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NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter On the Mend After Glitch

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) put itself into a precautionary "safe mode" March 7, but the venerable spacecraft is now on the mend, agency officials say. MRO switched over to safe mode after unexpectedly swapping from one main computer to another, NASA officials said March 11. As a result of the glitch, science operations have been suspended, and the probe is not relaying data from the space agency's two active Mars rovers back to Earth at the moment.

NASA Eyes Asteroids, Mars and Europa With $17.5 Billion Budget


Humans on Mars: Who Will Be First?


NASA Discovers New Evidence to Suggest Water On Mars


How Scientists Plan to Farm on Mars


'Jelly Doughnut' Mars Rock Was Not Created by a Meteorite

New photos of the Martian landscape further rule out a meteorite impact as the culprit behind the "jelly doughnut" rock that mysteriously appeared in front of one of NASA's Mars rovers last month. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped pictures as it flew above the Opportunity rover on Feb. 14, and this week, the space agency released a photo from that flyover campaign.

New NASA Photos Point to Water on Mars


Curiosity Rover's First Photo of Earth From Mars


The Stray Rover on the Far Side of Mars


Mysterious Mars Rock Looks Like Jelly Doughnut


Manned Mission to Mars by 2030s Is Doable but Depends on Budget


World's Space Agencies Plan Future Joint Manned Mars Mission


1,058 People Are Serious About Living on Mars Until They Die

In its highly publicized search to find people for a private manned mission to the Red Planet, Mars One has winnowed down its applicant pool of 200,000 to 1,058 candidates -- all of whom are serious about living out out the rest of their lives on another planet. Headed up by Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, Mars One, which claims to be a non-profit entity, plans to launch a one-way mission to Mars.

Mars Curiosity Rover Lego Model to Launch on New Year's Day


NASA Plans to Put an 'Iron Man' Robot on Mars

At 6'2", 275 pounds, NASA's latest robot look like a decent football player, but Valkyrie could be earmarked for another human profession -- astronaut. The android -- which was built to be a search-and-rescue bot -- comes with sonar equipment, cameras embedded from head to feet and a giant backpack battery. Its arms, legs and hips aren't as flexible as a person's, but it moves in a similar fashion, which could be important for studying the limits of human motion on Mars.

Mars One Plans First Private Robotic Mission to the Red Planet


Radiation Exposure Won't Stop a Manned Mission to Mars


Curiosity Rover Finds Ancient Life-Supporting Lakebed on Mars


Zap! NASA's Curiosity Rover Fires 100,000th Laser Shot on Mars

NASA's trigger-happy Curiosity rover has fired its 100,000th laser shot on Mars, a science milestone in its mission to determine what rocks on the Red Planet are made of, NASA announced Thursday. Each laser pulse shot by the Curiosity rover packs the power of nearly 1 million light bulbs — strong enough to vaporize rock and dust from up to 30 feet away.

Strange Greenhouse Gas Warmed Ancient Mars

At first glance, Mars' 500-mile-long Nanedi Valles looks like the Grand Canyon, with its steep-sided walls and plunging crevasses, two features that indicate a history of water. However, the Mars we know today is one of freezing temperatures, arid conditions and, most importantly, a paper-thin atmosphere -- all combined to create a hostile environment seemingly defiant of any life at all, let alone water.

4.4-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Is First-Known Piece of Martian Crust

A 4.4-billion-year-old meteorite may be the first-known example of ancient Martian crust, and it could hold key plot points in the planet's storied history. Bedouin tribesmen found the rock, nicknamed "Black Beauty," in the Sahara Desert. Scientists first studied the rock in February and initially estimated that it was about 2 billion years old. However, Florida State University Professor Munir Humayun and his team performed more complex experiments on a 3-pound sample and found it was much older.

NASA Animation Shows What Mars Looked Like Billions of Years Ago

A new animation by NASA Goddard's Conceptual Image Lab shows that four billion years ago, Mars may have looked much more similar to Earth than the barren, desert-like Mars we know today. The animation is based on previous NASA findings of mineral presence and patterns inside craters that suggests there was once water flowing on our solar system neighbor.

LeVar Burton Video Is the Best Explanation of a Mars Mission Yet

The idea of going to Mars is exciting. The reality? Usually, outside of thrilling moments such as the seven seconds of terror that landed the Curiosity Rover on Mars and turned a mohawk-wearing mission controller into a social media superstar, not so much. Full marks to NASA, then, for this video introducing Maven.