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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An artist's depiction of Mars covered in water, as it may have been about 4 billion years ago.

4 supersalty lakes may be hiding under the ice cap at Mars' south pole

By Charles Q. Choi published

Remnants of water once found on the surface of Mars may be hidden in a handful of small lakes below the Red Planet's south pole, and more could exist, according to new research.

An artist's impression of NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity flying on the Red Planet.

NASA powers up Mars Ingenuity helicopter for the 1st time

By Samantha Mathewson published

NASA powered up its Mars helicopter Ingenuity for the first time on Aug. 7 and tested the little craft's electronics.

A prototype rover creeps through a lava tube in Spain’s Canary Island of Lanzarote, part of a training campaign to explore settings on Earth that could be similar to those on the moon and Mars.

Entire cities could fit inside the moon's monstrous lava tubes

By Rafi Letzter published

Vast lava tubes pock the surface of the moon and Mars, and could protect explorers from the elements. But first someone needs to explore them.

Researchers have concluded that early Martian landscape probably looked similar to this image of the Devon ice cap in the Canadian Arctic.

Ancient Mars may have been covered in ice sheets

By Meghan Bartels published

Early Mars may not have been quite the warm, wet paradise scientists have hoped for — not if the valleys scarring its surface work the same way as their counterparts here on Earth do.

Mars Perseverance - mission steps.

NASA: Mars rover Perseverance in 'safe mode' after launch, but should recover

By Meghan Bartels published

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover entered "safe mode" after a successful launch Thursday (July 30), but should recover, NASA says.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover displaying where its MMRTG would be inserted, between the panels on the right marked by gold tube, before the power system was inserted.

Why NASA's Mars rover Perseverance will use nuclear power to stay warm

By Meghan Bartels published

A spacecraft is only as strong as its power source, which is why when NASA was designing its Perseverance Mars rover, the agency turned to radioactive plutonium.

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover launched atop an Atlas V rocket at 7:50 a.m. EDT (4:50 PDT) on July 30.

Liftoff! NASA's Perseverance rover is headed to Mars

By Stephanie Pappas published

In February 2021, NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (shown in an artist's concept) will be the two newest explorers on Mars.

Mars Perseverance launches on Thursday. Here's how to watch.

By Stephanie Pappas published

NASA's Mars Perseverance launch, set for Thursday, July 30, will send a new rover to the Red Planet to search for ancient habitable environments and microbial life.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen illuminated by spotlights on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Watch live: NASA launches Mars Perseverance rover to the Red Planet

By Jeanna Bryner published

You can watch the historic NASA launch of the Mars 2020 mission here on Live Science.

A member of the Mars 2020 Science Team looks at the calibration target that will be sent on the Mars rover, Perseverance, including SaU 008.

A Martian meteorite is going home, in NASA's Perseverance mission launch

By Mindy Weisberger published

London's Natural History Museum is sending a piece of a Martian meteorite back to the Red Planet with the Perseverance rover.

Artist's illustration of the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter detecting the green glow of oxygen in the Martian atmosphere. This emission, spotted on the dayside of Mars, is similar to the night glow seen around Earth’s atmosphere from space.

Weird green glow spotted in atmosphere of Mars

By Mike Wall published

Europe's Trace Gas Orbiter spotted an emerald glow in Mars' wispy atmosphere, marking the first time the phenomenon has been spotted on a world beyond Earth.

An image taken on June 3, 2020, shows the arm of the InSight lander gently pushing the heat probe into Mars.

The 'mole' on Mars is finally underground after a push from NASA's InSight lander

By Meghan Bartels published

There's a light at the end of the tunnel for the first mole to burrow into the surface of Mars, scientists hope.

Mars' core has long thought to be comprised of iron-sulfur.

New Marsquake study could shatter theories on how Mars was born

By Gemma Lavender published

Tantalizing details about Mars' seismic activity have been revealed for the very first time.

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 published

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

An image of Mars showing the epicenters of two marsquakes detected by the Mars InSight lander, which is about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) west of the quakes.

What can the coronavirus outbreak teach us about bringing Mars samples back to Earth?

By Leonard David published

A new virus called SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus that has caused an outbreak of a disease called COVID-19. But what does that have to do with Mars?

President Donald Trump speaks during his State of the Union address on Feb. 4, 2020.

Trump touts Space Force in State of the Union address

By Mike Wall published

Space got a couple of shout-outs in President Trump's State of the Union address last night (Feb. 4).

The annotated area in this animation of the Red Planet is where NASA spacecraft have found near-surface water ice that would be easy for astronauts to dig up.

The Decade of Mars: How the 2020s May Be a New Era of Red Planet Exploration

By Mike Wall published

The 2010s saw big advances in Mars exploration, but the new decade may bring even more exciting Red Planet news.

The annotated area in this animation of the Red Planet is where NASA spacecraft have found near-surface water ice that would be easy for astronauts to dig up.

NASA's 'Treasure Map' of Water Ice on Mars Shows Where Humans Should Land

By Elizabeth Howell published

NASA's wish to follow the water on Mars just got a helping hand.

A solar wind proton approaches Mars at high speed; it steals an electron from an escaped Martian hydrogen atom and passes through a magnetic field surrounding Mars. The now-neutral atom then enters the planet's atmosphere and collides with gas molecules, which causes the atom to emit ultraviolet light.

On Mars, Auroras Glow All Summer Long in UV Light

By Mindy Weisberger published

During summer in Mars' southern hemisphere, proton auroras occur nearly every day.

A data visualization generated by a supercomputer shows clouds growing and fading over a Martian day.

Watch Clouds on Mars Drift by in Supercomputer Simulations

By Meghan Bartels published

Weather models are a daily staple of life on Earth, but they can go interplanetary as well, sometimes with a boost from Earth's most sophisticated computers.