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Mars

Mars, the Red Planet, is the fourth planet from the sun.

Related Topics: Curiosity Mars Rover Mission, ExoMars, India Mars Orbiter Mission, Mars Rover Opportunity, Maven Mars Mission 

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An artist's depiction of SpaceX Starships on Mars.

SpaceX wants to send people to Mars. Here's what the trip might look like.

By Meghan Bartels

Even as SpaceX prepares to launch astronauts for the first time, the company is sharing its dreams for human spaceflight on a much grander scale: missions to Mars.

An artist's illustration of the center of Mars

New Marsquake study could shatter theories on how Mars was born

By Gemma Lavender

A team of researchers at the University of Tokyo has revealed tantalizing details about Mars’ seismic activity for the very first time.

Artist's impression of a city on Mars, which SpaceX wants to help establish with its Starship transportation system.

Colonizing Mars may require humanity to tweak its DNA

By Mike Wall

Genetic enhancement could allow humanity to push surprisingly far out into the final frontier.

Conical hills on Mars may be evidence of mud volcanoes, scientists say.

Mud volcanoes may spew on Mars, scientists say

By Mike Wall

Some Mars volcanoes may erupt with mud rather than molten rock, a new study suggests.

This photo shows the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

The top space stories of the week!

By Elizabeth Howell

SpaceX's Crew Dragon prepares to send astronauts into space, a senior NASA official suddenly resigns, and new research sheds light on Mars' formation. Here are Space.com's top stories of the week.

An image shows aerial views of a pit crater chain hiding a lava tube in New Mexico (top) and a similar formation on Mars (bottom).

These lava tubes could be the safest place for explorers to live on Mars

By Rafi Letzter

The Martian surface is a radiation hot zone. But ancient lava tubes might offer explorers safety from the cosmic bombardment

The dark streaks on some Martian slopes known as recurring slope lineae — imaged here by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — may be caused by salty liquid water, some scientists think.

Mars may be wetter than we thought (but still not that habitable)

By Mike Wall

Mars is wetter than previously thought, but not in a way that boosts its life-hosting potential, a new study suggests.

This image of Mars, captured by the HiRISE instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, features Izola mensa, an outcrop in the northwestern rim of Hellas Basin.

Mars orbiter finds evidence of ancient, long-lived rivers on the Red Planet

By Hanneke Weitering

Rivers could have been raging on ancient Mars for hundreds of thousands of years, a new study finds.

This image of the rocket-powered descent stage sitting on top of NASA's Perseverance rover was taken in a clean room at Kennedy Space Center on April 29, 2020. The integration of the two spacecraft was the first step in stacking the mission's major components into the configuration they will be in while sitting atop of the Atlas V rocket.

NASA starts packing Mars rover Perseverance ahead of July launch

By Mike Wall

Percy keeps rolling through milestones here on Earth.

The Hope spacecraft as seen during preparations for launch.

The UAE is going to Mars. Here's the plan for its Hope orbiter.

By Meghan Bartels

The United Arab Emirates had its sights set on Mars the day before it launched its second satellite ever.

As November begins, Mercury will be in the western evening sky and swinging sunward towards inferior conjunction on November 11, when the speedy planet will transit the sun. The transit will be visible in whole or in part from westernmost Russia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, South America, North America (except for the extreme north), most of the Pacific Ocean, and New Zealand. After mid-month, Mercury will return to view with an excellent morning apparition for Northern Hemisphere observers, but a poor one for the Southern Hemisphere. The planet will reach peak visibility at greatest western elongation on November 28. Viewed in a telescope during mornings in November, Mercury's disk will diminish in apparent size and wax in illuminated phase from a thin crescent to a 68% full. Over the same period, the planet will brighten. The old crescent moon will pass north of Mercury on November 24-25.

The brightest planets in May's night sky: How to see them (and when)

By Joe Rao

Here's how to see planets visible in May's night sky.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took this selfie on Feb. 26, 2020. The crumbling rock layer at the top of the image is the Greenheugh Pediment, which Curiosity crested on March 6.

NASA budget cuts at Mars threaten 'crisis' for Curiosity rover and prolific orbiters

By Mike Wall

Budget cuts may force NASA's Curiosity rover mission to slam on the brakes just as it's reaching its highly anticipated home stretch.

A rock fragment of Martian meteorite ALH84001 (left). An enlarged area (right) shows the orange-colored carbonate grains on the host orthopyroxene rock.

Building blocks of life found in famous Mars meteorite

By Mike Wall

The famed Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001 contains 4-billion-year-old organic molecules, the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it, a new study suggests.

Vaneeza Rupani (inset), a junior at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama, came up with the name Ingenuity for NASA's Mars Helicopter (an artist's impression of which is seen here) and the motivation behind it during NASA's "Name the Rover" essay contest.

Meet Ingenuity: Alabama teen names NASA's pioneering Mars Helicopter

By Mike Wall

The little chopper that will launch toward the Red Planet this summer with NASA's Mars 2020 rover Perseverance is named Ingenuity.

The logo for the China National Space Administration's Tianwen-1 Mars mission features a stylized "C" for China.

China reveals name, logo for its 'Tianwen' 1st Mars landing mission

By Robert Z. Pearlman

China revealed the name and logo for its first mission aimed at landing on the planet Mars to mark the 50th anniversary of its first satellite launch.

A visualization of the "nanocardboard" flyers.

Tiny, levitating 'nanocardboard' aircraft could explore Mars one day

By Chelsea Gohd

Tiny, levitating "nanocardboard" flyers could one day explore the dusty red surface of Mars.

Space Books Recommended Reading

Best space and sci-fi books for 2020

By Space.com Staff

Space.com's editors present a reading list for space and sci-fi lovers, as well as children who are interested in astronomy and spaceflight.

A mission patch designed for the UAE's first Mars analog mission.

The UAE wants to send people to Mars. But first, a practice round on Earth.

By Meghan Bartels

The United Arab Emirates sent its first astronaut to space for a week last fall; the country's next astronaut mission will last longer but remain much closer to home.

Members of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover mission team took photos of themselves on March 20, 2020, the first day they all worked remotely.

How do you drive a Mars rover from home? Don't worry, NASA's got this.

By Chelsea Gohd

Imagine trying to control a Mars rover from your living room — that's what the team behind NASA's Curiosity rover is doing right now.

The Mars Helicopter and its Mars Helicopter Delivery System were attached to the Perseverance Mars rover at Kennedy Space Center on April 6, 2020. The helicopter will be deployed about two-and-a-half months after Perseverance lands.

Trailblazing Mars helicopter attached to Perseverance rover for July launch

By Mike Wall

The little chopper will attempt to pioneer a new type of off-Earth exploration.