August 3, 2025
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Breaking News
  • [ August 1, 2025 ] NASA, SpaceX ‘thread the clouds’ to launch Crew-11 to the International Space Station Falcon 9
  • [ July 31, 2025 ] Launch preview: SpaceX, NASA launches Crew-11 following 1-day weather scrub Falcon 9
  • [ July 29, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
  • [ July 28, 2025 ] SpaceX, NASA conduct static fire test of a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of the Crew-11 launch Falcon 9
  • [ July 26, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites into a polar orbit Falcon 9

Mars Ascent Vehicle

News

Northrop Grumman to supply solid rocket motors for first Mars Ascent Vehicle

March 29, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA awarded Northrop Grumman a contract worth as much as $84.5 million earlier this month to supply rocket motors for a first-of-its-kind launch vehicle to fire a capsule of rock samples off of Mars on a journey back to Earth.

Mission Reports

NASA narrows design for rocket to launch samples off of Mars

April 20, 2020 Stephen Clark

After years of studies, test-firings and a survey of U.S. industry in preparation for launch of a Mars Sample Return mission in 2026, NASA has settled on a solid-fueled design for a miniature rocket with a first-of-its-kind purpose: Launching a payload from Mars for a trip back to Earth.

News

NASA, ESA officials seek formal approvals for Mars sample return mission

September 16, 2019 Stephen Clark

After crystallizing a partnership to retrieve samples from the surface of Mars and return them to Earth, NASA and European Space Agency officials are seeking government funding commitments before the end of this year to carry out a multibillion-dollar robotic mission that could depart Earth with a pair of rocket launches as soon as 2026.

News

NASA studies mission to return samples from Mars by end of 2020s

August 28, 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA is examining options to launch a robotic mission as soon as 2026 to pick up rock specimens from the surface of Mars and bring them back to Earth, moving forward the timeline for a sample return mission as the agency postpones plans for a new Mars reconnaissance and data relay orbiter.

News Headlines

  • NASA, SpaceX ‘thread the clouds’ to launch Crew-11 to the International Space Station
    August 1, 2025
  • Launch preview: SpaceX, NASA launches Crew-11 following 1-day weather scrub
    July 31, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    July 29, 2025
  • SpaceX, NASA conduct static fire test of a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of the Crew-11 launch
    July 28, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites into a polar orbit
    July 26, 2025
  • Crew-11 astronauts, cosmonaut arrive in Florida ahead of launch to the space station
    July 26, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    July 25, 2025
  • Amazon says $139.5 million investment in Florida is key to ramping up launch cadence with Project Kuiper
    July 24, 2025
  • NASA probes to study how the solar wind triggers potentially dangerous ‘space weather’
    July 23, 2025
  • FAA: ‘Regional power outage’ causes last-minute scrub of NASA’s TRACERS mission
    July 22, 2025
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