Mars

NASA, DARPA to go nuclear in hopes of putting boots on Mars

Fission reactor rocket should get them going quite fast

Science25 Jan 2023 | 44

Robot seal tested for stress relief on pretend Mars mission

Anything to avoid interacting with Elon Musk

Offbeat11 Jan 2023 | 29

The balmy equator of Mars looks rich in opal-bound water

The poles have ice but it's freezing up there, so why not grind gems for cocktails?

Science09 Jan 2023 | 10

China's Mars rover hibernates for a scarily long time

Zhurongs don't make a right and suggest the mission may not have survived winter

Science09 Jan 2023 | 19

Perseverance rover drops off first sample tube on surface of Mars

Woohoo! Cameras on robot's belly confirm it isn't going to drive over it

Science22 Dec 2022 | 30

NASA retires Mars InSight mission after it enters ‘dead bus’ condition

So long and thanks for all the science

Science22 Dec 2022 | 19

NASA's Mars InSight uploads its (probably) final image, shares it in a tweet

All those expensive gadgets the boffins attached to it, they couldn't afford a feather duster?

Science20 Dec 2022 | 28

Boffins hear Martian dust devils' rumbles for first time

Audio recordings of local whirlwinds provide data on Mars weather, wear and tear of space hardware

Science13 Dec 2022 | 3

You're getting warmer: NASA's thermal mole reveals active mantle plume on Mars

Discovery shows 'astrobiological potential of subsurface habitable environments'

Science05 Dec 2022 | 9

Boffins are studying Martian clouds to avoid another Opportunity episode

They look and behave a lot like those on Earth – except they're made of dust

Science18 Nov 2022 | 9

You wait for an aurora on Mars and MAVEN spots two arriving at the same time

Boffins baffled: There's, like, zero magnetic field and very little atmosphere. What gives?

Science11 Nov 2022 | 8

InSight Mars lander has only 'few weeks' of power left

Think I got some dust in my eye

Science02 Nov 2022 | 70

Signs of sediment-rich ocean lend direction to Mars life search

3D models and maps show similarities in how the planet and Earth share sediment strategies

Science31 Oct 2022 | 7

NASA details totally doable, not science fiction plan for sending Mars rocks to Earth

So crazy, it just might work

Science29 Oct 2022 | 79

Origins of mysterious marsquake settled: It was a meteoroid what done it

We've spotted the massive ice-hole it left behind

Science28 Oct 2022 | 13

Martian microbes could survive up to 280 million years buried underground

That is if they're anything like the radiation-resistant 'Conan the Bacterium' here on Earth

Science26 Oct 2022 | 31

Mars rover Curiosity reaches sulfate-rich Mount Sharp after 10-year journey

NASA had been aiming for the region since before landing because there are 'signs of past water'

Science20 Oct 2022 | 13

Self-imposed climate change may have killed Martian life

Hungry microbes blamed for chilling out the party too much

Science11 Oct 2022 | 27

Japan tests probe to land on Martian moon Phobos, bring a chunk of it back to Earth

COVID hiccups be damned, work on instruments and connectivity is under way and space agency JAXA is determined to hit launch window

Science06 Oct 2022 | 20

Astroboffins present fresh evidence of moving liquid water on Mars

Pack your bags, we're off to huddle on some alien ice caps. It beats Earth

Science30 Sep 2022 | 30

Was there life on Mars? Perseverance scrapes up promising samples

Fact organic matter was found in sedimentary rock, which preserves fossils here on Earth, 'important'

Science16 Sep 2022 | 16

The answer to 3D printing equipment on Mars might lie in the Red Planet's dust

Talk about dirt cheap

Science07 Sep 2022 | 27

How this Mars rover used its MOXIE to convert CO2 into precious oxygen

Producing vital gas out of Red Planet's hostile atmosphere? Truly a test of Perseverance

Science01 Sep 2022 | 42

NASA has MOXIE, but rivals reckon they can do better for oxygen on Mars

Food and fuels, too? Totally not sounding like a Star Trek replicator

Science18 Aug 2022 | 39

NASA: Mars rocks won't make it back to Earth until 2033

Cute that they think the human race will still be here when Perseverance's samples arrive

Science28 Jul 2022 | 32

ESA kicks ExoMars rover down the road, to 2026 at best

The way forward to Mars is cancelled (you meant the meeting, right?)

Science20 Jul 2022 | 4

Mars helicopter to take a breather, recharge batteries

Like a lot of us hope to do, Ingenuity goes on summer break

Science14 Jul 2022 | 52

ESA's 2030+ roadmap envisions Europeans on the Moon and Mars

But the agency is distinctly aware that it needs more autonomy

Science05 Jul 2022 | 23

NASA ignores InSight's battery woes in pursuit of data

Space boffins: Nevermind ekeing out the battery, let it go out in a blaze of glory!

