Mars
Where’s the Most Promising Place to Find Martian Life?
New research suggests that our best hopes for finding existing life on Mars isn’t on the surface, but buried deep…
Archaeology On Mars: Preserving Artifacts of Our Expansion Into the Solar System
In 1971, the Soviet Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to land on Mars, though it only lasted a…
NASA Thinks it Knows Why Ingenuity Crashed on Mars
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter sent its final signals to Earth in the earlier part of the year. Engineers have been studying…
Other Liquids Could Be Forming Minerals on Mars
Most people will think of a dry arid landscape when they think of Mars. When seen from orbit, dry river…
China Plans to Retrieve Mars Samples by 2031
China's growing presence in space has been undeniable since the turn of the century. Between sending the first "taikonaut" to…
There was Hot Water on Mars 4.45 Billion Years Ago
Mars formed 4.5 billion years ago, roughly the same time as the Earth. We know that water was stable on…
New Supercomputer Simulation Explains How Mars Got Its Moons
One mystery in planetary science is a satisfying origin story for Mars's moons, Phobos and Deimos. Were they chunks of…
What a Misplaced Meteorite Told Us About Mars
11 million years ago, Mars was a frigid, dry, dead world, just like it is now. Something slammed into the…
The New Mars Landing Approach: How We’ll Land Large Payloads on the Red Planet
Back in 2007, I talked with Rob Manning, engineer extraordinaire at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and he told me something…
What’s Behind the Martian Methane Mystery?
The seasonal variations of methane in the Martian atmosphere is an intriguing clue that there might be life hiding under…