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Airbus is using a Steam Deck handheld PC to operate its prototype ExoMars rover during development and testing at its Stevenage, UK facility. The setup was shown in a video by YouTuber Tom Scott, with the Deck's thumbsticks, triggers and face buttons used to drive the rover, which is intended to operate autonomously once on Mars.
NASA's Curiosity rover team identified organic compounds in ancient clay deposits on Mars that resemble molecules thought to have contributed to life's origins on Earth. The discovery earned the mission's chemistry lab team recognition at the Gizmodo Science Fair for providing strong chemical evidence of Mars's past potential habitability.
Elegoo is running a month-long promotion discounting nearly its entire catalog of FDM and resin 3D printers, along with filament and resin consumables. Highlights include the Neptune 4 Plus at $269 (37% off), the Mars 5 Ultra resin printer at $259, and the large-format OrangeStorm Giga at $2,299. The sale, timed to celebrate Elegoo's maker community, runs through late September but stock may run out before it officially ends.
Rocket Lab has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office challenging NASA's decision to award Blue Origin a contract worth roughly $700 million to build, launch and operate a Mars Telecommunications Network spacecraft. Rocket Lab argues NASA's selection violated eligibility criteria set by Congress in the funding legislation and that its own technical proposal was reviewed unfairly.
Scientists at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, led by Jishen Qiu, developed a method to convert Martian sand into a low-grade concrete by mixing it with pig-derived gelatin, engineered yeast coated in mussel-like proteins, and water. Mars' cold, low-pressure atmosphere naturally freeze-dries the mixture, causing water to sublimate and leaving behind a porous, foam-like solid strong enough for construction.
Scientists have applied a decorrelation stretch method originally developed by NASA to enhance Mars imagery, using it instead to uncover faded rock art on Earth. The technique works by remapping the original colors of an image into an expanded range rather than just boosting contrast, making subtle pigment differences visible to the human eye.
Japan's space agency has launched the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, aiming to collect at least 10 grams of material from Phobos, one of Mars' two moons. The spacecraft will spend a year traveling to Mars, three years gathering samples in orbit, and another year returning to Earth, with samples expected to arrive in 2031.
NASA has selected Blue Origin to build the Mars Telecommunications Network, a deal potentially worth $700 million. The orbiter is due to be operational by December 31, 2028, relaying science data, imagery, navigation details, and mission-critical communications for spacecraft near and on Mars.
Kurt Polzin, chief engineer of NASA's space nuclear propulsion project, and Robert Schleicher of General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems roughed out a nuclear rocket engine design on a napkin during a conference conversation last year. The concept remains at an early paper-planning stage, following a long tradition of major technical breakthroughs first appearing as napkin sketches, from Compaq's portable PC to Vishay's power resistor.
A new study published in Nature reveals that the interior beneath Mars' southern hemisphere is roughly 400 to 750 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the interior beneath its northern hemisphere. Researchers led by University of Arizona scientist Alexander Berne used gravity data to uncover this asymmetry, which contrasts with the long-held assumption that planetary interiors are generally uniform in temperature.
NASA and industry engineers have outlined a synchronal bimodal nuclear rocket concept that pairs nuclear thermal propulsion with electric power generation using a single reactor and two separate fluid loops. The design avoids the complicated mode-switching valves of earlier bimodal reactor concepts while still delivering high thrust and steady electric power for spacecraft systems. Researchers say the approach could cut crewed Mars transit time from roughly 620 days down to 335 days or fewer.
SpaceX announced plans to construct a 125,000-acre launch facility in Louisiana, its largest to date, with construction starting next year. Named Starbase Louisiana, the site aims to support thousands of annual Starship missions to orbit, the Moon and Mars, with the first launch targeted for 2029. The project is expected to directly create over 3,000 jobs and generate more than 8,100 additional indirect jobs in the region.