MOXIE – A Device Aboard NASA’s Perseverance Rover – Could Help Future Rockets Launch off Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover carries a device to convert Martian air into oxygen that, if produced on a larger scale, could be used not just for…
Mars
Elusive Internal Structure of Mars Revealed by Ancient Zircon Minerals From the Red Planet
Analysis of an ancient meteorite from Mars suggests that the mineral zircon may be abundant on the surface of the red planet. By determining the…
Ancient Martian Megaflood: Floods of Unimaginable Magnitude Once Washed Through Gale Crater on Mars’ Equator
Field Geology at Mars’ Equator Points to Ancient Megaflood Floods of unimaginable magnitude once washed through Gale Crater on Mars’ equator around 4 billion years…
Heat and Dust Help Launch Martian Water High Into the Atmosphere Where It’s Lost to Space
Scientists using an instrument aboard NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, or MAVEN, spacecraft have discovered that water vapor near the surface of the Red…
Mars Is Getting a New Robotic Meteorologist to Help Prepare for Future Human Exploration
Sensors on NASA’s Perseverance will help prepare for future human exploration by taking weather measurements and studying dust particles. Mars is about to get a…
NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Takes Selfie With “Mary Anning” on the Red Planet
The Mars rover has drilled three samples of rock in this clay-enriched region since first arriving in July. NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has a new…
Escape From Mars: Surprising Discovery in the Red Planet’s Atmosphere Helps Explain Martian Mystery
New University of Arizona-led research updates our understanding of how water escapes Mars — not like a leaky faucet but with a sudden splash. Mars…
NASA Prepared for Mars Sample Return Campaign
NASA released an independent review report Tuesday indicating the agency is now ready to undertake its Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign to bring pristine samples…
NASA Preparing to Land Mars Perseverance: 100 Days and 166 Million Miles to Go
Mark your calendars: The agency’s latest rover has only about 8,640,000 seconds to go before it touches down on the Red Planet, becoming history’s next…
Independent Review Board Praises Ambitious Plan to Bring Mars Samples to Earth
An ambitious campaign by NASA and ESA to collect samples from the Red Planet and return them to Earth has been praised by an Independent…
6 Incredible Technologies NASA is Advancing to Send Humans to Mars
Mars is an obvious source of inspiration for science fiction stories. It is familiar and well-studied, yet different and far enough away to compel otherworldly…
Mechanical Engineering Student Helps NASA Design Martian Helicopter
First came Aelita: Queen of Mars, a silent film from 1924 about a Russian engineer who moves to the Red Planet and falls in love…
Water on Ancient Mars: Analysis of a Martian Meteorite Reveals Evidence of Water 4.4 Billion Years Ago
A meteorite that originated on Mars billions of years ago reveals details of ancient impact events on the red planet. Certain minerals from the Martian…
Identifying Microbial Markers in Martian Clay: Subsoil at Earth’s Driest Place May Signal Life on Mars
Earth’s most arid desert may hold a key to finding life on Mars. Diverse microbes discovered in the clay-rich, shallow soil layers in Chile’s dry…
Asteroid Trailing Mars May Be Our Moon’s Long-Lost Twin
An international team of planetary scientists led by astronomers at AOP have found an asteroid trailing behind Mars with a composition very similar to the…
Acidic Fluids: Finding Evidence of Life on Mars Just Got Harder
In a little more than a decade, samples of rover-scooped Martian soil will rocket to Earth. While scientists are eager to study the red planet’s…
Intriguing Martian Scars: An Ancient Crater Triplet on Mars
Mars is covered in intriguing scars – some of the most prominent being impact craters. A particularly unusual example is shown in this new image…
Geologists Simulate Martian Soil Conditions to Figure Out How to Grow Plants on Mars
Geologists Dig Into Question of Martian Soil Fertility Humankind’s next giant step may be onto Mars. But before those missions can begin, scientists need to…