Nasa has beamed back a set of spectacular pictures from Mars — and a first voice message — likening it to the lunar landmark led by Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon who died last week.

In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet’s past.

THEY came from Mars, not in peace, but in pieces.

Scientists are confirming that 15lbs of rock collected recently in Morocco fell to Earth from Mars during a meteorite shower last July.

A NUCLEAR-powered rover as big as a family car is set to begin a nine-month journey to Mars this weekend to learn if the planet is or ever was suitable for life.

A signal from a stranded Russian space probe feared to have been lost has been received on Earth.

AS Russia’s space agency struggled to fix a probe bound for a moon of Mars that instead got stuck in Earth’s orbit, some experts said the chances of saving the $170 million craft looked slim.

The Mars rover Opportunity is snapping pictures like a tourist since arriving at its latest crater on the Red Planet, much to the delight of scientists many millions of miles away.

Nasa declared an end to the Phoenix mission, five months after the spacecraft became the first to land in Mars’ arctic plains and taste water on another planet.

Nasa’s Phoenix Mars spacecraft regained contact with Earth today, more than a day after falling silent, but its days operating on the red planet are still numbered, mission chiefs say.

The Phoenix spacecraft has “tasted” Martian water for the first time, scientists reported.

Scientists were dazzled today by the first pictures from the Phoenix lander after its safe arrival on the surface of Mars.

Nasa’s Phoenix spacecraft has successfully landed near Mars’ north pole for a 90-day digging mission.

A THREE-LEGGED NASA spacecraft was closing in on Mars yesterday for what scientists hope will be the first-ever touchdown near Mars’ north pole to study whether the permafrost could have supported primitive life.

Some of the largest portable telescopes in the country will be assembled in Dublin’s Phoenix Park today to give budding astronomers the chance to see the surface of Mars.

China’s booming space programme has announced plans to launch its first astronomy satellite and take part in joint projects with Russia and France.

EUROPEAN spacecraft carried out a close fly-by of Mars yesterday, a crucial manoeuvre in its meandering, 10-year voyage through the solar system to make the first soft landing on a comet.

A European spacecraft carried out a close flyby of Mars today, a crucial manoeuvre in its meandering, 10-year voyage through the solar system to make the first soft landing on a comet

New photographs from space suggest that water occasionally flows on the frigid surface of Mars, raising the possibility that the Red Planet is hospitable to life, scientists reported tonight.

A NASA spacecraft was last night undertaking the riskiest manoeuvre of its seven-month mission to Mars as it attempts to lock itself into a low orbit.

Nasa’s Mars rover Spirit has found more evidence of past water activity on the Red Planet, scientists said today.

A Nasa spacecraft was today closing in on Mars, carrying a six-wheeled vehicle that is to roam the Red Planet’s rocky surface in search of geologic evidence that Mars was once suitable for life.

Mission controllers prepared for a crucial manoeuvre today to redirect Europe’s Mars orbiter nearer to the Red Planet’s poles – the first step in pushing it into a lower orbit where it can listen for the missing Beagle 2 surface probe.

The Beagle 2 space probe was launched on its final approach to Mars today, a critical step in Europe’s first mission to explore the surface of the Red Planet.

Japanese space agency officials insist they have not yet lost Hope. But the fate of the country’s first interplanetary explorer - a Mars probe dubbed Nozomi, which means hope - is growing doubtful.