What everyone agrees on is that NASA needs a new spacecraft capable of relaying communications from Mars to Earth. This issue has become especially acute with the recent loss of NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. NASA’s best communications relay remains the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has now been there for 20 years.

For nearly a month, NASA has been scrambling to make contact with a spacecraft in orbit around Mars that abruptly fell silent. The space agency lost communication with the MAVEN probe (short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) on Dec. 6, and ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.(AP) — Blue Origin launched its huge New Glenn rocket Thursday with a pair of NASA spacecraft destined for Mars. It was only the second flight of the rocket that Jeff Bezos’ company and NASA are counting on to get people and ...

I've read that the planned crewed Mars missions will take six months or two years to arrive. Which is it? Could a longer trip be due to the heavy payload? Our rovers took only eight to nine months to arrive.