Mars

SpaceX’s wild ride to the first commercial space taxi launch started with a dream of Mars and lots of failures. In late May, the California company will try to send two astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA.

People across the country are adapting to a work from home lifestyle, including the team running NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. Curiosity launched in November 2011 and landed on Mars in August 2012. It is part of the four rovers NASA has sent to reveal new discoveries on Mars since 1997. A fifth rover is set to launch this year. On…

NASA’s newest Mars lander has confirmed that quakes and even aftershocks are regularly jolting the red planet.

A dune formation found on Mars would seem — without knowing the story of dunes, lava and wind behind it — highly illogical. Many fans of the show “Star Trek” are noting one particular dune “footprint” looks curiously like the show’s logo. But scientists say this is just a coincidence. Here’s why: A long time ago, there were large crescent-shaped...

Starting Tuesday, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is posting the highs and lows online , along with wind speed and atmospheric pressure from the InSight lander.

NASA’s Opportunity, the Mars rover that was built to operate just three months but kept going and going, was pronounced dead Wednesday, 15 years after it landed on the red planet. The six-wheeled vehicle that helped gather critical evidence that ancient Mars might have been hospitable to life was remarkably spry up until eight months ago, when it was finally...

NASA’s seemingly unstoppable Mars rover Opportunity has been knocked out by a gigantic dust storm that is enveloping the red planet and blotting out the sun. Officials said Wednesday they’re hopeful the rover will survive the storm, which already covers one-quarter of Mars and is expected to encircle the planet in another few days. It could be weeks or even...

In an interstellar first, NASA plans to send a helicopter to Mars.

NASA has announced plans to send a helicopter to Mars.

NASA is about to go on a journey to study the interior of Mars. The space agency held a news conference today at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, detailing the next mission to the Red Planet.

Park rangers in the world’s top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast, are waging a campaign to protect national forests from the illegal farming of the raw ingredient in chocolate. Last year the governments of Ivory Coast and other top cocoa producer Ghana, along with food giants Nestle, Mars and Hershey, pledged to work together to end deforestation in the West African...

A new study suggests that dark streaks on Mars are signs of flowing sand — not water. Monday’s news throws cold water on 2015 research that indicated these recurring slope lines were signs of water currently on Mars. Instead, Arizona scientists said these lines appear more like dry, steep flows of sand, rather than water trickling downhill, at or near...

Professor Stephen Hawking, the former professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge and author of best-selling “A Brief History of Time,” said Sunday during a summit in China that the human species had 600 years to survive on planet Earth, NBC News reported. Hawking has publicly expressed additional fears about the future of artificial intelligence (AI), the need for...

Former Commander of the International Space Station Chris Hadfield speaks with NBC on the importance of space exploration, what being an astronaut taught him about perspective on Earth and why Pluto was kept in the solar system line-up for new space documentary “Miniverse.” The "Miniverse" documentary airs on new science and technology streaming service CuriosityStream.

Scientists reported Tuesday that the dark expanse is 15,000 miles across and 7,500 miles wide. It’s in the upper atmosphere and much cooler than the hot surroundings, thus the name Great Cold Spot. And unlike the giant planet’s familiar Great Red Spot, this newly discovered weather system is continually changing in shape and size. It’s formed by the energy from...

U.S. chocolate maker Mars says it’s recalling candy bars and other items in 55 countries after plastic was found in one of its products.