Mars

NASA has made history today, conducting the very first powered flight on another planet. The Mars Helicopter Ingenuity successfully took to the Red Planet skies for a brief jaunt, which will hopefully be the first of several.

NASA's Ingenuity robotic helicopter has survived its first night on the surface of Mars. After being deployed on Martian soil, the miniature rotorcraft had to keep itself warm through the night for the first time using only its internal power.

NASA says its Ingenuity Mars helicopter will make its first flight on the Red Planet on April 8 or later, depending on weather conditions and preflight tests. If successful, it will be will the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.

We’ve seen images of Mars for decades, but now NASA has released the first audio clips recorded on the Red Planet. The Perseverance playlist includes sounds of Martian wind, a laser zapping rocks, and the crunch of gravel under the rover’s wheels.

A growing body of evidence points to the Red Planet being much bluer in its ancient past. Where all that water went is a key question, with many scientists believing it escaped into space. New analysis suggests another answer: it retreated underground.

New two-dimensional nanomaterials called MXenes that are being examined by the Missouri University of Science and Technology may lead to new superlubricants that could better protect the delicate moving parts of future Mars rovers.

NASA has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract worth up to US$84.5 million to help develop the Mars Ascent Propulsion System, which will be used as part of a plan to return samples collected by the Perseverance rover to Earth.

NASA has released the first HD, 360-degree panorama from the Perseverance rover's mast-mounted cameras. The composite image is the first of many that the rover will take as it unravels the secrets still harbored by the Red Planet.

NASA has released a new video that includes historic color, high-resolution footage from multiple cameras on the Mars 2020 spacecraft as it delivered the Perseverance rover to the surface of the Red Planet last week.

NASA has released the first high-resolution images sent back by the Perseverance Mars rover, including a dramatic picture taken by the Sky Crane landing vehicle of it just before touching down on the Red Planet.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has safely landed on the Red Planet. The robotic explorer touched down in the Jezero Crater at 3:55 pm EST after a dramatic seven-minute descent, marking the beginning of the most ambitious interplanetary mission yet.

A team of astrobiologists at the University of Bremen's Center of Applied Space Technology (ZARM) has grown cyanobacterium at low pressure using only Martian materials, demonstrating future astronauts could grow their own food on the Red Planet.