An asteroid hurtling towards Mars has a 1 in 28 chance of walloping the Red Planet on 30 January, according to the latest calculations. The rock's discovery just a couple of months before a possible impact begs the question of what would happen if it were instead headed for Earth.

Mars will be transformed into a shirt-sleeve, habitable world for humanity before century's end, made livable by thawing out the coldish climes of the red planet and altering its now carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere, according to one researcher.

India's space scientists are reaching out further into the universe. Even as an unmanned mission to the moon is readying for launch, and a manned mission to space awaits final approval from the government, they are already eyeing the next destination - Mars.

Mirrors in orbit around Mars could create Earth-like conditions on a small patch of the planet's surface, according to a NASA-funded study. The extra sunlight would provide warmth and solar power for human explorers, but some experts say the mirrors may be hard to deploy.

Earth?s defences may need to be boosted against risk of potentially deadly microbes returning on space probes.

Russian space researchers will lock six men in a metal
tube for more than a year in an effort to mimic the stresses and
challenges of a manned mission to Mars.

Researchers are working on setting up a global positioning system for the Red Planet to aid future scientific exploration and development.

Finding life on Mars has proved an elusive dream for decades. But scientists now believe they may be able to do it for themselves - by turning the Red Planet into a blue world with streams, green fields and fresh breezes and filling it with Earthly creatures.

The new Bush space initiative is doomed to failure because a
multi-decade government program is unsustainable, argues Phil Smith.
Instead, the government needs to stoke the engine of commerce in order
to create a sustainable human presence in space.

The author criticizes the nationalist, USA-centric rhetoric behind the Mars movement and argues for a broader perspective.