Nov. 17, 2013, At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket stands ready to boost the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft on a 10-month journey to the Red Planet. NASA successfully launched its Maven orbiter into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Monday as part of the agency’s latest operation aimed at exploring... 

Stuart Atkinson combines 55 photos taken with the rover’s MAHLI camera, which sits outstretched on the end of the arm of NASA’s Curiosity rover, October 31, 2012. NASA’s Curiosity rover has analyzed Martian soil for the first time and has found some organic chemicals essential to support life. On Monday, NASA announced the finding of the robot’s onboard chemical laboratory, which had sampled...