NASA proposes a faster, cheaper plan to bring Mars samples to Earth, aiming for delivery by the 2030s while cutting costs significantly.

Two new potential strategies for returning crucial samples from Mars to Earth by the 2030s are now on the table, according to NASA. The proposals present alternatives to the original Mars Sample Return program. Designed by NASA and the European Space ...

An exploding budget and an unraveling schedule spell disappointment for NASA's mission to learn more about Mars's history.

While SpaceX lost the upper stage of its new Starship in a flight test, the futuristic spacecraft presages a spaceflight revolution, says a leading U.S. space scholar.

We have long been inspired by the idea that life could reside on Mars – human or otherwise. But fiction is getting closer to reality, says NASA’s former chief scientist, Jim Green. “NASA’s plan, in the long run,

NASA's mission to return samples from Mars and potentially discover the first signs of alien life has a new timeline. The samples may arrive sooner.

NASA hopes a revised plan will get Mars samples back to Earth faster and cost less than the agency's original plan.

NASA recently deemed this situation unacceptable. In April 2024, agency chief Bill Nelson announced that an overhaul of the MSR strategy is in the works, saying that NASA will seek innovative new ideas from its research centers, private industry and academia.

Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will appear to line up and be bright enough to see with the naked eye in the first few hours after dark. This weekend, Venus and Saturn get especially cozy.

NASA announced Tuesday that it is exploring two options to move forward with its mission to return samples from Mars at a lower cost.

The Perseverance rover has been collecting Martian rock samples since 2021, but NASA is still figuring out how to bring them back to Earth.

NASA has announced two new approaches to the Mars sample return mission that could save billions of dollars and at least a year in the timeline.