Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars has confirmed the successful collection of its first rock sample.“One down, a lot more to go!” Kenneth A. Farley, professor of geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology and the mission’s…

The rock appeared exactly where it should have been - captured in the drill bit of NASA's newest Mars rover, Perseverance.After a baffling failure last month, NASA's newest Mars rover, Perseverance, successfully collected a rock sample on…

The fate of almost everything on Earth’s surface is determined by infernal engines deep below. Mars is no different. Now, thanks to an intrepid robot parked on the Martian surface by NASA in November 2018, scientists have a map of our…

When a barrage of charged protons and electrons approaches us from the sun, the earth's magnetic field cleverly steers them around the planet. This flutter creates shimmering, glowing curtains of color known as the Aurora Borealis in the…

China's April launch of the main module for its newest orbiting space station attracted more international attention than expected for all the wrong reasons. After reaching orbit, the main rocket booster crashed threateningly back to Earth…

The United States now has company on Mars.A Chinese spaceship descended through the thin Martian atmosphere and landed safely on a large plain on Saturday morning, state media reported, and achieved an achievement only two other nations had…

This time NASA's Mars robotic helicopter Ingenuity did not return.That was intentional.On Friday, Ingenuity, which last month became the first machine to fly like an airplane or a helicopter on another world, took off for the fifth time.…

Ingenuity, NASA's little Mars helicopter that could still fly, will be able to fly even more.A week and a half ago, the little flying robot made history as the first powered airplane to take off from another world. On Friday the fourth…

NASA's Mars helicopter soared again, went faster, and on its third journey through the blurry air of Mars covered a total distance about the length of an American football field.Like the first two flights, the small experimental flying…

Early Monday, a robotic helicopter that NASA sent to Mars will attempt to soar a few meters in the air, hover, and come back down. With that simple feat, it would be the first machine to fly through the blurry air of the red planet. NASA…