Mars Life Explorer: The search for extant lif...

The Los Angeles Astronomical Society (LAAS) is one of the oldest and largest amateur astronomy clubs in the United States, and this year, it’s turning 100. To mark the occasion, the LAAS threw a centennial star party on the lawn of Griffith Observatory, featuring 100 telescopes, ...  Show more

NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars' Gale Crater for over a decade. A new analysis of samples collected there reveals something remarkable: more than 20 different organic molecules preserved in ancient rock, including the first detection of a nitrogen-bearing heterocyc ...  Show more

Space-settling enthusiasts have long had an eye on Mars, and now they have the backing of the world’s richest man. Elon Musk recently claimed that humans could be on the planet by 2030 and be living there in a self-sustaining city within 20 years. But is it really that simple? Ma ...  Show more

NASA found a Martian rock that might have traces of ancient life. It's perhaps the most tantalizing revelation in the century-long search for Martian life. (Updated from 2022) Guests: Katie Stack Morgan, project scientist for the Perseverance rover; Lindsay Hays, astrobiologist a ...  Show more

Astronauts on a future mission to Mars will face many challenges, including three years in a tiny spacecraft and a Mars habitat, with just a few other crew members and a 22-minute delay for any communication back to Earth. Psychologist Suzanne Bell, PhD, head of NASA’s Behavioral ...  Show more

Oct 27, 1972. The planet Mars has many victims. Specifically, spacecraft. There have been so many failed missions to Mars, that scientists are rumbling about a "Mars Curse". But one mission is defying the odds.Mariner 9, an American space probe, has been orbiting Mars for the las ...  Show more