Life on Mars

The European Space Agency lost contact with its ExoMars Schiaparelli lander less than a minute before it was supposed to land on Mars, scientists say.

A European spacecraft destined to land on Mars detached from its mothership on Sunday (Oct. 16), setting the stage for a daring descent to the Red Planet's surface later this week.

If recent findings on Earth are any guide, the oldest rocks on Mars may have signs of ancient life locked up inside.

Tiny ripples of sediment on ancient seafloor, captured inside a 3.7-billion-year-old rock in Greenland, may be the oldest fossils of living organisms ever found on Earth, according to a new study.

Radiation from beyond the solar system may destroy any organic fossils lying on the surface of Mars or Jupiter's icy moon Europa.