Science22 Jun 2022 | 7

Mars Express orbiter to get code update after 19 years

And over millions of miles, too. Piece of cake!?

Science22 Jun 2022 | 51

Mars helicopter needs patch to fly again after sensor failure

NASA engineers continue to show Ingenuity as uplinking process begins

Software07 Jun 2022 | 16

NASA's 161-second helicopter tour of Martian terrain

Video Ingenuity footage sent back to Earth via Perseverance, despite looming battery problem

Science30 May 2022 | 35

NASA's InSight doomed as Mars dust coats solar panels

The little lander that couldn't (any longer)

Science18 May 2022 | 62

Mars Ingenuity helicopter and Perseverance are talking again

NASA drops heater temp to boost batteries as dust hits solar supply

Science09 May 2022 | 33

ExoMars rover launch axed over Russia tensions

ESA will need to source a different rocket, lander, and descent stage in time for next window in 2024

Science17 Mar 2022 | 32

Software upgrades help Mars helicopter keep flying

Ingenuity's Earth-side coding team has expanded, and so has its rover-assistance mission

Science16 Mar 2022 | 14

ESA-Russia Mars rover launch on ice after Ukraine invasion

Rosalind Franklin can't catch a break

Science01 Mar 2022 | 6

NASA's InSight probe emerges from Mars dust storm

Plucky probe exceeded expectations. What's your excuse for that keyboard?

Science10 Feb 2022 | 47

NASA taps Lockheed Martin to build Mars parcel pickup rocket

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, they said – but Perseverance samples just might make it

Science08 Feb 2022 | 53

NASA's Curiosity finds signs of ancient life on Mars. Or maybe not. More data needed

Rover heats up samples, sniffs carbon signature associated with biological processes on Earth

Science19 Jan 2022 | 27

NASA's Mars InSight trips into safe mode and ESA's Sentinel-1B gives scientists the silent treatment

Space is hard

Science12 Jan 2022 | 22

Perseverance on the rocks: Pebbles clog up the rover's Martian sample collection

Engineers try to clear material so Mars bot can continue drilling

Science11 Jan 2022 | 34

Mars helicopter mission (which Apache says is powered byLog4j) overcomes separate network glitch to confirm new flight record

Ingenuity clocks up 30 minutes flying in the Martian skies

Science16 Dec 2021 | 40

ExoMars parachutes just about good enough to land rover safely on the Red Planet

Nobody wants to see Rosalind Franklin scattered over Oxia Planum

Science14 Dec 2021 | 38

ESA's Mars Express picks up plaintive bleeps of China's Zhurong rover, adding much-needed comms redundancy

We're all ears

Science02 Dec 2021 | 6

It's fake ooze, don't fall for fake ooze: Alien fossils found on Mars might just be simple chemistry, uni pair warn

Similar mistakes have been made in the past, after all

Science18 Nov 2021 | 37

FYI: Catastrophic flooding helped carve Martian valleys, not just rivers of water

Thanks, science

Science29 Sep 2021 | 23

NASA halts Mars comms for two weeks as Sun gets in way of Red Planet

Who wouldn't want a break from Earth's noise?

Science29 Sep 2021 | 26

Boffins say Martian colonists could pee in buckets, give blood if they want shelter

In terms of building materials, Mars has nothing to offer but blood, soil, sweat and tears. And urine. Lots of urine

Science14 Sep 2021 | 52

NASA's Perseverance rover nabs two Martian rock samples for scientists on Earth to study one day

Too early to confirm ancient alien life, but a 'potentially habitable sustained environment,' though...

Science14 Sep 2021 | 11

Perseverance rover drilled a rock on Mars and probably snaffled a core sample

Now to enact humanity's cunning interplanetary kidnapping plan

Science03 Sep 2021 | 21

Perseverance to take a second stab at Martian rocks ... but first it has to scratch'n'sniff

Hopefully this'll be the sample that eventually gets sent back to Earth

Science27 Aug 2021 | 9

Everyone's going to Mars: Rocket Lab joins the Red Planet Fan Club

An interplanetary ESCAPADE via Photon spacecraft and a NASA commercial rocket

Science23 Aug 2021 | 6

China's Mars rover assigned extended mission after exceeding life expectancy

But first, a holiday while Mars is on the other side of the Sun

Science23 Aug 2021 | 15

NASA blames the wrong kind of Martian rock for Perseverance sample failure

Not a hardware or software bug, for a change

Science12 Aug 2021 | 37

NASA comes up empty on Perseverance rover's first Mars sample drilling attempt

Suspects rocks are the problem, not probe

Science09 Aug 2021 | 25