Mars Exploration News

CNN • Jackie Wattles

SpaceX Starship Test Flight 9 Breaks Up on Uncontrolled Reentry

SpaceX's ninth Starship test reached space on May 27 but suffered a loss of attitude control during atmospheric reentry, causing the booster to break apart and the spacecraft to tumble uncontrolled. The incident follows debris-related disruptions from earlier flights and underscores further hurdles for Starship's development toward lunar and Mars missions.

2025-05-27T16:45:41.810943-07:00

Reuters

China Launches Tianwen-2 Mission to Retrieve Asteroid and Comet Samples

2025-05-29T02:31:05.994368-07:00

Space Policy Online

SpaceX’s Starship has 50% chance of uncrewed Mars mission by end of 2026, Musk says

2025-05-29T18:52:01.367346-07:00

Wall Street Journal

Senate Republicans Move to Shield $10B for Artemis and ISS Amid NASA Cuts

2025-06-05T11:59:38.943807-07:00

Mars Exploration News Timeline

The Atlantic

NASA Redefines Astronaut Role, Eyes Explorers for Mars NASA is overhauling its astronaut selection criteria as it prepares for eventual crewed Mars missions, including the potential recruitment of professional explorers with expedition experience. The agency believes that traditional pilot-heavy crews may lack the specialized skills needed for autonomous, long‐duration surface operations on the Red Planet.

2025-06-17T05:15:01.175290-07:00

NASA Redefines Astronaut Role, Eyes Explorers for Mars

balerionspace.substack.com

SpaceX shifts focus to Starship, Mars and Jupiter moons as Altspace rises to fill LEO gap Having underpinned the new space economy, SpaceX is now shifting resources from Falcon 9 operations toward Starship, Mars missions and exploration of Jupiter’s moons. That pivot opens opportunities in low Earth orbit services, and orbital startup Altspace is positioning itself to capture emerging commercial demand.

2025-06-13T18:11:12.992120-07:00

SpaceX shifts focus to Starship, Mars and Jupiter moons as Altspace rises to fill LEO gap

New Scientist

Perseverance rover could date Mars’ newly identified Jezero Crater volcano Scientists have pinpointed a 2 km-high composite volcano on the rim of Jezero Crater, and NASA’s Perseverance rover may already have collected samples from its flows. Dating these materials could for the first time establish the timeline of volcanic activity on another planet, refining our understanding of Martian geologic history.

2025-06-13T10:15:44.183717-07:00

Perseverance rover could date Mars’ newly identified Jezero Crater volcano

Wall Street Journal

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Senate Republicans Move to Shield $10B for Artemis and ISS Amid NASA Cuts Senate GOP leaders are discussing directing roughly $10 billion to preserve funding for NASA’s Artemis lunar program and the International Space Station. The initiative is a direct response to White House budget proposals targeting deep reductions in NASA’s flagship human exploration missions.

2025-06-05T11:59:38.943807-07:00

Senate Republicans Move to Shield $10B for Artemis and ISS Amid NASA Cuts

Live Science

Solar 'Cannonballs' Directly Observed Stripping Mars’ Atmosphere, Study Finds After nearly a decade in orbit, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft has, for the first time, directly measured the solar wind–driven loss of atmospheric ions—so-called ‘solar cannonballs’—confirming a key mechanism responsible for Mars’ dramatic water and atmosphere depletion over billions of years.

2025-06-03T14:02:50.255498-07:00

Solar 'Cannonballs' Directly Observed Stripping Mars’ Atmosphere, Study Finds

Toronto Star

How to keep astronauts healthy in deep space Driven by the Artemis lunar program and future Mars missions, researchers are studying spaceflight’s impact on physiology — from microgravity-induced bone loss to radiation effects — to develop new medical countermeasures. These innovations have already yielded Earthside breakthroughs in diagnostics, drug delivery and rehabilitation.

2025-06-02T11:13:30.329625-07:00

How to keep astronauts healthy in deep space

IEEE

How NASA’s Sojourner and Its Sister Marie Curie Pioneered Mars Rover Exploration In 1997, NASA’s Sojourner rover became the first mobile explorer on Mars, transmitting images and chemical analyses that captivated millions on Earth. Its identical testbed, Marie Curie, remained on Earth to refine mission operations, together laying the technological and operational groundwork for every rover that followed.

2025-05-31T07:12:49.833377-07:00

How NASA’s Sojourner and Its Sister Marie Curie Pioneered Mars Rover Exploration

Space Policy Online

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SpaceX’s Starship has 50% chance of uncrewed Mars mission by end of 2026, Musk says Elon Musk told SpaceX employees he sees about a 50% chance that the company’s Starship will fly uncrewed to Mars by the end of 2026. His projection follows a string of recent Starship test-flight failures, underscoring the technical and production hurdles ahead.

2025-05-29T18:52:01.367346-07:00

SpaceX’s Starship has 50% chance of uncrewed Mars mission by end of 2026, Musk says

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Our Mars Exploration news feed is the go-to source for the latest discoveries, mission updates, and technological advancements related to the Red Planet. With a focus on the international efforts to explore Mars, from robotic rovers to plans for human colonization, our coverage tracks humanity's progress in uncovering the secrets of our celestial neighbor.