Mars

NASA tries Curiosity rover's Mastcam to work out where MAVEN might be

Time running out for savin' MAVEN as stricken spacecraft still silent as Mars solar conjunction nears

Science24 Dec 2025 | 9

NASA tries savin' MAVEN as Mars probe loses contact with Earth

Spacecraft was 'rotating in an unexpected manner' and might have shifted orbit

Science17 Dec 2025 | 26

NASA loses contact with MAVEN Mars orbiter

Didn’t phone home as expected on December 6th and nobody knows why

Science11 Dec 2025 | 34

Rosalind Franklin rover catches a break as NASA reaffirms commitment

ExoMars project may actually get to the red planet one day

Science27 Nov 2025 | 11

China uses Mars orbiter to snap interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS

Middle Kingdom also postpones astronaut return mission after something hit its spaceship

Science06 Nov 2025 | 37

Mars’ powerful whirlwinds blow dust everywhere, could affect future missions

Keeping tabs on Martian dust devils with bonus data from ESA’s veteran orbiters

Science08 Oct 2025 | 21

NASA finds best evidence of life on Mars so far

The usual cadre of scientists who disproved previous findings are stumped

Science10 Sep 2025 | 46

Viking 1 at 50: NASA's first raid on the red planet

Launched in 1975, the probe outlived its 90-day mission by years and set the standard for Mars landings

Science22 Aug 2025 | 17

Biggest chunk of Mars on Earth sells for $5.3M at auction, cheaper than NASA's sample return mission

Videos Sotheby's also flogs off dinosaur skeleton for $26M

Science22 Jul 2025 | 7

Humongous parachute for European Mars landing mission tested successfully

video As US lawmakers wrangle over NASA’s stake in ExoMars, at least the chutes work

Science21 Jul 2025 | 9

Mars was once a desert with intermittent oases, Curiosity data suggests

New modeling of carbon cycle shows unsteady but habitable history before liquid water disappeared

Science04 Jul 2025 | 42

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter learns new trick at the age of 19: ‘very large rolls’

Now play dead, like a lot of NASA science programs if the White House gets its way

Science27 Jun 2025 | 15

Mars may have vast underground oceans and enough H2O to make it a water world

Chinese and Australian boffins ask what else could be slowing down seismic waves as they pass through the Red Planet?

Science13 May 2025 | 28

Brits to build ExoMars landing gear after Russia sent packing

Airbus UK wins £150M contract to revive long-delayed rover project

Science29 Mar 2025 | 44

Rocket Lab says NASA lacks leadership on Mars Sample Return

Agency willing to take huge risks with human exploration, but not willing to do it for some dirt?

Science12 Mar 2025 | 29

The red color of Mars might have an earlier, wetter origin

Scientists pool data from ESA and NASA spacecraft to come up with a ferrihydrite theory

Science25 Feb 2025 | 9

Words alone won't get the stars and stripes to Mars

Comment So you want to go to the Red Planet. How deep are your pockets and how much time do you have?

Science21 Jan 2025 | 165

NASA has just two Mars Sample Return mission lander options left

JPL's sky crane tech or private vendor to get $5-7B contract, before hitching lift back to Earth with ESA

Science08 Jan 2025 | 10

Silent NASA lander gives boffins insight into Martian dust

NASA to bid a final farewell to InSight

Science17 Dec 2024 | 8

Ingenuity helicopter's flying days cut short by featureless Martian terrain

Landing hard at an angle not great for the old rotor blades

Science13 Dec 2024 | 31

Testing spacecraft material the Sandia way: Setting it on fire with mirrors

Who said Archimedes' death ray was a busted myth?

Science16 Oct 2024 | 14

Blue Origin sets October 13 for first New Glenn EscaPADE to Mars

Must launch to catch the red planet alignment window despite occasional testing 'anomalies'

Science27 Aug 2024 | 12

InSight data suggests plentiful water lies beneath Mars' surface

There's water in them thar hills, but it'll be really hard to get to

Science13 Aug 2024 | 22

In celebration of Curiosity's successful landing on Mars

Forget the woes of Starliner with an audacious NASA landing on another planet that went very very right

Science12 Aug 2024 | 5

Curiosity rover is crushing it: Ran over a rock and found pure sulfur

An unexpected splash of yellow on the red planet

Science22 Jul 2024 | 22

Mars is slam-dunked by hundreds of basketball-sized meteorites every year

Impact studies crucial for accurately determining Red Planet's age

Science29 Jun 2024 | 19

Perseverance pays off as Mars rover's SHERLOC brought back from the brink

Bot's arm used to free instrument's dust cover and return to science

Science27 Jun 2024 | 12

Rosalind Franklin rover gets another shot at Mars after string of bad luck

Could 2030 bring touchdown at last?

