Why NASA's Curiosity Mars mission matters

After planting a rover firmly on Mars' surface and testing a new methane-fueled lander, NASA has squeezed in the first test flight of its X-48C hybrid.

WASHINGTON — NASA plans to wait until 2015 to lay out a proposal for its next big astrophysics mission, which could take the form of a single large spacecraft or a series of smaller craft performing related studies, a senior agency official said July 30.

Enlarge Donna Gialanella/The Star-Ledger This August 6, 2012 handout image provided by NASA/JPL/Univ. Arizona shows NASA's Curiosity rover and its parachute(BOX) spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the

A new report from NASA's Office of Inspector General finds that the agency's cybersecurity, while improving, still has holes — namely that NASA's cyber security operation doesn't monitor all of the agency's networks, and that

NASA's Curiosity rover hasn't even been on Mars a full 24 hours, and already the science world is reaping the benefits. Nerds, too, actually. The shot.