On February 13th, 2019, NASA’s Opportunity rover mission came to an end after almost 15 years of a mission that was supposed to last 90 days. One of the big things that happened during that time is that it helped find evidence that liquid water did once exist on Mars.
On November 26th, 2018, NASA’s InSight lander landed on Mars, ready to begin finding out more about the interior of the planet. It will be very useful in knowing more about how rocky planets form, specifically Mars.
On March 21st, 2019, InSight’s Heat and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument seemed to have been blocked by a rock or a layer of gravel that did not allow it to go any deeper.
On May 23rd, 2019, the Mars 2020 rover was tested in various ways, acoustic tests to make sure that the parts are secure, frozen to -200 degrees Fahrenheit and lit by xenon lamps in a near-vacuum for eight days to simulate the environment of space.
On June 23rd, 2019, NASA reports that the Curiosity rover detected a spike in methane concentration in the martian atmosphere. Current measurements and technology on the planet cannot yet tell where or when this methane came from, so further analyzation of observations is needed to find out where it is coming from.
On July 1st, 2019, the support structure for the HP3 was removed so that the mission team could see what was not letting the “mole” go any deeper. HP3 Project Scientist Mattias Grott of DLR said that the “ cohesive soil is compacting into walls as the mole hammers." There is a pit around the mole, which robs it of the necessary friction it needs to dig deeper.
On August 22nd, 2019, the team for NASA’s InSight lander named a rock the “Rolling Stones Rock” after images of the planet’s surface revealed that the rock appeared to move about three feet, propelled by InSight’s thrusters as it was landing
.
Sources: various articles on https://mars.nasa.gov/news/