Was There Ever Life on Mars?
We don’t know . . . yet. That’s because we are just beginning to look, and here’s what we know so far. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers confirmed what had been suspected for decades, that Mars was once warmer and wetter, with long-lasting bodies of water on its surface. The Curiosity rover discovered that organic compounds necessary for life as we know it are present in Martian rocks. The ingredients were there, but this habitable environment ended around 3 billion years ago. At that time, all life on Earth was single-celled bacteria, and it would be another 2.5 billion years before multi-cellular life arose. So, we don’t expect to find fossils of things like plants and animals. Instead, we’re looking for ways in which ancient bacteria changed the chemistry and structure of rocks. The Perseverance rover is currently finding rocks that could contain this evidence and collecting samples of them for return to Earth in the next decade. Read More
Latest News About Mars
Life on Mars could have thrived near active volcanoes and an ancient mile-deep lake
February 12, 2024
This gives us a larger number of places we can look for evidence of life Read more
Diverse volcanism and crustal recycling on early Mars
February 12, 2024
The well-preserved ancient crust provides a natural window into early planetary evolution Read more
Marsquakes shake up views of the Red Planet’s deep interior
February 2, 2024
The interior structure of a planet is really key to everything about it Read more
NASA's Perseverance rover confirms presence of ancient lake on Mars and it may hold clues to past life
January 26, 2024
The rover has been scouring the crater collecting dozens of samples Read more
Water ice buried at Mars' equator is over 2 miles thick
January 18, 2024
There's enough water ice to cover the entire planet in a shallow ocean if melted Read more
Recent volcanism on Mars reveals a planet more active than previously thought
December 18, 2023
Enormous amounts of lava have erupted as recently as one million years ago Read more
Mars' atmosphere swelled like a balloon when solar wind stopped blowing. Scientists are thrilled
December 13, 2023
"It's really been a one of a kind event" Read more
NASA’s Perseverance rover deciphers ancient history of martian lake
December 12, 2023
The mission has traversed an ancient river and lake system, collecting valuable samples along the way Read more
Strange underground polygons on Mars hint at Red Planet's wet past
December 8, 2023
It's the "most compelling evidence to date" that Mars was tilted more extremely than it is today Read more
Mars rock samples: What will we learn?
December 6, 2023
They could help astrobiologists in their search for signs of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet Read more
Mars probe sees Red Planet atmosphere glowing green at night
November 15, 2023
Scientists just observed Mars' nightglow in the visible light spectrum for the very first time Read more
How the shapes of martian sand dunes reveal the planet’s winds
November 14, 2023
The resulting wind map could help future explorers avoid devastating dust storms Read more
Rocks from Mars are hitting Earth, and something is odd about their age
November 6, 2023
Most of the samples seem to be rocks that formed on the red planet fairly recently Read more
Citizen scientists detect patterns in clouds over Mars
November 6, 2023
The Cloudspotting team observed when and where water and carbon dioxide clouds cluster Read more
Mars has a surprise layer of molten rock inside
November 1, 2023
Fresh investigations find that the Red Planet’s liquid-metal core is smaller than scientists thought Read more
NASA is locating ice on Mars with this new map
October 26, 2023
The map could help the agency decide where the first astronauts to the Red Planet should land Read more
Curiosity rover discovers new evidence Mars once had 'right conditions' for life
October 25, 2023
Mars was likely a planet of rivers Read more
A radioactive sea of magma hides under the surface of Mars
October 25, 2023
The planet’s core is not as large as earlier estimates had suggested it might be Read more
A mud lake on Mars might be hiding signs of life in chaotic terrain
October 20, 2023
On a drying Red Planet, water could have come bubbling up from below Read more
‘Monster quake’ hints at mysterious source within Mars
October 17, 2023
Images have ruled out a meteorite strike as the cause of a 4.7-magnitude marsquake Read more
Fly across Mars’s ‘labyrinth of night’ with Mars Express
October 10, 2023
