Check out this exclusive clip from Geoff Marslett and Mark Duplass' strange-looking space romantic comedy Mars. We're still not sure what to make of this indy film — the graphics alone freak us out a bit. The picture, which is premiering at SXSW, is part comic book, part love story and part comedy. You may remember Mark Duplass from his Sundance directing days or his role on The League. Here's the official synopsis: In 2014, the discovery of life on the Red Planet leads to a space race between a robotic expedition and a manned mission. Over the course of this interplanetary animated feature, a lonesome robot and a motley space crew discover that love can flourish anywhere - even on Mars. Told in the playful style of a graphic novel, MARS explores why we explore.

The launch of China's first Mars probe "Yinghuo-1", originally scheduled for October 2009 on a Russian carrier rocket, has been postponed until 2011 due to Russia's "technical reasons", a Chinese space exploration official said here Wednesday. Ye Peijian, chief designer of Chang'e-1, the country's first moon probe, told Xinhua about the delay on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, China's top political advisory body. "Actually, China is now completely capable of exploring Mars independently," said Ye, also a member of the CPPCC National Committee. "With the improvement of our technologies, there is no problem for China to launch its Mars probe with its own observation and control system." Ye said the most suitable time to launch the Mars probe would be in the years 2011, 2013 and 2016 when the distances between Mars and the Earth are the shortest.

Rocket engines could benefit from a natural Martian lubricant - but not to keep them oiled. A salty sludge that may be lubricating the ice caps of Mars could one day provide fuel. The ice is too cold to flow normally. But if winds were to carry salty soil particles to the ice cap, they might gradually sink to form a briny bed, kept liquid by the planet's warmth. This could allow the ice cap to flow like a glacier, say David Fisher at the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa, and colleagues. Such brine would freeze as it moved toward lower temperatures at the edge of the ice cap, forming a ring of concentrated salt. This could one day be mined as a component of solid rocket fuel, says Fisher.

Before Mars can become the next great frontier for human exploration, we need to send more robotic missions to gather as much information as possible about our planetary neighbor. But what kind of robot has the right combination of weight, cost and range, while still being able to carry out groundbreaking science? Cue the Tumbleweed Mars rover, an ingenious concept vying for attention in the hope of becoming an entirely different method to explore vast regions of the Martian surface, one that rolls across the surface instead of six-wheeling.

Scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California, announce that work has begun on repairing an iconic antenna of the American space agency. Used for the past 40 years for keeping in touch, and keeping track with deep-space missions, including those on Mars, the famous equipment now needs to have some of its parts changed. The modifications are not done willingly, but wear is beginning to hinder the good operation of the instrument, which is something that officials would have none of. The scientific payload is situated at the Goldstone, California-based NASA Deep Space Network. The Mars antenna is gigantic, featuring a 70-meter (230-foot) dish. It is used primarily for sending and receiving signals to and from orbiters, landers and weather stations on Mars, but it can contact other spacecrafts as well, if the need arises. Now, a small portion of its hydrostatic bearing assembly needs fixing, and the task is a lot more expensive and complex than it would appear at first glance. The assembly is absolutely crucial for the antenna's ability to rotate horizontally.

NASA today unveiled an interactive computer simulation that allows virtual explorers of all ages to dock the space shuttle at the International Space Station, experience a virtual trip to Mars or a lunar impact, and explore images of star formations taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. In the Deep Space Network demonstration, visitors learn how NASA communicates with the Mars Exploration Rovers, Sprit and Opportunity, by using the Madrid Deep Space Network antenna to send data to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which then relays the data to the rover.

A new live-action movie based on H.G. Wells' seminal science fiction alien invasion novel, The War of the Worlds, is in post production, it was announced by Pendragon Pictures. The new movie, titled War of the Worlds - The True Story, has a planned release date of October 2010. Pendragon Pictures is an independent motion picture company that released a previous movie version of War of the Worlds in 2005. Their earlier production grossed $7 million dollars and sold 650,000 copies on DVD, though its critical reception was tepid. Pendragon producer Susan Goforth states, "This is a complete remake, not a re-working of our previous production."