Science17 May 2024 | 5

NASA plasma propulsion project promises Mars in a flash

System would also make it easier to transport much heavier spacecraft

Science02 May 2024 | 24

China to launch sample return mission to the far side of the Moon – maybe next week

And hatches 2030 plan to beat US for Mars rock retrieval

Science30 Apr 2024 | 19

Mars helicopter sends final message, but will keep collecting data

One last software update installed safely, reconfigured it as 'stationary testbed'

Science18 Apr 2024 | 21

NASA needs new ideas and tech to get Mars Sample Return mission off the ground

Current plans are too expensive and slow, meaning China could win race to score red rocks

Science16 Apr 2024 | 43

NASA's Mars Sample Return Program struggles to get off the drawing board

The tech just isn't ready and clunky collab with ESA isn't helping, auditor finds

Science04 Mar 2024 | 18

72 flights later and a rotor blade short, Mars chopper loses its fight with physics

Perseverance images show violent end to Ingenuity's final flight

Science26 Feb 2024 | 23

WATSON picks up slack on Mars for SHERLOC as Perseverance gadgets show age

The curious incident of the instrument cover on the Red Planet rover

Science15 Feb 2024 | 16

Save the Mars Sample Return mission, plead Congresscritters

Letter: Budget cuts will 'essentially cancel' daring multi vehicle project unless reversed

Science02 Feb 2024 | 19

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity will fly no more, but is still standing upright

In Memoriam for plucky robot that brushed off dead sensors and dust like they were nothing

Science26 Jan 2024 | 36

NASA lost contact with Mars helicopter Ingenuity, then managed to find it again

ESA makes its own discovery: the most water ever found on Mars

Science22 Jan 2024 | 18

It's been two decades since Spirit landed on the red sands of Mars

Decades, gone in a flash: Longlived mission was almost derailed by file system whoopsie

Science05 Jan 2024 | 9

ESA's Mars Express continues to avoid retirement home

Space Extenders II Another chunk of science, another mission extension. But probe is running on fumes

Science24 Dec 2023 | 34

Solar wind gave Mars a breather and its magnetosphere inflated

NASA's long-lived MAVEN probe was there taking notes

Science13 Dec 2023 | 8

NASA celebrates Perseverance Rover's 1000th Martian day with lakebed history lesson

As its companion helicopter plans its furthest flight yet

Science13 Dec 2023 | 17

Chinese boffins pitch quadcopter for Mars sample return mission

In the race for the Red Planet, NASA is falling behind

Science07 Dec 2023 | 14

That time a JPL engineer almost killed a Mars Rover before it left Earth

Forget Martian dust devils, it's the peril of the blue smoke you have to worry about

Science29 Nov 2023 | 54

Maverick Mars chopper has survived way past its warranty – now it's time for a sequel

With Ingenuity still on the Red Planet, engineers have the best of both worlds

Science23 Nov 2023 | 15

Bezos might beat Musk to Mars as NASA recruits Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket

Eyeing an August 2024 launch, if spacecraft is ready for its first mission

Science23 Nov 2023 | 24

AI chemist creates catalysts to make oxygen using Martian meteorites

Robotic process hunts down local extraterrestrial materials to aid supply of on-site fuel and oxygen

AI + ML14 Nov 2023 | 6

4,000 days of Curiosity: Rover still 'strong' despite worn joints, vision issues

Trundlebot has trundled 32km across 'punishingly cold environment bathed in dust and radiation'

Science07 Nov 2023 | 31

Mars' iron core surrounded by molten rock, seismic studies show

Two new pieces of research suggest center is smaller than previously thought

Science27 Oct 2023 | 6

Mars chilled for aeons, but stayed so stressed it gets crusty marsquakes

Multiple orbiters failed to find a crater matching rumble. Boffins now blame Red planet's internal problems

Science19 Oct 2023 | 7

Mars helicopter to try for new speed record on Thursday

57 flights past expected lifetime and still improving

Science12 Oct 2023 | 38

Elon Musk's ambitions for Starship soar high while reality waits on launchpad

Comment Monster rocket yet to trouble orbit, let alone the Red Planet

Science06 Oct 2023 | 86

Red Planet roommates have been stuck on 'Mars' together for 100 days

Simulation milestone coincides with NASA's 65th birthday – will it manage the real thing before its centenary?

Science04 Oct 2023 | 16

Perseverance rover sets a Martian speed record with software controls

347.7 meters in a day - humans could probably do better

Science27 Sep 2023 | 7

Researchers train an AI system to find extraterrestrial life

Machine learning model touted as ideal for finding LGMs on Mars, and beyond

Science27 Sep 2023 | 26

NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is in danger of never launching

Review board: Mega project is way over budget, needs cash, and senators want it axed

Science25 Sep 2023 | 22