs/hills and locations hidden by permanent shadows. That's why the engineers at NASA...
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Now you can drive around Mars with NASA's Curiosity simulator
Want to explore the surface of the red planet without signing up for the Mars One mission? No problem: NASA has built two interactive web applications that will let you explore the planet to your...
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The Big Picture: Curiosity takes a 'belly selfie' on Mars
You really shouldn't take selfies from a low angle -- it could lead to unflattering images that emphasize double chins, chubby cheeks and big nostrils. That is, unless you're the Curiosity rover,...
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What petrified sand dunes look like on Mars
If you're the outdoorsy type, you might have already seen petrified sand dunes in person (in Utah, for instance) -- the photo above, however, isn't of a desert here on Earth. It's an image stitched...
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NASA enlists student help with Mars mission design challenge
Are you a college student? Want to be a part of NASA's mission to send astronauts to Mars? Well, you're in luck. The space agency has announced the Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing (BIG)...
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Our ongoing missions to Mars are over 50 years in the making
A deep space mission to Mars will require more than a few bottles of Poland Spring and water reclamation is a complicated business. Luckily, recent research is showing that liquid water may be more...
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New data suggests Mars had lakes that could have supported life
If you asked most star-gazers about water on Mars a month ago, you'd likely be told there is evidence for liquid H2O in the past, but it's probably long gone. How things can change. First was the big...
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