Researchers are studying whether a wonder material used in Mars rovers could help warm parts of the Red Planet rich in water ice. […]

Working like a finely honed machine, a team of engineers in this time-lapse video clip install test wheels on another finely honed machine: NASA's Mars 2020 rover. […]

With its rock-zapping laser, the SuperCam will enable the science team to identify the chemical and mineral makeup of its targets on the Red Planet. […]

The main robotic arm has been installed on NASA's newest rover. When complete, the arm will enable the rover to hold and use science tools like a human geologist would. […]

The contest for U.S. schoolchildren will open in fall 2019, but judges can sign up now. […]

New research suggest that regions of the Martian surface could be made habitable with a material -- silica aerogel -- that mimics Earth's atmospheric greenhouse effect. Through modeling and experiments, the researchers show that a 2- to 3-centimeter-thick shield of silica aerogel could transmit enough visible light for photosynthesis, block hazardous ultraviolet radiation, and raise temperatures underneath permanently above the melting point of water, all without the need for any internal heat […]

Wind-driven erosion of minerals on Mars may be the reason why methane disappears so rapidly on the red planet. Saltation causes electrical charges, that can oxidize minerals and ionize gases like methane, making the ionized methane bond to the minerals. That is the explanation proposed by an interdisciplinary research group, based on laboratory experiments in a Mars-like environment. […]

Researchers think they've solved the long-standing mystery of how Mars got all of its clouds. […]

A rover scanning the surface of Mars for evidence of life might want to check for rocks that look like pasta, researchers report. The bacterium that controls the formation of such rocks on Earth is ancient and thrives in harsh environments that are similar to conditions on Mars, said a geology professor. […]

In the most detailed analysis of how sands move around on Mars, a team of planetary scientists has found that processes not involved in controlling sand movement on Earth play major roles on Mars. […]

People have long dreamed of re-shaping the Martian climate to make it livable for humans. Carl Sagan was the first outside of the realm of science fiction to propose terraforming. In a 1971 paper, Sagan suggested that vaporizing the northern polar ice caps would "yield ~10 s g cm-2 of atmosphere over the planet, higher global temperatures through the greenhouse effect, and a greatly increased likelihood of liquid water." […]

Photos taken by the Mars Curiosity rover may show a desolate rocky landscape to some, but to Penn State researcher Christopher House, the photos show potential for ancient life. […]

When the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission returned to Earth, they had almost 22 kilograms of rock from the surface of the moon in their baggage. Josef Zähringer from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg was one of the first researchers allowed to analyze the material in the US. Two months later, Heinrich Wänke's team at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz also received a grain. […]

In recent years, the idea of life on other planets has become less far-fetched. NASA announced June 27 that it will send a vehicle to Saturn's icy moon Titan, a celestial body known to harbor surface lakes of methane and an ice-covered ocean of water, boosting its chance for supporting life. […]

Exhibit 0102.226 may look like just a rock, but this dark and patchy mass is actually a piece of Mars, ejected when an asteroid or comet struck the Red Planet and sent chunks flying towards Earth. […]