Sending anything to Mars is a much more difficult process than it seems. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union tried (and failed) in its first nine consecutive attempts, and the US was only able to succeed ...

On March 27, 1989, the Soviet Union's Phobos 2 mission to Mars' moons ended in failure. But the whole mission was definitely not a failure. Phobos 2 arrived in Mars orbit two months earlier and had ...

The search for past or present life should be the top science objective of future human missions to Mars, a new National Academies report concludes.

In the last two years alone, Hollywood has produced three major sci-fi space movies—and two of them star Matt Damon. The Martian, though, stands out from its predecessors in two ways: protagonist Mark ...

If you were to stand on the surface of Mars in two years and look up to the night sky, you might see a bright streak flying across the heavens, followed a few minutes later by another. Rather than ...