Jet Propulsion Laboratory project manager MiMi Aung gave an enthusiastic two thumbs-up and then clenched fists before a roomful of engineers erupted in applause.
The tiny helicopter took off and hovered briefly — the first such flight on another planet. The Perseverance rover kept tabs on the mission from a viewing point about 60 yards away.
Tianwen-1, which combines an orbiter, lander and rover in a single shot, would be China's second attempt to reach the red planet after a 2011 mission failed.
NASA is sending a 6-wheeled rover to Mars to look for signs of microbial life stored in the rocks at Jezero crater. The rover is also the first step in returning samples of Martian rock to Earth
The European Space Agency and Russia's Roscosmos planned for a July launch for the ExoMars. They said "the epidemiological situation in Europe" factored into the delay.
After the InSight lander had trouble drilling a sophisticated thermometer into the Martian surface, a Plan B also didn't work, and the instrument ended up backing itself out of the ground.
NASA's six-wheeled rover landed on the red planet in January 2004 for what was billed as a 90-day mission. The plucky robot was still going until a dust storm on Mars last summer killed it.
Space scientists on Earth have improvised a tool on the Mars rover to help them figure out how a giant mountain on the Red Planet came to be. Their surprising conclusion: It's likely windswept sand.
There's a new probe nearing Mars. After Monday's tricky landing, NASA's InSight spacecraft is to deploy a sensitive seismometer and temperature probe to let scientists explore the planet's interior.
Scientists say they've found what appears to be a briny lake near the south pole on Mars. It's possible that some kind of microbial life once lived in the lake.
With the sun entirely blocked out by dust, the solar-powered rover has presumably fallen asleep to wait out the storm. NASA scientists say they are "very concerned," but that they hope for the best.
Scientists can't say whether there is, or ever was, life on the Red Planet. But two Martian rock samples contained organic molecules — which contain carbon, the chemical element central to life.
The InSight Mars lander was successfully launched on Saturday morning, by an Atlas V rocket taking off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It will gather data on Mars' interior.
The NASA mission is set to launch Saturday morning. The InSight spacecraft will land in the Elysium Planitia to listen for "Marsquakes" and learn more about what Mars is made of.
Researchers have successfully tested a new nuclear reactor in Nevada that could provide reliable energy for long-duration manned missions to the moon and to Mars.
The heat shield, made of material that is as light as balsa wood but can withstand temperatures of nearly 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, broke during testing earlier this month.
NASA is building a new space-based laser communication that will allow live, high-definition video from Mars and beyond — something that's not possible with standard radio equipment.
Musk's successful rocket launch is a step on the ambitious road to Mars; as with our adventurous ancestors, where we might go seems to be limited only by our imagination, says Marcelo Gleiser.
