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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 

Latest Updates

The moon will dip into Earth's outer shadow in a minor penumbral lunar eclipse on Nov. 29-30, 2020.

November's Beaver Full Moon 2020: See a lunar eclipse and a near-minimoon

By Jesse Emspak

November's full moon on Nov. 30 will undergo a penumbral lunar eclipse, two days after reaching aphelion, when the moon is farthest from Earth.

An artist's depiction of the UAE's Hope Mars orbiter.

Hope, the UAE's first interplanetary mission, has its eye on bonus science on way to Mars

By Meghan Bartels

The United Arab Emirates' first foray beyond Earth's orbit is going so smoothly that the nation's Hope Mars mission will tackle some bonus observations before it reaches its destination.

See the moon and Mars make a close approach in the evening sky on Nov. 25, 2020.

See the moon and Mars shine close together on Thanksgiving eve tonight

By Joe Rao

See the moon and Mars rendezvous in the evening sky this Wednesday (Nov. 25).

Illustration of the MMX Rover moving on the Mars moon Phobos.

Rover that will explore Mars moon Phobos starts landing tests

By Mike Wall

The first rover to explore the moon of another planet has started practicing for its landing, even though that historic touchdown is at least six years away.

An image of Wilbert Ruperto-Hernández at the Arecibo Observatory.

The top space stories of the week!

By Doris Elin Urrutia

These are the top space stories this week from Space.com.

This annotated illustration shows the location of the Perseverance rover's entry, descent, and landing microphone.

Hear Mars rover Perseverance whir as it cruises toward the Red Planet

By Mike Wall

A microphone aboard the Mars 2020 rover Perseverance, which will touch down in February 2021, captured the whirring sound made by part of the robot's heating system.

Maps of the water content in the atmosphere of Mars suggest the Red Planet once had an ocean that covered 20 percent of its surface, a fifth of the planet. Most of that water was lost to space.

Big dust storms may have driven off much of Mars' water

By Nola Taylor Redd

Martian dust storms have helped to strip water from the red planet.

An artist's depiction of a rocket blasting carefully packed Mars samples off the planet's surface for the journey to Earth.

Bringing Mars samples to Earth could cost an extra $1 billion, but NASA should totally do it, experts say

By Meghan Bartels

Holding a pristine piece of Mars in a lab on Earth is among the most ambitious dreams of planetary scientists, and NASA and its European counterpart want to make the dream a reality.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took this selfie at a location nicknamed "Mary Anning" after a 19th-century English paleontologist. Curiosity collected three samples of drilled rock at this site on its way out of the Glen Torridon region, which scientists believe preserves an ancient habitable environment.

NASA's Curiosity rover snaps stunning selfie on Mars (photo)

By Mike Wall

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has taken another selfie, just a few months before its six-wheeled cousin joins it on the Red Planet.

NASA's Perseverance rover will store rock and soil samples in sealed tubes on the Martian surface for future missions to retrieve and bring back to Earth.

NASA's next Mars rover will land in less than 100 days

By Mike Wall

The life-hunting Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which launched on July 30, is scheduled to land inside Jezero Crater on the afternoon of Feb. 18, 2021.

An artist's depiction of the UAE's Hope Mars orbiter.

The UAE's 1st Mars probe will reach the Red Planet on Feb. 9

By Elizabeth Howell

The United Arab Emirates' first Mars mission will reach the Red Planet on Feb. 9, 2021, according to an Emirates government update.

There seems to be a network of underground bodies of liquid water at Mars’ south pole.

Mars: Mounting evidence for subglacial lakes, but could they really host life?

By David Rothery

The best place for life on Mars might be more than a kilometre below its surface!

NASA's Perseverance rover.

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission: Live updates

By Chelsea Gohd

Perseverance is set to launch this Thursday (July 30) for a seven month journey to Mars.

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 November's night sky: How to see them (and when)

By Joe Rao

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

The HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) habitat in Hawaii.

Space.com is going to 'Mars' on a HI-SEAS habitat simulation

By Chelsea Gohd

A group of six researchers will embark on a mission to "Mars," this upcoming Monday (Nov. 2). The Martian crew will include artists, scientists and ... me!

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover reached its halfway point — 146.3 million miles (235.4 million kilometers) — on its journey to the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater on Oct. 27, 2020, at 4:40 EDT (2040 GMT).

NASA's Mars rover Perseverance is halfway to the Red Planet

By Mike Wall

The Perseverance rover, which launched on July 30, has now traveled 146 million miles (235 million kilometers) in deep space — half of the total required to reach the Red Planet.

China's Tianwen-1 Mars probe is seen by a tiny camera ejected from the spacecraft in a photo captured 15 million miles from Earth.

China chooses landing site for its Tianwen-1 Mars rover

By Andrew Jones

China has apparently chosen a primary landing site for its Tianwen-1 Mars rover ahead of the spacecraft's arrival at the Red Planet in February 2021.

A high-resolution view of a recent cluster of craters on Mars that an artificial intelligence tool identified; this view comes from MRO's HiRise instrument.

Artificial intelligence helps classify new craters on Mars

By Samantha Mathewson

An innovative artificial intelligence (AI) tool developed by NASA has helped identify a cluster of craters on Mars that formed within the last decade.

NASA's InSight Mars lander has used the scoop on the end of its robotic arm to help the mission’s burrowing heat probe, known as the "mole," get and stay underground.

The oft-stuck 'mole' on NASA's InSight Mars lander may start digging again next year

By Mike Wall

The 'mole' aboard NASA's InSight Mars lander may be ready to start digging on its own again early next year, agency officials said.

SpaceX's Starship could launch on its first uncrewed flight to Mars in 2024.

Elon Musk says SpaceX's 1st Starship trip to Mars could fly in 4 years

By Hanneke Weitering

SpaceX is on track to launch its first Mars mission in as little as four years from now, SpaceX's founder and CEO Elon Musk said Friday (Oct. 16) at the International Mars Society Convention.