Mars: Facts, news, features and articles about the Red Planet

This life-hunting rover may be SpaceX's 1st-ever Mars launch

By Mike Wall published 18 April 26

SpaceX will launch Europe's life-hunting Rosalind Franklin rover toward Mars in 2028 — but not aboard the company's Starship megarocket.

Wild new 'Skyfall' Mars mission would drop 6 scout helicopters onto the Red Planet from the air

By Mike Wall published 24 March 26

NASA plans to launch its first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft in 2028, a probe called Space Reactor-1 Freedom that will carry a fleet of tiny helicopters to Mars.

Mars orbiters witness solar superstorm striking the Red Planet: 'The timing was extremely lucky'

By Robert Lea published 6 March 26

The ESA's Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft watched as a superstorm that ravaged Earth also struck the Red Planet.

Stunning Mars image highlights one of Red Planet's oldest cratered regions

By Samantha Mathewson published 6 March 26

Newly released Mars images offer a detailed look at one of the Red Planet's oldest, most heavily cratered regions, a landscape shaped by billions of years of impacts, volcanism and erosion.

Lessons from 'The Martian': How astronaut poop could help us settle the Red Planet

By Keith Cooper published 3 March 26

By fertilizing inorganic regolith with organic human waste that has been processed through bioreactors, future astronauts living on Mars could be able to create their own organic soil.

Could a toxic chemical in Mars dirt help us build a Red Planet base?

By Keith Cooper published 5 February 26

Perchlorate, a toxic substance found in Mars dirt, could help the bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii strengthen bonds between particles of regolith.

Bleached Martian rocks offer fresh evidence of a wetter and warmer Mars: 'But where did they come from?

By Sharmila Kuthunur published 2 February 26

"You need so much water that we think these could be evidence of an ancient warmer and wetter climate where there was rain falling for millions of years."

Mars orbiter sees odd etchings in the sand | Space photo of the day for Jan. 20, 2025

By Kenna Hughes-Castleberry published 20 January 26

Even though the Red Planet's atmosphere is thin, wind is still one of Mars' most relentless sculptors.

Was the Red Planet once blue? New evidence points to an ancient ocean on Mars

By Charles Q. Choi published 19 January 26

Ancient shoreline features hint that water on Mars once formed a vast ocean.

After a month of no answer, NASA will try hailing its silent MAVEN Mars orbiter today

By Sharmila Kuthunur published 16 January 26

MAVEN was built to last in orbit until 2030 — that's not looking likely anymore.