Mars
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…
How Life Could Live Under the Ice on Mars
Mars has been a fascination to us for centuries. Early observations falsely gave impressions of an intelligent civilisation but early…
Scaling Propellant Production on Mars is Hard
Putting humans on Mars has been one of NASA's driving missions for years, but they are still in the early…
Flowing Martian Water was Protected by Sheets of Carbon Dioxide
Mars' ancient climate is one of our Solar System's most perplexing mysteries. The planet was once wet and warm; now…
Scientists Have Figured out why Martian Soil is so Crusty
On November 26th, 2018, NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport (InSight) mission landed on Mars. This…