The engineering lesson is simple: Sometimes the best observatory is the one already parked at another planet. When an interstellar comet was in a viewing geometry that kept Earth-based telescopes too ...

A few months from now, a NASA spacecraft called the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will begin its 20th year of observing the Red Planet from above. And, like most 20-year-olds on Earth, MRO's ...

When an interstellar comet goes behind the Sun from the Earth’s perspective, science does not hit pause it relocates. In the ...

New evidence of ancient rivers suggests Mars may have been a "blue planet," thanks to an ocean spanning its entire northern ...

First results from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provide provocative new evidence that there were diverse watery habitats capable of supporting life on Mars eons ago. MRO is also finding evidence ...

NASA lost contact with its MAVEN Mars orbiter in December 2025 after more than a decade of operation. A solar conjunction, where Mars and Earth are on opposite sides of the sun, has temporarily ...

NASA lost contact with its MAVEN Mars orbiter in early December and has been unable to reconnect with the vehicle. NASA plans ...

MAVEN was built to last in orbit until 2030 — that's not looking likely anymore.