It might look like an oddly circular iceberg in the Antarctic Ocean. But this is actually a crater turned inside-out by time in the Arabia Terra region of Mars. Scientists think such inverted craters form when an impact basin fills with sediment and the material around that sediment gets eroded away. NASA released the false-color, high-resolution picture March 3, 2010, to commemorate a milestone for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: the collection of a hundred trillion bits of data on the red planet. The camera that snapped this shot on January 29, known as HiRISE, is one of six instruments aboard the Mars-orbiting craft.

Academy Award winner Michael Giacchino, who won the Oscar for his Up score a couple of days ago, continues his fruitful relationship with Walt Disney Pictures. The studio has confirmed to MovieScore Magazine that Giacchino will be writing the score for John Carter of Mars, the new film by Andrew Stanton. Interestingly, Stanton’s previous films as a director (Wall-E and Finding Nemo), were both scored by Thomas Newman. John Carter of Mars is based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels and stars Samantha Morton, Dominic West, Polly Walker and Willem Dafoe. The imaginative story takes place on the planet Mars where Civil War veteran John Carter is imprisoned by 12-foot tall green creatures, escapes and encounter the Princess of Helium. The film is scheduled to come out in 2012.

During the week or so leading up to the start of SXSW 2010, I’ll be providing a glimpse into some of the films I am looking forward to at the festival. SXSW will feature many great films, many more than I can cover, ranging from narrative fiction to documentary, comedy to horror, foreign to animation, independent to studio films. SYNOPSIS: A new space race is born between NASA and the ESA when Charlie Brownsville, Hank Morrison, and Dr. Casey Cook compete against an artificially intelligent robot to find out what’s up there on the red planet. MARS follows these three astronauts on the first manned mission to our galactic neighbor. On the way they face adventure, self doubts, obnoxious reporters, and the boredom of extended space travel. This romantic comedy is told in the playful style of a graphic novel – using an animation process that director Geoff Marslett developed specifically for MARS. Underneath the silliness it is an exploration of exploration. Why do we want to know whatÕs out there? How do we react when we find it? Is it really that important? And where does love fit into the whole thing?

Despite NASA's manned space exploration being in a state of flux, there's still a lot of innovative ideas for future manned expeditions to Mars. From new concepts for interplanetary rockets to the next generation of unmanned reconnaissance robots, we are certainly well on our way to acquiring the technologies necessary to land an astronaut on Mars. But once we're there, how will we get around? Mars is a big place -- it has approximately the same amount of land to explore as Earth -- so it would be nice if we traveled in style. So why not travel in award-winning style? An Illinois-based design consulting firm decided to take on this challenge, designing a manned Mars rover, winning the "Good Design Award" in the transportation category from The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design last month. They were in good company; Good Design Awards also went to Mercedes for their SLR Coupe and Apple for the iPod touch.

It’s Libby from Lost as you (and Hurley) have never seen her before – animated! Cynthia Watros stars alongside musician/actor Kinky Friedman (he plays the President) in new indie film Mars, which premieres this weekend at SXSW. Mark Duplass (Humpday, The Puffy Chair) plays an astronaut who goes on the first manned mission to Mars, looking for “life and love.” The whole project is the brainchild of Austin, Texas-based animator Geoff Marslett, who has said he wanted the film to look like a cross between A Scanner Darkly and Sin City. But he also notes the film is more like an indie romantic comedy set in space.

NASA's newest Mars orbiter, completing its fourth year at the Red Planet next week, has just passed a data-volume milestone unimaginable a generation ago and still difficult to fathom: 100 terabits. That 100 trillion bits of information is more data than in 35 hours of uncompressed high-definition video. It's also more than three times the amount of data from all other deep-space missions combined — not just the ones to Mars, but every mission that has flown past the orbit of Earth's moon. "What is most impressive about all these data is not the sheer quantity, but the quality of what they tell us about our neighbor planet," said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Scientist Rich Zurek, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The data from the orbiter's six instruments have given us a much deeper understanding of the diversity of environments on Mars today and how they have changed over time." The spacecraft entered orbit around Mars on March 10, 2006, following an August 12, 2005, launch from Florida. It completed its primary science phase in 2008 and continues investigations of Mars' surface, subsurface and atmosphere.

Walt Disney Studios announced the date for another 3D movie ‘Mars Needs Moms!’. The Robert Zemeckis’ produced film will open March 11, 2011. The film is about a young boy named Milo (Seth Green) who gains a deeper appreciation for his mom (Joan Cusack) after Martians come to Earth to take her away. The movie is based on Berkley Breathed’s children story.

