Mars mission

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.

In Tanegashima, Japan, a spacecraft named Hope is being prepared for its launch towards Mars.

A commercial effort to get humans into orbit around Mars in the late 2020s now includes a sleek vehicle to send astronauts down to the surface of the Red Planet.

India launched its first space research observatory and several U.S. satellites Sept. 28, part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi?s drive to expand his country?s influence in the competitive, $300 billion global space industry.

India?s famously frugal Mars mission has been extended by around six months thanks to a surplus of fuel on board the spacecraft, the country?s space agency said March 24.

The Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft had been scheduled to wrap up its mission this month after India in September became the first Asian nation to reach the Red Planet, all on a shoe-string budget.

Six people have sealed themselves inside a white vinyl dome in Hawaii to embark on an eight-month test of how their mental health might fare during a mission to Mars.