NASA Rover Observes Aurora on Mars in Visible Light for 1st Time

The first visible-light image of a green aurora on Mars (left), taken by NASA's Perseverance rover, is seen next to a comparison image showing the night sky without the aurora but featuring the Martian moon Deimos (right), in this image released by NASA on May 14, 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI/Handout via REUTERS
The first visible-light image of a green aurora on Mars (left), taken by NASA's Perseverance rover, is seen next to a comparison image showing the night sky without the aurora but featuring the Martian moon Deimos (right), in this image released by NASA on May 14, 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI/Handout via REUTERS
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NASA Rover Observes Aurora on Mars in Visible Light for 1st Time

The first visible-light image of a green aurora on Mars (left), taken by NASA's Perseverance rover, is seen next to a comparison image showing the night sky without the aurora but featuring the Martian moon Deimos (right), in this image released by NASA on May 14, 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI/Handout via REUTERS
The first visible-light image of a green aurora on Mars (left), taken by NASA's Perseverance rover, is seen next to a comparison image showing the night sky without the aurora but featuring the Martian moon Deimos (right), in this image released by NASA on May 14, 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI/Handout via REUTERS

NASA's Perseverance rover has observed an aurora on Mars in visible light for the first time, with the sky glowing softly in green in the first viewing of an aurora from any planetary surface other than Earth.

Scientists said the aurora occurred on March 18, 2024, when super-energetic particles from the sun encountered the Martian atmosphere, precipitating a reaction that created a faint glow across the entire night sky. Auroras have been observed previously on Mars by satellites from orbit in ultraviolet wavelengths, but not in visible light.

The sun three days earlier had unleashed a solar flare and an accompanying coronal mass ejection - a huge explosion of gas and magnetic energy that brings with it large amounts of solar energetic particles - that traveled outward through the solar system. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, following Mercury, Venus and Earth.

Scientists had simulated the event in advance and prepared instruments on the rover to be ready to observe the expected aurora. Perseverance has two instruments that are sensitive to wavelengths in the visible range, meaning they detect colors human eyes can see. The researchers used the rover's SuperCam spectrometer instrument to identify exactly the wavelength of the green glow and then used its Mastcam-Z camera to take a snapshot of the softly glowing green sky.

An aurora forms on Mars the same way as on Earth, with energetic charged particles colliding with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, exciting them, and causing subatomic particles called electrons to emit light particles called photons.

"But on Earth, the charged particles are channeled into the polar regions by our planet's global magnetic field," said Elise Wright Knutsen, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oslo's Center for Space Sensors and Systems and lead author of the study published this week in the journal Science Advances.

"Mars has no global magnetic field so the charged particles bombarded all of Mars at the same time, which leads to this planet-wide aurora," Reuters quoted Knutsen as saying.

The green color occurred because of the interaction between the charged particles from the sun and oxygen in the Martian atmosphere. While auroras can be brilliant, as often seen in Earth's northernmost and southernmost regions, the one observed on Mars was quite faint.

"This specific aurora we observed on March 18th of last year would have been too faint for humans to see directly. But if we get a more intense solar storm, it could become bright enough for future astronauts to see. And with a camera, such as an iPhone, you would clearly see it, rather like how an aurora on Earth is always brighter in images than with the naked eye," Knutsen said.

This particular event did not impact Earth.

All the planets with atmospheres in our solar system experience auroras.

"Various types and wavelengths of aurora have been observed previously from Mars-orbiting satellites. All previous observations have been in the UV, but they have had wildly different shapes. From the global, diffuse aurora we observed now, to discrete arcs and patches near the crustal fields (regional magnetic fields) in the south, and large-scale sinuous shapes," Knutsen said.

If astronauts from Earth visit Mars and perhaps establish a long-term presence on the planet's surface, they may be treated to a nighttime light show.

"During a more intense solar storm, producing a brighter aurora, I think a sky which glows green from horizon to horizon will be eerily beautiful," Knutsen said.

"The aurora will appear as a soft green glow covering more or less the whole sky," Knutsen added. "Dust in the lower part of the atmosphere would obscure some of the light towards the horizon, and if you looked straight up it would also be fainter simply because looking at a slant angle will allow you to see through a thicker section of the atmosphere that is emitting the aurora."



China's Humanoid Robots Generate More Soccer Excitement than their Human Counterparts

Billboard illustrating humanoid robots at 2018 China International Robot Show in Shanghai. Reuters
Billboard illustrating humanoid robots at 2018 China International Robot Show in Shanghai. Reuters
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China's Humanoid Robots Generate More Soccer Excitement than their Human Counterparts

Billboard illustrating humanoid robots at 2018 China International Robot Show in Shanghai. Reuters
Billboard illustrating humanoid robots at 2018 China International Robot Show in Shanghai. Reuters

While China's men's soccer team hasn't generated much excitement in recent years, humanoid robot teams have won over fans in Beijing based more on the AI technology involved than any athletic prowess shown.

Four teams of humanoid robots faced off in fully autonomous 3-on-3 soccer matches powered entirely by artificial intelligence on Saturday night in China's capital in what was touted as a first in China and a preview for the upcoming World Humanoid Robot Games, set to take place in Beijing.

According to the organizers, a key aspect of the match was that all the participating robots operated fully autonomously using AI-driven strategies without any human intervention or supervision.

Equipped with advanced visual sensors, the robots were able to identify the ball and navigate the field with agility

They were also designed to stand up on their own after falling. However, during the match several still had to be carried off the field on stretchers by staff, adding to the realism of the experience.

China is stepping up efforts to develop AI-powered humanoid robots, using sports competitions like marathons, boxing, and football as a real-world proving ground.

Cheng Hao, founder and CEO of Booster Robotics, the company that supplied the robot players, said sports competitions offer the ideal testing ground for humanoid robots, helping to accelerate the development of both algorithms and integrated hardware-software systems.

He also emphasized safety as a core concern in the application of humanoid robots.

“In the future, we may arrange for robots to play football with humans. That means we must ensure the robots are completely safe,” Cheng said. “For example, a robot and a human could play a match where winning doesn’t matter, but real offensive and defensive interactions take place. That would help audiences build trust and understand that robots are safe.”

Booster Robotics provided the hardware for all four university teams, while each school’s research team developed and embedded their own algorithms for perception, decision-making, player formations, and passing strategies—including variables such as speed, force, and direction, according to Cheng.

In the final match, Tsinghua University’s THU Robotics defeated the China Agricultural University’s Mountain Sea team with a score of 5–3 to win the championship.

Wu, a supporter of Tsinghua, celebrated their victory while also praising the competition.

“They (THU) did really well,” he said. “But the Mountain Sea team (of Agricultural University) was also impressive. They brought a lot of surprises.”

China's men have made only one World Cup appearance and have already been knocked out of next years' competition in Canada, Mexico and the United States.