Mars: NASA releases first video and audio of rover landing

NASA's Curiosity rover found organic compounds called thiophenes in soil samples that may have been produced by bacteria.

Images of the moment NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are told that SpaceX's landmark launch to the International Space Station is postponed due to poor weather. The decision was made with around 20 minutes to go until takeoff.

NASA's next-generation rover, named Perseverance, has blasted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral to begin its journey to the Red Planet. The US spacecraft will scour Mars for signs of ancient life.

America's first crewed spaceship to fly to the International Space Station in nearly a decade returns safely to Earth. "This has been quite an odyssey," says US astronaut Doug Hurley.

The toilet is 65% smaller and almost 50% lighter than toilets the ISS currently uses.

Scientists celebrate as NASA's robotic spacecraft Osiris-Rex briefly touches down on asteroid Bennu to collect samples. "The spacecraft did everything it was supposed to do," says Dante Lauretta, Osiris-Rex principal investigator at the University of Arizona.

NASA's Perseverance rover to explore mysteries of Mars

After a seven-month journey, NASA's Perseverance rover prepares to touch down on Mars on Thursday after first negotiating a risky landing procedure that will mark the start of its multi-year search for signs of ancient microbial life. "We know Mars had water at one point, we know that it was habitable, it could have had life at one point. That's why we're going back and looking for it," Perseverance deputy project manager, Jennifer Trosper, tells AFPTV.

NASA Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk remarks on the possibility of having astronauts on Mars at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, shortly after the Perseverance rover landed on the red planet.

The USA's Perseverance rover has successfully landed on Mars with a helicopter called Ingenuity strapped to its belly. The Mars 2020 mission is seen as a first step towards bringing samples of Martian rock back to Earth.

The Perseverance rover has sent back the first audio clip from the Red Planet — capturing a faint Martian breeze. The longer video shows the remarkable moment the rover touched down on the surface.

Moving a few meters back and forth, the short trip was a mobility test for the Perseverance rover. It comes just two weeks after touching down on the red planet.