Scientists have ruled out the possibility that the presence of methane gas on Mars is due to meteorites or volcanic activity. Recent research in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters highlights the hope that the consistent levels of methane on the Red Planet could be the result of microorganisms in the Martian soil that are producing the gas as a “by-product of their metabolic processes.”

On April 15, President Barack Obama will visit Florida to host a White House Conference on the Administration’s new vision for America’s future in space, the White House today announced. The President, along with top officials and other space leaders, will discuss the new course the Administration is charting for NASA and the future of U.S. leadership in human space flight. Specifically, the conference will focus on the goals and strategies in this new vision, the next steps, and the new technologies, new jobs, and new industries it will create. Conference topics will include the implications of the new strategy for Florida, the nation, and our ultimate activities in space.

Fill in your information and your name will be included with others on a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover heading to Mars in 2011!

What could have formed these unusual channels? Inside Newton Basin on Mars, numerous narrow channels run from the top down to the floor. The above picture covers a region spanning about 1500 meters across. These and other gullies have been found on Mars in recent high-resolution pictures taken by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor robot spacecraft. Similar channels on Earth are formed by flowing water, but on Mars the temperature is normally too cold and the atmosphere too thin to sustain liquid water. Nevertheless, many scientists hypothesize that liquid groundwater can sometimes surface on Mars, erode gullies and channels, and pool at the bottom before freezing and evaporating. If so, life-sustaining ice and water might exist even today below the Martian surface -- water that could potentially support a human mission to Mars. Research into this exciting possibility is sure to continue!

Remember the people who said the moon landing was a hoax? A New Port Richey company hopes to create a simulated trip to Mars that everyone will know is fake but will appear as realistic as possible. "This is not Disney World or Universal Studios," said Mark Homnick, 52, one of the managers of NewSpace Center LLC. The company has submitted site plans for a 75-acre lot in Titusville on Florida's Space Coast to build Interspace, a space-themed entertainment and research facility that would include the simulated Martian environment. The men estimated the project will cost about $30-million and said their plans began in 2005. Homnick and his vice president, Joseph Palaia, run the company and its parent, 4Frontiers, out of Homnick's waterfront stilt home.

Vast glaciers of ice are common on Mars, but you have to dig below the surface to find them, new radar views from a NASA spacecraft show. These hidden deposits of buried Martian ice were first confirmed two years ago, but recent scans of the red planet by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are revealing new clues about how the ice may have gotten there. Scientists think the Mars glaciers may have been left as remnants when regional ice sheets retreated. "The hypothesis is the whole area was covered with an ice sheet during a different climate period, and when the climate dried out, these deposits remained only where they had been covered by a layer of debris protecting the ice from the atmosphere," said Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The ice extends for hundreds of miles, or kilometers, in a mid-latitude region of Mars called Deuteronilus Mensae.

The European Mars Express (Mex) probe has made its closest flyby of the Martian moon Phobos, passing just 67km (42 miles) from its surface. No manmade object has ever been so near to the natural satellite. The approach is one of a series being made by Mex as it seeks to understand the origin of the moon. Previous flybys have indicated that Phobos has an extremely low density, suggesting that its surface probably hides many large interior voids. Scientists suspect the moon is simply a collection of planetary rubble that coalesced around the Red Planet sometime after its formation.

In his recent testimony before Congress, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden told lawmakers the goal of the U.S. space program under President Barack Obama was Mars. But he also warned that getting to Mars would require a step-by-step evolution, because NASA lacked the technology to safely send astronauts so deep into space. The Obama budget contained the down payment on a Mars mission, with billions set aside for research and testing of advanced, cutting-edge technologies that could be employed to make a mission to Mars a reality. I believe we can be well on our way to Mars by July 20, 2019 -- which just happens to be the 50th anniversary of my Apollo 11 flight to the moon. The plan I've designed, called a unified space vision, contains ideas for the development of a deep-space craft that I call the Exploration Module, and development of a true heavy lift space booster evolved from the existing space shuttle.

NASA scientists say they've identified thick masses of buried ice in the middle latitudes of Mars and radar mapping suggests the ice is commonplace. The radar images were provided by the space agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is charting the hidden glaciers and ice-filled valleys that were first confirmed by radar two years ago. NASA said the subsurface ice deposits extend for hundreds of miles in a region about halfway from the equator to the Martian north pole.

