Sources: BBC
NASA's "Perseverance" rover successfully synthesizes breathable oxygen while on the surface of Mars. This demonstrates the feasibility of locally producing oxygen for human life support and propellant production. 2021-04-22
The NASA robotic lander "InSight" lands safely on the Elysium Planitia plain of Mars to study the geology of the red planet. 2018-11-26
NASA selects Jezero crater on Mars as the landing site for the Mars 2020 rover. The crater was once a large lake and may hold evidence of ancient life. 2018-11-19
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter reveals dust devils in the Mars region Ariadnes Colles. New measurements indicate astronauts traveling to Mars would experience 60% of their recommended career exposure to radioactivity in a single roundtrip journey. 2018-09-20
NASA announces it has completed its first full-power test of the Kilopower nuclear reactor for space. NASA intends to use the technology to power exploration missions to the Moon and Mars. 2018-05-2
SpaceX successfully launches its Falcon Heavy rocket, a feat the space company hopes will lead to increased commercial and national security missions. Both boosters were successfully landed and recovered. The core didn't land and was softly ditched in the water near the drone ship. The rocket launched Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster, playing "Life on Mars" by David Bowie, which is expected to be in an elliptic orbit of the sun, close to Mars, for several hundred million years. 2018-02-6
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter finds the Beagle 2 spacecraft that disappeared in 2003 intact on the surface of Mars. An error had stopped the spacecraft's solar panels from working and communicating back to Earth. 2015-01-16
NASA's MAVEN space probe successfully arrives in orbit over Mars. 2014-09-22
NASA's Mars "Curiosity" rover reaches its final destination Aeolis Mons, a mountain that rises 5.5 km at the center of Gale Crater. 2014-09-12
NASA launches the robotic Mars Science Laboratory, the largest rover yet sent to Mars, with the aim of finding evidence for past or present life on Mars. 2011-11-26