Recycling Space Junk for Missions to Mars

The growing space debris problem may have a flip side: What if we could recycle the junk for components of a mission to the Red Planet?

ExoMars orbiter safely arrives at Mars, lander's fate uncertain

Live coverage of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli lander arriving at Mars.

Schiaparelli Lander Prepares for Touchdown on Mars

If successful, the October 19th landing would be a historic first for Europe

Mars Explorers. Must Be Able To Tolerate Boredom And Play Nice With Others

In December, NASA put out a call for adventurers interested in interplanetary exploration. A vast pool of applications will be cut to 120 finalists, who will vie to become part of NASA’s next class of eight to 12 astronauts.

SpaceX Wants to Venture Much Further Out Into the Solar System

Elon Musk finally revealed his plans for a mission to Mars today. But a new set of images from SpaceX show the Interplanetary Transport System going even further in the solar system than the Red Planet.

Year-Long Simulation of Humans Living on Mars Comes To an End

One year ago, six volunteers entered a 36-by-20 foot dome, located near a barren volcano in Hawaii, to simulate what living conditions would be like on Mars. Today they re-emerged from their year-long isolation.

Future astronauts can take a virtual reality bus tour of Mars

The astronauts who will one day be the first to walk on Mars are likely middle school students today. A virtual reality tour of Mars is done on a retrofitted school bus outside the Denver Museum of Nature, USA

This Is Where Europe's Upcoming Rover Mission Will Explore Mars

In October, the joint ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars 2016 mission will land the Schiaparelli rover on the Red Planet. Here's where the probe is scheduled to land, and why researchers chose this particular area.

The most powerful camera in deep space just sent 1,000 more pics back to Earth

Tucked aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, HiRISE has a telescope aperture of 0.5 meter, making it the most powerful camera ever sent into deep space, with a maximum resolution of about 0.3 meter/pixel.

Curiosity 2.0: This Is NASA's Next Mars Rover

The Mars 2020 mission will look a lot like NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, but will feature some impressive tools to track down ancient life and do some important groundwork ahead of a future human mission.

Ancient Mars could have been more like Earth than we thought

The Curiosity Rover discovered manganese oxides on the red planet. The seemingly simple find actually has mind-boggling implications: ancient Mars could have been a lot more like Earth than we thought.

Four plants grown in Mars-like soil are officially declared edible

Wageningen University scientists determined four of the crops they cultivated in Mars-like soil are in fact edible.

Valkyrie Robots Paving Way for NASA Mars Mission

Four sister robots built by NASA could be pioneers in the colonization of Mars, but first the 2-million-dollar robots are finding new homes on Earth.

SpaceX Plans Mars Missions As Soon As 2018

The bold announcement from private spaceflight company occurred on April 27th, 2016 via their social feeds. They plan on launching the 'Red Dragon' spacecrafts atop Falcon 9 Heavy rockets, that are still under development.

NASA's 'Spaceport of the Future' Reaches Another Milestone

NASA has completed a major milestone on its journey to Mars and is ready to begin another phase of work on its spaceport of the future, where the next generation of astronauts will launch to Mars and other deep-space destinations.