NASA is planning to investigate making inflatable space-station modules to make roomier, lighter, cheaper-to-launch spacecraft, it reveals in its budget proposal released on 22 February. The agency is considering connecting a Bigelow expandable craft to the ISS to verify their safety by testing life support, radiation shielding, thermal control and communications capabilities.

On this final segment of NOVA scienceNOW’s chat with awesome MIT engineer Dava Newman, she’s asked to pick between Star Wars and 2001, talks about what foods to eat while sailing around the world (that is, when food isn’t being used to steer the boat), and shares the highest complement she’s received for her form-fitting next generation space suit. Nope, it’s not about how much it makes astronauts look like Spider Man.

Like an astronaut of fake space, Vincent Fournier has spent the past decade and a half traveling the globe, documenting some of the government-run environments where space explorers train, and the lonesome, white-suited explorers themselves. The results — from the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, the Atacama Desert Observatories in Chile, and elsewhere — look less like massive science experiments on Earth than the landscapes of a futuristic sci-fi flick.

NASA's Spirit rover should be able to wriggle free of its sandy trap on Mars after all, says a scientist for the mission. But the plucky robotic explorer will need to survive the bitter Martian winter first. In April 2009, Spirit's wheels broke through a thin surface crust and got mired in the loose sand below. After months of trying unsuccessfully to free the rover, NASA declared on 26 January that Spirit would henceforth be a stationary lander mission rather than a rover. But the announcement was "a little bit premature", rover scientist Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, told researchers at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas, on Monday. In nine drives between 15 January and 8 February, mission members coaxed the rover into driving backwards by 34 centimetres – "pretty good for a lander", Arvidson said. That far surpasses the mere millimetres of motion Spirit had managed in previous efforts.

Microbes similar to those on Earth would have a tough time surviving the harsh environment of Mars, but it is not inconceivable that they could persist there given a little protection, according to a new study. The finding supports similar, previous work and lends credence to the theory that if microbial life ever arose on Mars, it could exist below the planet's surface to this day. Mars is in most respects a terrible habitat for life as we know it: winter temperatures can dip below –100 degrees Celsius, the atmosphere contains little oxygen, and without the benefit of a robust ozone layer the Martian surface is bombarded with ultraviolet (UV) solar radiation.

A European space probe is on track for a close encounter with the Martian moon Phobos, an odd, potato-shaped satellite -- origins unknown -- that may be partly hollow. Mapping Phobos' gravity is among scientists' top priorities when the Mars Express spacecraft soars as close as 50 kilometers (31 miles) above the moon Wednesday night. Previous passes of Phobos by Mars Express have raised as many questions as they've answered. For example, calculations of the moon's density led scientists to the surprising theory that parts of Phobos may be hollow. Minute changes in the probe's flight path -- tracked by a radio signal -- as it passes over the moon Wednesday will be closely monitored in an attempt to correlate Phobos' gravitational tugs with internal structural variations.

A journey from Earth to Mars could eventually take just 39 days -- cutting current travel time nearly six times -- according to a rocket scientist who has the ear of the US space agency. Franklin Chang-Diaz, a former astronaut and a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), says reaching the Red Planet could be dramatically quicker using his high-tech VASIMR rocket, now on track for liftoff after decades of development. The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket -- to give its full name -- is quick becoming a centerpiece of NASA's future strategy as it looks to private firms to help meet the astronomical costs of space exploration. NASA, still reeling from a political decision to cancel its Constellation program that would have returned a human to the moon by the end of the decade, has called on firms to provide new technology to power rovers or even future manned missions. Hopes are now pinned on firms like Chang-Diaz's Texas-based Ad Astra Rocket Company.

Come on, Mars. I mean, come on.

On 3 March 2010 Mars Express will make its closest ever approach to Phobos, the larger of the two Martian moons. During a series of flybys, spanning six weeks, all seven instruments onboard Mars Express will be utilised to study Phobos. The close approach provides a first opportunity to perform a unique gravity experiment that may reveal the distribution of mass within this intriguing moon.

