Mars | DD News

May 6, 2026 9:58 AM

Musk wanted $80 billion to colonize Mars, OpenAI president testifies at trial

OpenAI's president testified on Tuesday that Elon Musk supported transforming the artificial intelligence startup into a for-profit company, but wanted full control in part to help him raise $80 billion to colonize Mars. The testimony by Greg Brockman came in the second week of a trial in California that could determine the future of OpenAI, which sparked a widespread craze over generative artificial intelligence after launching its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022. OpenAI plans to spend $50 billi...

November 30, 2025 12:27 PM

Mann Ki Baat: PM Modi calls Gen-Z the ‘greatest strength of Viksit Bharat’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday described India’s Gen-Z as one of the biggest strengths of Viksit Bharat. Speaking during the 128th episode of his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, he said that determination, teamwork and the courage to rise after failure ensure success even in difficult situations. The Prime Minister highlighted India’s progress in the space sector and praised a group of young innovators from Pune who took part in an ISRO-organised drone competition designed to ...

November 27, 2025 12:27 PM

NASA rover detects electrical discharges – ‘mini-lightning’ – on Mars

NASA's Perseverance rover has obtained evidence that the atmosphere of Mars is electrically active, detecting electrical discharges - what one scientist called "mini-lightning" - often associated with whirlwinds called dust devils that regularly saunter over the planet's surface. The six-wheeled rover, exploring Mars since 2021 at a locale called Jezero Crater in its northern hemisphere, picked up these electrical discharges in audio and electromagnetic recordings made by its SuperCam remote-se...

November 14, 2025 9:34 AM

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket deploys Mars satellites, sticks booster landing

The giant New Glenn rocket from billionaire Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin launched from Florida on its debut mission for paying customers on Thursday, sending two NASA satellites toward Mars and nailing the return landing of its reusable booster for the first time. The powerful two-stage rocket's first flight since its inaugural launch in January and the successful booster landing at sea represented key milestones for Blue Origin in its quest to compete on a more equal footing with Elon...

November 13, 2025 12:31 PM

Blue Origin to renew Mars satellite launch bid as geomagnetic storm fades

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, carrying two satellites designed to measure space weather on Mars, is back on track for another launch attempt this week, the company said on Wednesday, after a string of delays forced by cloudy skies and a geomagnetic storm. The latest 90-minute launch window at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida was set for Thursday, starting a few minutes before 3 p.m. (2000 GMT), according to an update posted by Jeff Bezos' space venture on its website. The new la...

September 11, 2025 1:41 PM

NASA rover finds potential sign of ancient life in Martian rocks

A sample obtained by NASA's Perseverance rover of reddish rock formed billions of years ago from sediment on the bottom of a lake contains potential signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, according to scientists, though the minerals spotted in the sample also can form through nonbiological processes. The discovery by the six-wheeled rover in Jezero Crater represents one of the best pieces of evidence to date about the possibility that Earth's planetary neighbor once harbored life. Perseveran...

July 18, 2025 10:33 AM

Martian meteorite sells for record $5.3 million at Sotheby’s

A 54-pound (24.5-kg) Martian meteorite that is the largest known piece of Mars found on Earth has sold for $5.3 million at Sotheby's, setting a new auction record for a meteorite. The auction on Wednesday for the rock known as NWA 16788 sparked a 15-minute bidding war between online and phone bidders. "This is an amazing Martian meteorite that broke off of the Martian surface," said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's vice-chairman and global head of science and natural history, ahead of the auction. ...

June 20, 2025 10:31 AM

SpaceX Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk’s Mars mission

SpaceX's massive Starship spacecraft exploded into a dramatic fireball during testing in Texas late on Wednesday, the latest in a series of setbacks for billionaire Elon Musk’s Mars rocket program. The explosion occurred around 11 p.m. local time while Starship was on a test stand at its Brownsville, Texas Starbase while preparing for the tenth test flight, SpaceX said in a post on Musk’s social-media platform X. The company attributed it to a "major anomaly" and said all personnel were sa...

March 7, 2025 9:31 AM

SpaceX’s Starship explodes in space, again raining debris over Caribbean

SpaceX's massive Starship spacecraft exploded in space on Thursday minutes after lifting off from Texas, prompting the FAA to halt air traffic in parts of Florida, in the second straight failure this year for Elon Musk's Mars rocket program. Several videos on social media showed fiery debris streaking through the dusk skies near south Florida and the Bahamas after Starship broke up in space shortly after it began to spin uncontrollably with its engines cut off, a SpaceX live stream of the missi...

September 23, 2024 3:02 AM

SpaceX plans to send five uncrewed Starships to Mars in two years, Musk says

SpaceX plans to launch about five uncrewed Starship missions to Mars in two years, CEO Elon Musk said on Sunday in a post on social media platform X. Earlier this month, Musk had said that the first Starships to Mars would launch in two years "when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens." The CEO on Sunday said that the first crewed mission timeline will depend upon the success of the uncrewed flights. If the uncrewed missions land safely, crewed missions will be launched in four years. How...