Thursday, August 18, 2011 - 3:02pm
Oh no you didn't, Europe! The European Space Agency is partnering with Russia's Roskosmos for a mission to Mars, and the pair aim to be the first to reach the Red Planet. Space Race 2.0, anyone?
MARS stories
Thursday, August 4, 2011 - 12:18pm
We've known for a while now that there's water ice on Mars, and we've seen lots of tantalizing suggestions that liquid water may have once existed on the surface in huge rivers and oceans. Today, NASA announced that for the first time, they may have actually spotted some flowing, liquid water, and here are the pics to prove it.
Friday, July 22, 2011 - 10:44am
Today, NASA announced the selection of the landing site for Curiosity, our newest and fanciest Mars rover. The robot will be heading to Gale crater, which scientists think might have been a giant lake, and where there was a giant Martian lake, there just might have been slightly less giant Martian fish.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - 2:31pm
After one intrepid Google Mars user reported spotting a structure on the surface of Mars, the Internet at large took it way too seriously, as the Internet is wont to do. But someone actually bothered to ask the guy in charge of one of the telescopic cameras currently orbiting Mars what the deal is, and his take probably won't surprise you. Or maybe it will.
Thursday, June 2, 2011 - 11:21am
Think camping out in the great outdoors and earning all those badges in the Boy or Girl Scouts was impressive? Try pitching a tent on Mars and setting up a Sabatier reactor for producing water, fuel and oxygen to survive Mars' CO2 landscape.
Monday, April 25, 2011 - 3:17pm
In just the past week, Congress has introduced a bill directing NASA to put a manned base on the moon by 2022, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said that he'll be sending humans to Mars in a little as 10 years. But can it happen, and do we even want it to?
Thursday, March 24, 2011 - 2:08pm
Yesterday, we brought you up to date on the new Orion spacecraft, which is designed to take manned spaceflight into the next few decades. Lockheed Martin has big plans for their capsule, and wants to use it to send humans to asteroids, the moon, and ultimately Mars.
Monday, February 14, 2011 - 10:44am
After more than 250 long days in a wood-paneled approximation of a spaceship headed toward the Red Planet, the six-man crew of Mars500 has finally reached their goal: touching down on Mars. Even though this "Mars" is really just a sandbox in a suburb, one team member still saw the sight as inspiring.
Friday, February 11, 2011 - 2:47pm
Getting to Mars is going to involve building a huge spacecraft and loading it up with tons of fuel and radiation shielding. Unless, that is, we could just tag along with a spacecraft that's already headed in that direction, like an asteroid.
Friday, January 21, 2011 - 1:31pm
It sounds crazy, but 233 days ago a team of six scientists entered a sealed simulator in Russia. Their mission? Recreate the conditions of a 520-day round trip to and from Mars, realistically cutoff from the rest of the world. Come February they'll finally reach the Red Planet, but the hardest part of the journey will still be ahead.
