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Mars

NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor mixes cement samples for the MICS mission aboard the International Space Station.

New Research

Why Astronauts Are Mixing Cement Aboard the International Space Station

Experiments show that cement will set in space, but moon colonists may have to tweak the mixture to make it work in low gravity

Csilla Ari D’Agostino sits in front of the Aquarius habitat and uses a waterproof iPad for cognitive tests as part of her research on NEEMO 23.

Future of Space Exploration

NASA Scientists and Astronauts Practice for Space Missions on the Seafloor

A female-led crew trained for nine days in an undersea laboratory in the Atlantic to get a sense of what it’s like to live and work in microgravity

Ice at the Martian pole. The dark spots are pockets of warming under the ice.

Future of Space Exploration

This Material May Make Human Habitation on Mars Possible

Silica aerogel traps heat and allows light in while blocking ultraviolet radiation, making it a good candidate for building human settlements

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Why the UAE’s Mars Mission Is the Arab World’s Moon Shot

In July 2020, ahead of the period of time when Mars and Earth are at their closest, the UAE will launch its first Mars orbiter mission

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Meet the New Generation Driving the UAE’s Space Program

In 2020, the UAE will launch a Mars space probe expected to reach the Red Planet by 2021 in time for the UAE’s 50th anniversary

A rendering of the Hope probe leaving Earth

10 Things You Should Know About the UAE Space Program

In 2006, the UAE began establishing knowledge transfer programs in preparation of a grand vision: to go to Mars

The SEIS instrument on the surface of Mars.

Future of Space Exploration

NASA Detects First ‘Marsquake’

A 2 to 2.5 magnitude quake on the Red Planet is the first seismic activity detected outside the Earth and the Moon

New Research

Raging Rivers May Have Washed Over Mars for Billions of Years

A study of 200 river systems shows the waterways persisted even while the atmosphere was disappearing and the Red Planet was drying up

Cool Finds

NASA Releases Opportunity Rover’s Final Panorama Photograph

The little Mars explorer was hit by a duststorm in June, 2018 and never recovered, but it did send back 354 images from on its final days

New Research

Mars May Have Had a Planet-Wide System of Underground Lakes

A study of 24 craters shows they experienced the simultaneous rise and fall of groundwater, suggesting they were interconnected at one time

A mosaic of Mars images captured by the Viking Orbiter 1, which operated around the planet from 1976 to 1980. Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system, cuts across middle of the planet, stretching over 3,000 km long and up to 8 km deep.

With Opportunity Lost, NASA Confronts the Tenuous Future of Mars Exploration

Following decades of continuous flights to Mars, NASA is facing a shortage of missions

An artist's concept of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity superimposed on a photo of Victoria Crater, taken by the rover.

How NASA’s Opportunity Rover Made Mars Part of Earth

After more than 15 years exploring the surface of Mars, the Opportunity rover has finally roved its last leg

An artist's rendering of the European Space Agency's Mars rover, scheduled for launch in 2020 and recently named after English chemist and X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin.

Europe’s 2020 Mars Rover Named for DNA Pioneer Rosalind Franklin

The U.K.-built vehicle is due to launch to the Red Planet next year

Though the technological challenges for a future Mars mission are considerable, a proposal to "live off the land" using resources on the Red Planet might dramatically simplify exploration plans.

A Smithsonian Researcher Reflects on What It Will Take to Land Humans on Mars

In a new book on space exploration, Smithsonian curator emeritus Roger D. Launius predicts boots on the Red Planet ground by the 2030s

Trending Today

Why the Nation of Georgia Wants to Make Wine on Mars

Researchers there are looking for grape varieties that can grow in Martian soil and survive high radiation and carbon monoxide

Beneath the Space Window at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., where a seven-gram sample of moon rock is incorporated into the design, a sold-out crowd gathered this week for the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 8.

NASA Won’t Be Going ‘Back’ to the Moon—It Wants to Go Beyond It

At a 50th-anniversary event for Apollo 8, NASA’s Jim Bridenstine envisioned the moon’s potential for future space exploration

Illustration of NASA's InSight lander about to land on the surface of Mars.

Watch NASA Land the InSight Spacecraft on Mars

The InSight lander has successfully touched down on Mars

Once NASA's InSight lander touches down on the surface of Mars, it will use a seismometer to measure "Marsquakes," and a self-hammering heat probe will burrow five meters below the surface to study the internal heat of the planet.

NASA Will Attempt Its Eighth Mars Landing on Monday

Touching down on the surface of the Red Planet is one of the most difficult engineering challenges ever attempted, and InSight is about to give it a go

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Ingenious Minds

AOL Co-Founder Steve Case Talks With Smithsonian Geologist John Grant About the Search for Life on Mars

In the near future, we are going to know if life exists elsewhere in the universe

A new Smithsonian Book asks the question: Is there a future for crewed missions to the Moon?

In the Wake of Apollo’s ‘Giant Leap,’ What’s Next for Lunar Exploration?

A new Smithsonian Book unpacks the possible future of missions to the Moon

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