Background Human exploration of Mars will expose crews to a persistent, fine particulate environment whose physicochemical properties and health implications remain only partly understood. Because no samples of authentic Martian airborne dust have been returned to Earth, NASA must rely on lunar dust toxicology, Martian regolith simulants, and extensive rover/lander geochemical and mineralogical datasets to […]
NASA’s Viking 1 mission blazed a crucial trail with its Mars landing on July 20, 1976. Now, half a century later, that trail leads up into the Red Planet’s skies.
Remnants from Martian history stay scattered across the planet’s surface.
Did Viking 1 find evidence of life on Mars? Fifty years after the NASA lander touched down, the jury is still out.
New images from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter have captured strange-looking waves on the Red Planet.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has uncovered evidence that a 245-foot-thick (75-meter-thick) stack of ancient rock on the rim of Jezero Crater was built by repeated asteroid impacts. Referred to as the “Broom Point member” by the rover’s science team, this sequence of layered bedrock is likely more than 3.9 billion years old, making it among […]
What could we be looking at?
This close-up view shows fragments of sulfur crystals — the first ever seen on the Red Planet. The crystals were found after NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover happened to drive over a rock and crush it on May 30, 2024. Several days later, Curiosity used a camera on the end of its robotic arm to take […]
A predawn Moon-and-planets meetup, a returning comet, a great chance to see the Milky Way, and Saturn’s rings at a new angle. Skywatching Highlights Transcript An early morning hangout with the Moon and planets, a comet swings by, prime time for the Milky Way, and Saturn’s rings shine at a new angle. That’s What’s Up […]
Deep oceans of magma once sloshed about inside the crust of Mars, seismic measurements taken by NASA’s InSight mission suggest.