Earth recorded its hottest year on record in 2024, with such a big jump that the planet temporarily passed a major climate threshold, several weather monitoring agencies announced Friday.

Earth records its hottest year ever in 2024 and passes major climate threshold.

Last year's global average temperature easily passed 2023's record heat and kept going further, surpassing the long-term warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

NASA will explore two different strategies for fetching Mars rocks collected by the Perseverance rover, and there's a chance these samples contain evidence of alien life.

NASA will analyze and explore two different landing options for its Mars Sample Return program, though it will take almost two years to do so and is expected to announce its decision in late 2026. The agency had to temporarily hit pause on the program after an independent review found that it could cost between $8 billion and $11 billion,

The agency is starting down two different paths toward the samples' return, but only one will bring the red rocks home.