Spacecraft

The US space agency's Perseverance rover has wiggled its wheels and undertaken its first Martian drive.

It didn't move far - just 6.5m in total.

But Nasa  scientist believe it was a significant moment.

While the rover is still doing a lot of engineering checkouts, the minute 'the rubber' begins to move it should be considered as "explorer" on the surface of Mars.

The spacecraft facilities could also function as hubs to facilitate rocket travel to different places on Earth

The US space agency NASA on Monday released the first audio from Mars, a faint crackling recording of a gust of wind captured by the Perseverance rover.

NASA also released the first video of last week's landing of the rover, which is on a mission to search for signs of past life on the Red Planet.

NASA on Feb. 22 released the first high-quality video of a spacecraft landing on Mars, a three-minute trailer showing the enormous orange and white parachute hurtling open and the red dust kicking up as rocket engines lowered the rover to the surface.

The footage was so good, and the images so breathtaking, that members of the rover team said they felt like they were riding along.

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.

After seven months in space, NASA's Perseverance rover overcame a tense landing phase with a series of perfectly executed maneuvers to gently float down to the Martian soil on Feb. 18 and embark on its mission to search for signs of past life.

A crystal-clear lake in southeastern Turkey could shed light on "exciting" scientific research involving Mars, a senior official said on Feb. 18. 

After hurtling hundreds of millions of miles through space since last summer, three robotic explorers are ready to hit the brakes at Mars.

The stakes, and anxiety, are sky high.

Aerospace firm Airbus has developed and built the high-tech propulsion modules on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Bremen

Musk’s SpaceX delivered a Turkish communications satellite, Turksat 5A, to orbit on Jan. 8