NASA revealed on Wednesday that it will begin accepting applications for the next class of astronaut candidates starting on Dec. 14.

Mariner 9 becomes the first artificial satellite to orbit another planet.

The NASA Mars rover that is studying layers of a Martian mountain will soon get its first taste of the "Bagnold Dunes," a dark sea of sand along the mountain's base.

Chemical analysis by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity indicates that water made several repeat appearances to create the rich mineral veins at a site called “Garden City” in the lower part of Mount Sharp. The veins form in places where fluids have move through fractured rocks, depositing minerals and leaving telltale chemical fingerprints on surrounding areas. Some of the mineral veins at Garden City protrude the equivalent of two finger widths above the now-eroded bedrock in which they formed.

The space agency's own advisory council wondered aloud this week if NASA should drop the whole idea of visiting the Red Planet. By Eric Mack.

VIDEO: Extraterrestrial living.

The race to get humans on Mars has begun. SpaceX’s Elon Musk has said he thinks he can get humans to the Red Planet by 2026. Mars One says that its crew will land on Mars just a year later, in 2027. Nasa’s timeline has humans in Mars orbit by 2033, and on the surface of the planet by 2039. The European Space Agency (Esa) is also eyeing a 2033 Mars mission, while China’s space programme is looking at putting people on Mars between 2040 and 2060.

Data from NASA's Curiosity rover has revealed the Martian environment lacks methane.

In the latest round of budget negotiations, NASA got a pretty good windfall. But hiding in that $19.3 billion budget it is a $55 million directive: begin building a deep space habitat, and have it ready to go by 2018. In 180 days, NASA will have to report on any progress. It may be part of Congress pushing NASA to be more serious in its efforts toward a crewed Mars mission in the 2030s. That mission will require a lot of money and a lot of new technology...

Explorer could leap 4 meters in a single bound on Mars

Can Peruvian potatoes grow on Mars? Nasa thinks so. In a case of science seemingly imitating Hollywood, the space agency has launched a project to see whether potatoes could grow on the Red Planet, one day allowing a human colony. In a plot that could have been borrowed from the Matt Damon blockbuster The Martian, the US space agency and the International Potato Centre (CIP), a non-profit organisation, will attempt to exploit the expertise...

Earthlings can now observe a rare celestial gathering: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all in alignment in our sky - and will continue to be for around a month. The last time the five paraded in a line was December 2004 to January 2005. From January 20 to February 20 sky-gazers can see the five planets almost literally lined up, as their positions along the ecliptic (the sun’s perceived path in our sky) form a diagonal line.

Just recently, a study determined that it may be impossible to find life on Mars via its polar ice caps, but hope has sprung forth again in an unusual form: Martian “cauliflowers”.

This image, acquired on Nov. 24, 2015 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the western side of an elongated pit depression in the eastern Noctis Labyrinthus region of Mars. Along the pit's upper wall is a light-toned layered deposit.

Faster forms of spacecraft propulsion have been a dream for decades, but now one researcher thinks he has a solid idea. Known as directed energy propulsion, it would involve firing a laser at a tiny spacecraft to speed it up to a significant fraction of the speed of light, potentially allowing for missions to Mars in less than an hour, rather than the months it takes at the moment. (Of course we couldn't stop and would plough into Mars in a titanic explosion.)

It’s been Britain’s best-loved mapping agency for years, providing navigation tools for organisations and stubborn dads finally pulling U-turns across the country. Now, Ordnance Survey (OS) has taken its next giant leap for mapkind, creating a digital recreation of Mars that could have potential applications for future space missions.

From a spacecraft fitted with a gun to a nuclear-powered Mars ship, some Cold War missions came close to flight before being abandoned. But one of them is finally becoming reality.

Round two of the Martian farming experiment at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands has proven more successful than the last. This week, researchers announced a bountiful harvest from soil designed to mimic the makeup of Martian soil. Harvested crops included tomatoes, peas, rye, garden rocket, radish and garden cress. Scientists said lessons learned during round one allowed for greater success...

On March 10, 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter set six of its engines to a powerful burn, allowing it to slow down enough for the gravitational pull of Mars to catch it and bring it into orbit. Ten years later, NASA is celebrating the MRO's continued success: The orbiter has lasted for five times longer than its planned primary scientific mission and counting, delivering unprecedented data on Mars and its history back to scientists on Earth.