NASA needs to go somewhere specific, not just talk about it, skeptical U.S. senators told the space agency chief Wednesday. President Barack Obama's proposed budget kills the previous administration's return-to-the-moon mission, sometimes nicknamed "Apollo on steroids." That leaves the space agency adrift without a goal or destination, senators and outside experts said at a Senate Commerce science and space subcommittee hearing, the first since Obama unveiled his new space plan this month. On top of that the nation's space shuttle fleet is only months away from long-planned retirement, an issue for senators from Florida, where NASA is a major employer. And while the new NASA plan includes extra money - $6 billion over five years - for private spaceships and developing new rocket technology, NASA shouldn't be just about spending, the senators said. It should be about John F. Kennedy-like vision.

NASA's original exobiology plan called for 100 missions to be flown to Mars by this time. But reality has fallen far short of the plan. NASA's proposals for a Mars sample return have been stymied repeatedly, due to cost and logistical considerations. Over the past couple of years, scientists have been closing in on another sample return concept - and the radical shift in NASA's space vision, announced just this month, could conceivably bring the plan for bringing back Mars life into sharp focus. Here's the current timeline, as laid out by the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group, or MEPAG:

Its origins were in providing NASA with a device to manufacturer oxygen for a manned Mars colony. But when the mission was scrubbed, K.R. Sridhar set his sights back down here to the challenges on Earth, and, figuratively speaking, turned his device inside out. Instead of giving off oxygen, it would take oxygen in. And the output would be cleanly generated electricity. A 60 Minutes segment offered an introductory peek into the people and the principle behind a clean energy innovation that will be officially introduced on Wednesday, February 24. Bloom Energy, and its Bloom Box fuel cell technology, have been mum until now on the details while they have been raising a staggering $400 million in investment capital with the hope of launching what Sridhar insists will be a clean energy game-changer.

Future Mars prospectors will likely find mineral riches in some unusual settings, say planetary scientists studying the different ways valuable metals might have been concentrated on the red planet. On Earth, surface waters, ground waters and even chemicals left by living things play major roles in leaching, concentrating and depositing valuable metals and minerals like iron, gold, silver, nickel, copper and many more. But on Mars there are no oceans or surface waters; no microorganisms either. What's more, the planet is so cold that even groundwater is frozen as permafrost and functions as little more than another mineral in the ground. So where does a starving miner look on Mars for usable quantities of ore?

Westmont Illinois based Montgomery Design International (MDI) and Santa Barbara California based Ergonomic Systems Design have announced they have jointly been awarded the Chicago Athenaeum and Museum’s “GOOD DESIGN” award for 2009 as creators and designers of the Manned Mars Exploration Rover (MMER). Designed as an independent study for the 2037 Mars mission, the Rover was cited for its bold, futuristic design as well as providing transport and life support for Mars astronauts.

Even as the Obama Administration plans to scrap human space exploration and the prospect of manned missions to Mars becomes more remote than ever, the insurmountable odds haven’t stopped The Mars Society from conducting ongoing simulations and research into what challenges humans will face should we make it to the Red Planet. But there’s a surprising degree of drama behind their work. According to The Mars Society mission statement, the goal of the non-profit organization is “to help develop key knowledge needed to prepare for human Mars exploration, and to inspire the public by making sensuous the vision of human exploration of Mars.” Since the establishment of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) outside of Hanksville Utah in 2001, The Mars Society has maintained an ongoing research presence at the habitat.

More than two dozen simulations in Facing Mars, a new exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, give visitors an idea of what it would be like to make the three-year round trip to the red planet. Are we there yet? Isolation, monotony, boredom. How will it feel to be away for months or years from all you have ever known? People can step into the confinement chamber and begin to experience the isolation and boredom astronauts would experience on the trip. The Mars Walk simulates what it would be like to walk on the surface of Mars. At the Bring Mars to Life station, visitors can create a stop-motion animation of their vision of pioneer life in a Martian colony

Mars rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" were successful beyond NASA's wildest dreams. Now they're building a new, nuclear-powered Mini Cooper-sized rover to be lowered onto Mars by a hovering drop ship in 2013. Meet "Curiosity," the new Mars Science Laboratory.

Although it might seem like a headline from The Onion, the story's actually true. NASA's being forced to cut four million dollars from the Mars rover project. In order to meet that requirement, they'll have to put one rover, Spirit, to sleep — a "hibernation" period. The team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) will also have to put the other rover, Opportunity, on a diminished work cycle. But in actuality, they won't be cutting what Opportunity's doing — they'll just be spreading it out over a longer period of time.