Mars exploration News

The European Space Agency and the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, announced today that they entered a formal agreement to work together on the ExoMars programme, looking ahead to the launch of two missions to the planet Mars in 2016 and 2018.

NASA announced yesterday that its Mars rover Curiosity had drilled its first rock sample on the Red Planet, the first time any robotic explorer had successfully drilled for rock samples on another planet.

The science community has been abuzz with rumours recently that Mars Curiosity rover had found something big on Mars but in a briefing at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, NASA scientists played down the hype.

NASA talked tantalisingly about a discovery made by its Mars Curiosity Rover this week that could "get in the history books" but finding out what exactly that discovery may be will have to wait a few weeks until NASA has checked results.

NASA’s Curiosity rover sampled the air on Mars this week. At a teleconference on November 2, NASA announced Curiosity had not found any evidence of methane, which is often a sign of life, in the Martian atmosphere.

NASA's six-wheeled Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is rolling towards the rim of the huge Endeavour Crater, approaching a probable final destination that begins at Spirit Point, named in honor of its rover-twin, Spirit, silent since March 22, 2010.