A rare Martian meteorite discovered in the Sahara desert is helping scientists bridge a nearly two-billion-year gap in the Red Planet’s geological history, according to research published in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Designated Northwest Africa (NWA) 13441, the 0.03-ounce sample was found in Algeria in 2019 and dates back 1.27 billion years, offering … Read more
China is pressing ahead with its Mars sample-return mission by constructing a planetary protection facility in Hefei’s Deep-Space Science City, according to the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL). Scheduled for launch around 2028 under the Tianwen-3 mission roadmap released by the China National Space Administration, the spacecraft aims to collect and return Martian samples to … Read more
NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered honeycomb-like polygonal fractures in Mars’ Gale Crater in August, providing new evidence of the planet’s watery past. These textures, measuring 1.5 to 3 inches wide, suggest ancient cycles of temperature change or sediment compression that squeezed water from the surface, according to NASA. Polygonal Fractures and the Geology of Gale Crater … Read more
NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered an extensive stone honeycomb network of tiny polygonal ridges spanning Mount Sharp inside Mars’ Gale Crater, according to Ashwin Vasavada, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The discovery, documented after the rover drove into the terrain in June 2026, could help researchers determine how long water remained on the … Read more
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft captured imagery of Mars during a gravity-assist maneuver, providing scientists with rare views of the planet’s southern highlands. The probe, currently en route to a metal-rich asteroid, utilized the planet’s gravitational pull to adjust its trajectory for a 2029 rendezvous, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Imaging Mars During the Psyche Gravity … Read more
NASA’s Perseverance rover has identified organic carbon structures within sedimentary rocks in Mars’s Jezero Crater, providing evidence of a past environment capable of supporting microbial life. According to NASA, these potential biosignatures were found in mudstone dating back 3.2 to 3.8 billion years, a window when the crater was submerged under a now-evaporated water body. … Read more
July features several rare astronomical events, including a Mars-Uranus conjunction on July 4 and Earth reaching aphelion on July 6. Stargazers can also observe lunar conjunctions with Saturn, Mars, and Venus, followed by a full moon and Jupiter’s solar conjunction on July 29, according to astronomical data from NASA and the College of Southern Idaho. … Read more
NASA’s Perseverance rover officially surpassed 26.2 miles of travel on the Martian surface on June 14, 2026, reaching the distance of a full marathon in five years and four months. Data confirms the rover reached this milestone on its 1,890th sol, outpacing the 11 years and two months taken by the Opportunity rover. How Does … Read more
NASA engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have successfully tested ERNEST, a prototype rover capable of autonomous navigation over extreme, rugged terrain. During a 37-hour field campaign in the California desert, the four-wheeled vehicle covered 16 miles by utilizing advanced reinforcement learning and a flexible suspension system, according to NASA. This mobility platform is … Read more
Researchers have identified garnet in the Martian meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 8171, marking the first time the mineral has been confirmed in samples from the Red Planet. According to the study published in Geochemical Perspectives Letters, this discovery provides a new geological record of the extreme temperatures and pressures that shaped Mars billions of years … Read more