Members of the MCMC conduct research on a variety of topics relating to the current and past weather and climate of Mars.
Current Mars Investigations
Twelve orbits a day provide NASA Mars Global Surveyor MOC wide angle cameras a global napshot of weather patterns across the planet. Here, bluish-white water ice clouds hang above the Tharsis volcanoes.
Past Mars Investigations
Two full-scale development model rovers that are part of NASA’s CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) technology demonstration drive in the Mars Yard at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in August 2023. The project is designed to show that a group of robotic spacecraft can work together as a team to accomplish tasks and record data autonomously – without explicit commands from mission controllers on Earth.