
What it's like to visit Mars on Earth
CNN
Because Chile's Atacama Desert is such a dead and desolate place, NASA has come to view it as the perfect analogue to Mars on Earth. The stark landscapes may be the next closest spot for visitors looking for a stunning Red Planet alternative.
(CNN) — Ethereal images from the Mars rover Perseverance have lit up the internet ever since NASA's latest high-tech robot landed on the Red Planet on February 18. The photos, released on NASA's website, depict a desiccated landscape of lifeless orange-brown soil with rugged, rocky hills snaking across the horizon. Though decidedly otherworldly, there's also something strikingly familiar about them. Perhaps that's because the images look a lot like a place back here on Earth -- a remote desert in Chile that NASA itself has dedicated time and money to exploring.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









