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Mars

Find out everything there is to know about Mars and stay updated on the latest Mars news with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and Mars pictures at LiveScience.com. Learn more about this fascinating planet as scientists continue to make amazing discoveries about Mars.

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A tardigrade in space.

Tardigrade DNA Added to Human Cells Could Help Us Survive on Mars, Scientist Says

By Chelsea Gohd

Will we one day combine tardigrade DNA with our cells to go to Mars?

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover sits in the Marias Pass area of lower Mount Sharp.

There's a Mysterious Source of Oxygen in Mars' Atmosphere, and No One Can Explain It

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

There's something strange about the oxygen in the atmosphere above Mars' Gale Crater.

A photo of Mars taken by the Curiosity rover shows a bleak landscape of hills and hazy crater mountains.

The Curiosity Rover Just Took a Very Emo Photo of Its Rocky Martian Prison

By Brandon Specktor

Curiosity is the last functioning rover on Mars, and its lonely mission has taken the robot to a steep mountain in the middle of a vast crater.

An artist's depiction of a Mars sample-return mission.

Here's How NASA Might Bring Home Pieces of Mars (In a Darth Vader Helmet)

By Meghan Bartels

Scientists studying Mars have wanted pieces of the Red Planet here on Earth for decades, and they are finally getting their shot at designing a mission to acquire such souvenirs.

In this image from Oct. 26, 2019, the InSight Mars lander's heat probe, or "mole," is seen after backing about halfway out of the hole it had burrowed.

The 'Mole' on NASA's Mars Lander Just Popped Out Of Its Hole (and That's Not Good)

By Mike Wall

The mole's up-and-down Mars saga has taken yet another turn.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says the first astronaut to walk on Mars could be a woman.

The 1st Human on Mars May Be a Woman, NASA Chief Says

By Hanneke Weitering

It won't be long before we see the first woman on Mars, and she just might beat the first man there, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Friday (Oct. 18).

Mars in the Northern Hemisphere

6 Reasons Astrobiologists Are Holding Out Hope for Life on Mars

By Isobel Whitcomb

There are some very good reasons to believe that primitive lifeforms may lurk on the Red Planet.

This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago when almost half the planet’s northern hemisphere could have been covered by an ocean up to a mile (1.6 kilometers) deep in some places.

Martian Meteor Collision May Have Triggered a 1,000-Foot Tsunami

By Isobel Whitcomb

A 90-mile-wide scar on the Martian landscape is potential "ground zero."

NASA's Curiosity rover has found a sky-high amount of methane while sampling in Mars' Gale Crater (shown here).

Mars Rover Detects Primordial Signs of Life Under the Red Planet's Surface

By Isobel Whitcomb

Don't get too excited just yet.

Gorgeous 'Atlas of Space' Smashes the Textbook View of the Solar System

By Brandon Specktor

The solar system is more than a row of nine circles. Try 18,000 of them.

Icy Martian Clouds Are Formed from the 'Smoke' of Dead Meteors, Study Claims

By Brandon Specktor

The wispy, blue ice clouds of Mars are actually made of pulverized meteors, a new study claims.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a feature on Mars that looks like the famous "Star Trek" logo.

'Star Trek' Logo Spotted on Mars

By Elizabeth Howell

It looks like Starfleet is literally embedded on the planet next door.

An image of the Martian mineral that scientists now think may have been created by volcanic eruptions, as seen from orbit.

This Strange Rock Formed on Mars Billions of Years Ago, Possibly from an Explosive Eruption

By Meghan Bartels

This is one of the most tangible pieces of evidence yet for the idea that explosive volcanism was more common on early Mars.

A piece of the moon against a black sky

Why Trump's Tweet About (Not) Going to the Moon Is a Problem for Space Exploration

By Isobel Whitcomb

NASA's still on track to send humans to the moon. But confusion doesn't help.

Fettuccini, anyone? Microbial mats in the Mammoth Springs hot springs in Yellowstone look a lot like a bowl of pasta.

Little Green Men? Nope, Extraterrestrial Life May Look More Like Pasta.

By Stephanie Pappas

Noodle-looking rocks could be humanity's first hint that life once existed on far-flung planets.

asteroid mining

Space Mining Could Ruin Our Solar System If We Don't Establish Protected Places Now, Researchers Warn

By Brandon Specktor

If humans mine one-eighth of the solar system's extraterrestrial resources, we could be doomed.

Before this slow process dried out the planet, Mars may have been covered by a vast ocean. This illustration shows how the planet may have looked billions of years ago.

A Giant Hole in the Martian Atmosphere Is Venting All Its Water into Space

By Rafi Letzter

Why is Mars so dry? A new paper might have the explanation.

flames of chimaera

Fire-Breathing Mountain Fueled by Mysterious Deep-Earth Methane Production

By Brandon Specktor

The Flames of Chimaera are fueled by an underground methane seep, but not the garden-variety kind.

mars atmosphere

College Students Hatch Nuclear-Powered Magnetic Plan to Protect Marsonauts from Solar Radiation

By Rafi Letzter

A team of undergraduate students at Drake University in Iowa is developing a magnetic shield to defend interplanetary astronauts from the intense cosmic radiation between Earth and Mars.

Scott Kelly's Year in Space May Have Aged Him — But He's Mostly Fine

By Christopher Wanjek

How a year in space affected Scott Kelly's health.