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Mars Overview

Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars, is one of Earth’s two closest planetary neighbors (Venus is the other). Mars is one of the easiest planets to spot in the night sky — it looks like a bright red point of light.

Despite being inhospitable to humans, robotic explorers — like NASA’s Perseverance rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — serve as pathfinders to eventually get astronauts to the surface of the Red Planet.

The mars Report

New Year, New Mars

“Springtime on Earth has lots of trickling as water ice gradually melts. But on Mars, everything happens with a bang,” said NASA/JPL scientist Serina Diniega.

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This illustration shows a concept for multiple robots that would team up to ferry to Earth samples of rock and soil collected from the Martian surface by NASA's Mars Perseverance rover.

MARS SAMPLE RETURN | Future Mission

NASA and the ESA (European Space Agency) are planning ways to bring the first samples of Mars material back to Earth for detailed study.
Launch: TBD

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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie, made up of 62 individual images, on July 23. A rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls,” which has features that may bear on the question of whether the Red Planet was long ago home to microscopic life, is to the left of the rover near the center of the image.

PERSEVERANCE MARS ROVER | Active Mission

The Mars 2020 mission Perseverance rover is the first step of a proposed roundtrip journey to return Mars samples to Earth.
Launch: July 30, 2020 | 11:50 UTC
Mars Landing: Feb. 8, 2021 | 20:55 UTC

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CURIOSITY MARS ROVER | Active Mission

Curiosity is investigating Mars to determine whether the Red Planet was ever habitable to microbial life.
Launch: Nov. 26, 2011 | 15:02 UTC
Mars Landing: Aug. 6, 2012 | 05:32 UTC

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Artist's concept of the MAVEN spacecraft in orbit above Mars.

MAVEN | Active Mission

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission is the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere.
Launch: Nov. 18. 2013 | 18:28 UTC
Mars Arrival: Sep. 22, 2014

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MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER | Active Mission

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter searches for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time.
Launch: Aug. 12, 2005 | 15:02 UTC
Mars Arrival: Mar. 10, 2006

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A gold-colored spacecraft orbits over Mars, with a dish antenna extending from its top, a spindly boom extending from the front of it toward the viewer, and a large three-paneled solar array attached vertically to its left side. Mars appears as a dusty tan color covering the lower half of the frame, with patches of white at its top, against a black sky flecked with stars in the upper frame.

MARS ODYSSEY | Active Mission

Mars Odyssey mission created the first global map of chemical elements and minerals that make up the Martian surface.
Launch: Apr. 7, 2001 | 15:02:22 UTC
Mars Arrival: Oct. 24, 2001

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Why Do We Go?

Mars is one of the most explored bodies in our solar system, and it’s the only planet where we’ve sent rovers to explore the alien landscape. NASA missions have found lots of evidence that Mars was much wetter and warmer, with a thicker atmosphere, billions of years ago.

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Mars Relay Network: Communications Bridge Between Mars & Earth

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Beyond the Moon

Humans to Mars

Like the Moon, Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and a driver of technologies that will enable humans to travel and explore far from Earth.

Mars remains our horizon goal for human exploration because it is one of the only other places we know in the solar system where life may have existed. What we learn about the Red Planet will tell us more about our Earth’s past and future, and may help answer whether life exists beyond our home planet.

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