The Mars Sample Return Mission Is at a Dangerous Crossroads
Mars Sample Return has always been an expensive, high-risk, high-reward project. But now, with realization of the mission’s actual cost and expanding timeline, Congress must commit to fully supporting the effort or risk tanking the rest of NASA’s planetary science program
Subterranean ‘Microbial Dark Matter’ Reveals a Strange Dichotomy
The genes of microbes living as deep as 1.5 kilometers below the surface reveal a split between minimalist and maximalist lifestyles
Read all the stories you want.
NASA Lab’s Workforce Woes Threaten Major Space Missions
A brain drain from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory could pose problems for the space agency’s ambitious science plans
Mars Can Wait. Questions Surround Settlements on Other Worlds
Establishing a permanent Mars settlement in the foreseeable future makes little sense. The weakest reason for doing it is also the strongest—and not in a good way
SpaceX Starship’s Second Flight Was an Explosive Milestone
SpaceX’s Starship—the most powerful rocket ever built—experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” in its otherwise successful second full-scale launch, triggering a federal investigation into what went wrong
Mars Has a Surprise Layer of Molten Rock Inside
Fresh investigations find that the Red Planet’s liquid-metal core is smaller than scientists thought
Here’s How to Bring Mars Down to Earth: Let NASA Do What NASA Does Best
Increasing NASA’s budget would ease pressure and allow it to dream even bigger
‘Monster Quake’ Hints at Mysterious Source within Mars
Images from each and every spacecraft now orbiting Mars have ruled out a meteorite strike as the cause of a 4.7-magnitude marsquake, the strongest temblor ever detected beyond Earth
Bringing Mars Rocks to Earth Could Cost an Astronomical $11 Billion
NASA’s Perseverance rover has collected valuable samples, but a new report says the plan to fetch them is unworkable
Mars Sample-Return Missions Could Reduce Tensions with China on Earth
The U.S. may not beat China at retrieving Martian rocks first, according to an independent review board’s conclusion. But the U.S. can still lead with an exchange of samples here on Earth
This Is How the First-Ever U.S. Asteroid Sample Return Will Unfold
Scientists are gearing up for a high-stakes finale to OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. mission to snare a sample from an asteroid
Musk and Bezos Offer Humanity a Grim Future in Space Colonies
Privately owned space colonies are more likely to be totalitarian nightmares than libertarian utopias