Mars

In the 1970s, images from the NASA Mariner 9 orbiter revealed water-sculpted surfaces on Mars. This settled the once-controversial question of whether water ever rippled over the red planet. Since then, more and more evidence has emerged that water once played a large role on our planetary neighbour. For example, Martian meteorites record evidence for …

Mars, one of our closest planetary neighbors, has fascinated people for hundreds of years, partly because it is so similar to Earth. It is about the same size, contains similar rocks and minerals, and is not too much farther out from the Sun. Because Mars and Earth share so many features, scientists have long wondered …

NASA’s Perseverance rover has just snapped her first-ever selfie on Mars this week on April 6, or Sol 46 — as well as its also being the first joint selfie with the experimental Ingenuity Mars helicopter on the Red Planet — and it is truly spectacular. Ahead of humanity’s history-making first controlled test flight by …

While Nasa’s Perseverance rover landed safely on Mars last month, another, China’s Tianwen rover is expected to follow in May. Both missions intend to search the planet for signs of life. But how do we make sure when our landers touch down on the Red Planet’s surface, nothing unwanted is landing with them? If we aren’t careful, …

NASA’s Perseverance rover performed its first test drive on Martain terrain on March 4, or Sol 14, the mission team announced with the release of a batch of dramatic new images captured at the landing site now bearing the name “Octavia E. Butler Landing” where the six-wheeled robot touched down safely two weeks ago on …