This video visualises a flight over the eastern part of Noctis Labyrinthus Read more
Watch a dust devil swirl across Mars in this video from NASA's Perseverance rover
September 29, 2023
It's calculated that the little twister was about 2.5 mi from Perseverance Read more
NASA’s Curiosity reaches Mars ridge where water left debris pileup
September 18, 2023
Gediz Vallis Ridge could be a remnant of powerful ancient debris flows Read more
We may have already found life on Mars – then accidentally killed it
August 29, 2023
Life could have existed in a soil sample, and in our quest to sniff it, we snuffed it out Read more
First up-close images of Mars’s little-known moon Deimos
August 24, 2023
Images suggest its composition is similar to that of the red planet’s surface Read more
This sure looks like the movements of a glacier across ancient Mars
August 17, 2023
Landforms resemble features on Earth that were shaped by the retreat of ice flows Read more
Ancient mud cracks on Mars point to conditions favorable for life
August 9, 2023
Surface patterns suggest planet had an early climate of sustained wet-dry cycling Read more
How climate change alters rivers on both Earth and Mars
August 7, 2023
This knowledge could help humans plan for future infrastructure projects Read more
NASA InSight study finds Mars is spinning faster
August 7, 2023
Data provide new details about how fast the planet rotates and how much it wobbles Read more
Giant Mars mountain Olympus Mons may once have been a volcanic island
July 28, 2023
Giant cliffs that encircle it formed when lava encountered deep water Read more
Fascinating Facts About Mars
- If the sun were as tall as a typical front door, Earth would be the size of a nickel, and Mars would be the size of an aspirin tablet.
- From Mars’ surface, the Sun appears about two-thirds as large as it does from Earth and sunlight appears about 2 times dimmer.
- Mars has gullies characterized by an alcove at the top, a channel, and an apron of deposited material at the bottom. At first, gullies were thought to be a result of flowing water, but recent studies have shown that this is likely not true. Researchers are further studying how these gullies might have formed. Mars also has Lobate Debris Aprons (LDAs); these are now stationary glacial flows composed almost entirely of water ice and covered in a layer of debris. Although the age and origins of LDAs are a mystery, they are likely remnants of a previous ice age on Mars.
- Mars is known as the Red Planet because iron minerals in the Martian soil oxidize, or rust, causing the soil, and the dusty atmosphere, to look red.
- Mars is the only planet other than Earth that has polar ice caps.
- The tallest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons, is on Mars; and the longest and deepest canyon in the solar system, Valles Marineris, is also on Mars.
- Mars is the only planet with observed dry ice (carbon dioxide) snowfall.
Missions
InSight (2018)
Mission to study crust, mantle and core of Mars
ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (2016)
ESA/Roscosmos mission to better understand methane and other trace atmospheric gases
MAVEN (2013)
Mission to study upper atmosphere and ionosphere
Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission) (2013)
ISRO mission to explore Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and atmosphere
Curiosity (2011)
Mission to determine if Mars is able to support microbial life
Phoenix (2007)
Mission to study history of water in the Martian arctic and search for evidence of a habitable zone
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2005)
Mission to search for evidence that water persisted on the surface for long period of time
Spirit & Opportunity (2003)
Mission to study history of water on Mars
Mars Express (2003)
ESA mission to study atmosphere, climate, planet structure, mineralogy and geology and search for traces of water
Mars Odyssey (2001)
Mission to study radiation environment and detect water and shallow buried ice
Mars Pathfinder (1996)
Mission to deliver lander and rover to Mars surface
Mars Global Surveyor (1996)
Mission to study composition and topography and monitor weather patterns
Phobos 2 (1988)
Soviet Union mission to study surface and atmosphere of Mars and surface composition of Martian moon Phobos
Viking 1 & 2 (1975)
Mission to collect data about the surface and atmosphere and search for signs of life
Mariner 9 (1971)
Mission to map Mars' surface
Mars 2 & 3 (1971)
Soviet Union orbiter and lander
Mariner 6 & 7 (1969)
Flyby to study surface for signs of life
Mariner 4 (1964)
First Mars flyby