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Inferred paleolake level inside Mars’ Jezero Crater at the time of Kodiak sediment deposition. The red star indicates theOctavia E. Butler (OEB) landing site of NASA’s Perseverance rover. Background from the Context Camera (CTX) mosaic.

Perseverance rover confirms existence of ancient Mars lake and river delta

By Mike Wall

Photos snapped by Perseverance show that Jezero Crater did indeed host a large river-fed lake in the ancient past.

Mars as seen from orbit by NASA’s Viking mission.

Mars: What we know about the Red Planet

By Charles Q. Choi

Learn about planet Mars’ atmosphere, water supply and the possibility to support life, plus findings from the various Mars rover missions.

Artist's illustration of a Mars with Earth-like surface water. The Red Planet was a wet world in the ancient past.

Mars was always too small to hold onto its oceans, rivers and lakes

By Mike Wall

Mars was doomed to desiccation by its small size, a new study suggests.

An image taken by the Perseverance rover on Mars shows a rock called Rochette with holes where the rover obtained its first two samples.

NASA's Perseverance rover has taken the 1st steps in decades-long dream of Mars sample return

By Meghan Bartels

NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars has begun its out-of-this-world rock collection.

NASA's Perseverance rover has collected two drilled-out samples from this Red Planet rock, which the mission team calls "Rochette."

Perseverance rover collects 2nd Mars sample (photos)

By Mike Wall

Perseverance collected another drilled-out core of a Martian rock dubbed "Rochette," sealing the sample in its designated titanium tube on Wednesday (Sept. 8).

This composite of two images shows the hole drilled by NASA's Perseverance rover into a rock dubbed “Rochette” during its second sample-collection attempt. The photos were obtained by one of the rover's navigation cameras on Sept. 1, 2021.

NASA's Perseverance rover getting ready to snag 2nd Mars sample

By Mike Wall

Perseverance sealed up a drilled-out core of a Red Planet rock dubbed "Rochette" over the weekend. The mission team aims to replicate that success soon, putting poor Rochette to the drill again.

This sealed titanium sampling tube contains the first sample ever collected by NASA's Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars. The photo was captured by Perseverance's Sampling and Caching System Camera, or CacheCam.

Perseverance rover seals up 1st Mars sample for future return to Earth

By Mike Wall

It's official: NASA's Perseverance rover has collected its first-ever Mars sample.

This image, captured by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover on Sept. 1, 2021, shows a cored sample in one of the robot's sampling tubes. Mission team members think the sample was retained but will take a few more photos to make sure.

NASA's Perseverance rover drills 1st Mars rock sample for an (eventual) return to Earth

By Mike Wall

Perseverance has likely snagged its first-ever Red Planet sample, socking away a drilled-out core of a rock dubbed "Rochette."

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover acquired this image of the rock “Rochette” on Aug. 27, 2021. A circular abrasion made by Perseverance as part of its Rochette-vetting process is clearly visible.

Mars rover Perseverance set for 2nd sample-collection attempt (photo)

By Mike Wall

NASA's Perseverance rover is on track to collect its first-ever Mars sample in the next few days.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover will soon abrade the rock at the center of this image, dubbed “Rochette,” allowing scientists and engineers to assess whether it would hold up to the rover's more powerful sampling drill.

Perseverance Mars rover gearing up for 2nd rock sampling attempt (photos)

By Mike Wall

Perseverance could drill and sample a rock target dubbed 'Rochette' as early as next week.

Artist's illustration of the view from the seas of a potentially habitable "Hycean" exoplanet.

Alien life could thrive on big 'Hycean' exoplanets

By Mike Wall

The search for alien life should broaden its horizons a bit, a new study suggests.

A still from a U.S. Navy video of a UFO sighting.

The new reality of UFOs: An interview with journalist Leslie Kean

By Leonard David

Space.com recently caught up with author and journalist Leslie Kean to discuss UFOs and where research into the puzzling objects is heading.

This image taken by one the hazard cameras aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover on Aug. 6, 2021, shows the hole drilled in what the rover science team calls a “paver rock” in preparation for the mission’s first attempt to collect a sample from Mars.

NASA's 1st attempt to collect Mars samples with Perseverance rover comes up empty

By Mike Wall

Perseverance drilled its first sample-collecting hole on Friday (Aug. 6), but data beamed back to Earth by the rover indicate that no Mars rock or dirt made it into the sampling tube.

NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars' Gale Crater since touching down on its floor in August 2012.

Giant ancient lake in Gale Crater on Mars? New study offers different view.

By Mike Wall

Mars' Gale Crater may not have been so wet after all, a new study suggests.

An artist's depiction of L 98-59b, an exoplanet scientists have measured to have half the mass of Venus.

'Peas in a pod' planetary system offers nearby gems to scientists

By Meghan Bartels

When a rocky planet half the size of Venus, an ocean world, and perhaps a planet that could host liquid water on its surface all show up orbiting the same star, astronomers take notice.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used two different cameras to create this selfie in front of a rock outcrop named Mont Mercou, which stands 20 feet (6 meters) tall.

9 years on Mars! Curiosity rover marks another anniversary

By Mike Wall

Since touching down on Aug. 5, 2012, Curiosity has been helping scientists better understand Mars' past habitability and how the planet has changed over time.

“My first rock sampling location is just ahead. This spot will be my ‘office’ for the next week or two,” team members on NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance mission wrote about this photo, which they posted on Twitter on July 29, 2021.

1 year after launch, NASA's Perseverance rover prepares to collect 1st sample on Mars

By Mike Wall

It's been quite an eventful year for NASA's Perseverance Mars rover.

Unidentified aerial phenomena remain a mystery.

The truth is still out there: why the current UFO craze may be a problem of intelligence failings

By Kyle Cunliffe

It's safe to say that UFOs, now branded UAPs, are back.

The bright white region of this image, captured by Europe's Mars Express spacecraft in December 2012, shows the icy cap that covers Mars’ south pole, composed of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide.

Mars' buried polar 'lakes' may just be frozen clay

By Charles Q. Choi

Bright reflections that radar detected beneath the south pole of Mars may not be underground lakes as previously thought but deposits of clay instead, a new study finds.

Sunrise seen over Earth.

Could microbes communicate with alien species?

By Predrag Slijepcevic, Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe

Are we alone in the universe?