Articles tagged as Mars | Smithsonian Magazine

New Research

Mars Surface May Be Too Toxic for Microbial Life

The combination of UV radiation and perchlorates common on Mars could be deadly for bacteria

July 6, 2017

The astronauts of "2001: A Space Odyssey" hide in a pod to discuss the troubling behavior of their spacecraft's artificial intelligence, HAL 9000. In the background, HAL is able to read their lips.

Ask Smithsonian

When We Go to Mars, Will We Have a Real-Life HAL 9000 With Us?

How generations of NASA scientists were inspired by an evil Hollywood supercomputer

June 13, 2017

Fossils provide potential evidence that ancient life thrived Australia's Dresser Formation, a region composed of 3.5-billion-year-old hot springs.

New Research

Fossils From Ancient Hot Springs Suggest Life May Have Evolved on Land

These 3.5-billion-year-old rocks could vindicate Darwin’s claim that life evolved in “some warm little pond,” and not in the ocean

May 11, 2017

New Research

Why Morning Glories Could Survive Space Travel

The seed of the common garden flower could survive long journeys in space

May 3, 2017

New Research

Scientists Make Sturdy Bricks From Mars-Like Soils

Their findings may be a step forward in the mission to build structures on the Red Planet

May 1, 2017

An artist's rendition of Maven as it spies on Mars' atmosphere.

New Research

Mars Has Metal in Its Atmosphere

Metallic ions have a permanent presence in the red planet’s atmosphere—kind of like on Earth

April 13, 2017

The latest iteration of the four-legged LEMUR exploration robot clings to a test rock surface in Aaron Parness’ lab in a recent test of its microspine capabilities.

Think Big

A New Generation of Interplanetary Rovers Is Crawling Toward the Stars

These four-legged, wheel-less robots will explore asteroids and the frigid outer worlds of our Solar System

March 22, 2017

What a ring around Mars may have looked like

New Research

Mars May Have Had a Ring in the Past and Could Have One in the Future

The red planet’s moon may have broken apart into a ring of debris and reformed several times over the planet’s history

March 21, 2017

Shortly after the announcement of the TRAPPIST-1 system, NASA crowdsourced its Twitter followers for possible planet names. The actual process of naming new planets, however, is a bit more involved.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

How Do New Planets Get Their Names?

Sorry, Planet McPlanetface: Asteroids, moons and other celestial bodies go through a strict set of international naming guidelines

March 17, 2017

Computer-simulated global view of Venus.

Think Big

The Case for Going to Venus

Sending a probe to Earth’s lifeless twin could help us understand how life rises—and falls—on faraway planets

March 15, 2017

As part of his survival plan, Watney uses vacuum-packed potatoes to start his own farm on Mars.

Scientists Successfully Grow Potatoes in Mars-Like Soils

Can potatoes grow on the red planet? The International Potato Center is on the case

March 15, 2017

This lumpy moon would have made short work of NASA's MAVEN craft.

Left unattended, MAVEN and Phobos could have collided

March 3, 2017

What thorny ethical issues await us once we make it to Mars? A composite image of the red planet, composed by processing about 1000 Viking Orbiter red- and violet-filter images have been to provide global color coverage at a scale of 1 km/pixel.

Think Big

When Humans Begin Colonizing Other Planets, Who Should Be in Charge?

The biggest threat humans pose to other worlds is what we don’t know—or what we think we know, but don’t

March 1, 2017

Clocking in at 2.4 billion year old, this space rock is unlike the others.

New Research

A Martian Volcano May Have Continuously Erupted for Billions of Years

A space rock found in Northwest Africa provides new clues to volcanic activity on Mars

February 7, 2017

Visit Kennedy Space Center, the Closest Thing to Space on Earth

January 30, 2017

This vertically exaggerated view shows scalloped depressions in a part of Mars where such textures prompted researchers to check for buried ice, using ground-penetrating radar aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They found about as much frozen water as the volume of Lake Superior.

New Research

This Massive Martian Field of Ice Could Fill Lake Superior

The frosty deposit could be a lifeline for future human explorers on the Red Planet

November 23, 2016

The crew of the International Space Station's Expedition 38

New Research

Space Makes Astronauts Grow Taller, But It Also Causes Back Problems

The inches gained during long stays in space don’t stick around once the adventurers return to Earth

October 31, 2016

The European Space Agency lost contact with the Schiaparelli probe after it jettisoned its heat shield and deployed its parachute

October 20, 2016

An illustration of the Schiaparelli lander detaching from the Trace Gas Orbiter as it makes its way to the surface of Mars

A lot is riding on the European Space Agency’s first Mars lander

October 17, 2016

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on NASA's final space shuttle mission from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on July 8, 2011.

Some leaps, launches and grand plans for the future

October 13, 2016