Drone radar could help spacecraft pinpoint where to drill for water on Mars, scientists say

Drone-mounted radar flown over glaciers on Earth show how the technology can map buried ice in detail, helping future Mars spacecraft choose exactly where to drill.

Is it cake? No, it’s a parachute! | Space photo of the day for May 1, 2026

In this donut-shaped bag is a massive parachute. Next stop? Mars.

NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers capture sweeping Mars panoramas (video)

New panoramic views from NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers reveal dramatically different Martian terrains shaped by ancient water and billions of years of geological change.

NASA’s Perseverance, Curiosity Panoramas Capture Two Sides of Mars
NASA’s Perseverance, Curiosity Panoramas Capture Two Sides of Mars

NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers have captured two 360-degree landscapes that highlight how the missions are revealing details of the Red Planet’s formation, watery past, and potential for life. Located 2,345 miles (3,775 kilometers) apart from each other on Mars — about the distance from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. — both rovers are exploring […]

Ice melts in the springtime on Mars | Space photo of the day for April 24, 2026

Springtime has arrived at the Red Planet’s Chasma Boreale, as this photo by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows.

Ancient volcanic ash seen blowing across Mars in new spacecraft images

New images from the Mars Express spacecraft show ancient volcanic ash spreading across the Red Planet.

Japan’s audacious sample-return mission to the Mars moon Phobos has made it to the launch pad

The complex MMX mission aims to shed light on the origins of Mars’ two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, bringing Phobos material back to Earth in 2031.

NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars
NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars

After years of lab work, the results are in: A rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drilled and analyzed in 2020 includes the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on the Red Planet. Of the 21 carbon-containing molecules identified in the sample, seven of them were detected for the first time on Mars. […]

NASA’s Curiosity rover finds building blocks of life on Mars. Scientists aren’t sure how they got there

NASA’s Curiosity rover has found a diverse mix of organic molecules on Mars, including chemicals considered building blocks for the origin of life on Earth.

Scientists found a ‘bathtub ring’ on Mars. Could it be evidence of an ancient Red Planet ocean?

A huge geological structure on Mars resembling a bathtub ring may be evidence of an ocean that once covered a third of the Red Planet.