Mars

The Curiosity rover's first drill-sample analysis at the Red Planet reveals clay minerals that formed in water that was slightly salty, evidence of an environment that could have once supported life

New studies assess the possibility of detecting biomarkers with planned ground- and space-based telescopes

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter used radar to find the underground Martian channels

Although unlikely, there is a small chance the Comet Siding Spring, an estimated eight to 50 kilometers in diameter, could collide with Mars in October 2014

Planetary exploration is stuck in a Martian rut

Spotted at the State of the Union address, Bobak Ferdowsi, the Mars Curiosity flight engineer famous for his hairstyle, describes his role as an ambassador for Mars

On the eve of science writer Katie Worth's experiment to live on Mars time and blog about how it feels, she explains how living between time zones across the universe without guidance from sleep scientists can prove disastrous

Springtime thawing of frozen carbon dioxide creates wandering patterns of grooves in the region's sand dunes, showing that Mars's topography is still changing despite its apparent lack of surface water and volcanoes

Kepler space telescope astrophysicist Martin Still looks for Earth-like worlds and tracks the death of stars as he ponders the possible demise of his own program

NASA scientists have proposed snagging a 25-foot-wide asteroid and placing it into lunar orbit—the first step on sending a deep-space mission to Mars

Rock is among the oldest known from the Red Planet and matches findings from NASA rovers

A devastating storm, a new phase of Mars exploration, a recipe for a pandemic flu--these and other events highlight the year in science and technology