Sometimes, the best innovative ideas come from synthesizing two previous ones. We've reported before on the idea of having a ...

The Mars Sample Return mission has been ranked as the highest priority by planetary scientists, who hope to find signs of ancient life on Mars.

This photomontage shows tubes containing samples from Mars, as collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars ... It will also use a nuclear power system instead of solar panels, which should simplify ...

A core of a Martian rock about the size of a piece of chalk within a Perseverance rover drill ... The platform’s solar panels would be swapped for a radioisotope power system that can provide ...

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson left a final decision on a new mission architecture to the next NASA administrator working under the incoming Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump ...

NASA's Perseverance rover has collected a unique rock sample named 'Silver Mountain' from Mars' Jezero Crater, marking a significant milestone. This sample is sealed in a titanium tube for return to ...

The Mars Sample ... include switching from solar panels to a radioactive heat source to provide power, and simplifying the system for moving the rock samples from Perseverance to the rocket ...

Option one would use the same "sky crane" landing system proven with NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers ... instead of solar panels, making the craft immune to sunlight-blocking ...

The green spots are thou... NASA's Perseverance rover recently captured a stunning solar eclipse on Mars, showcasing the moon Phobos as it partially blocked the sun. This remarkable event ...

NASA leadership announced Jan. 7 that it would pursue studies of two architectures for its Mars Sample Return effort that would take samples currently being collected by the Perseverance rover and ...