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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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.

Watch 3 Solar Eclipses on Mars, Captured by Curiosity

By Mindy Weisberger

Curiosity rover captured Martian moons Phobos and Deimos crossing the sun.

This NASA image shows a preserved river channel on Mars, with color overlaid to indicate elevation (blue is low, yellow is high). The range of elevation in the snapshot is about 115 feet (35 meters).

Mars Was Once Covered in Wide, Raging Rivers

By Rafi Letzter

Mars was very wet until suddenly it wasn't. And scientists still aren't sure why.

Space Orbiter Spots 'Hairy Blue Spider' on Mars

By Mindy Weisberger

Bowie was right; there really is a "spider" from Mars.

Panoramic view of Mars

Here's What NASA's Opportunity Rover Saw Before 'Lights Out'

By Mike Wall

There's a glorious panorama and a few sad thumbnails of a dark and dusty sky.

This zoomed-in image shows the impact site.

An Exploding Asteroid Blasted Across Mars' Surface in the Last 10 Years

By Rafi Letzter

Sometime in the last decade, something heavy slammed into the Martian atmosphere and blasted apart into a hard rain of superheated material.

NASA's Opportunity rover

Why Can't NASA's Curiosity Rover Rescue Opportunity?

By Rafi Letzter

NASA has another mobile robot on Mars. Why not launch a rescue mission?

NASA's Mars rover Opportunity reveals its shadow, seen on July 26, 2004, and snapped by the rover’s front hazard-avoidance camera. At the time, Opportunity was moving farther into Endurance Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars.

What Will Happen to the Opportunity Rover's Dead Body on Mars?

By Rafi Letzter

NASA's Opportunity Rover has died on Mars. Now what?