Mars

NASA rover finds three separate ancient water events in Mars crater

NASA's Perseverance rover has found that a stretch of rock along the rim of Mars' Jezero Crater was shaped by water on at least three separate occasions billions of years ago, revealing a far more complex history than scientists anticipated…

Mars samples may hold signs of life, but NASA has no plan to retrieve them

NASA's Perseverance rover has collected what scientists describe as the most compelling evidence to date that ancient microbial life may have once existed on Mars — but the rock samples sit millions of miles from any laboratory capable of confirming…

Mars’s southern interior is hundreds of degrees hotter than its north, study finds

Researchers have found that Mars's southern interior is 200 to 400 degrees Celsius warmer than its northern half and partially molten, a discovery that could reshape understanding of the planet's geological history and past habitability.

MIT finds oldest magnetic traces in solar system’s first meteorite dust

A Martian meteorite discovered in Algeria in 2019 has been confirmed as 1.27 billion years old, filling a nearly two-billion-year gap in the geologic record of Mars, according to a study published in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Separately,…

Japan sets Oct. 20 launch for first Mars moon sample mission

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on Wednesday that its Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) spacecraft will launch on October 20 aboard an H3 rocket, setting the stage for what would be the first mission to collect and return samples…

NASA prices nuclear Mars mission at $2.1 billion

NASA has submitted a preliminary cost estimate of approximately $2.1 billion to Congress for Space Reactor-1 Freedom, the agency's first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft, according to documents outlining spending plans across fiscal years 2026 through 2029. The mission, championed by Administrator…

Mars harbored vast Earth-like magma systems, study finds

A study published in Nature Astronomy on June 26 reveals that Mars once harbored vast, interconnected magmatic systems comparable to those found beneath Earth's surface — despite the Red Planet lacking the tectonic plates long considered a prerequisite for such…

Perseverance finds most robust organic carbon yet in Mars crater

NASA's Perseverance rover has detected macromolecular carbon within mudstones at Mars' Jezero crater, a finding researchers describe as the most robust organic detection in the area to date and the first identification of such complex carbon on an unprepared natural…

Largest Mars meteorite on Earth could fetch $4M at auction

A 54-pound chunk of Mars, the largest piece of the red planet ever discovered on Earth, will go under the hammer at Sotheby's New York on July 16 with an estimated price tag of up to $4 million. The meteorite,…