Mars - NASA Science (original) (raw)
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.
Featured Video
Perseverance Mars Rover Drive Path Animation
This animated orbital-map view shows the route NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has taken since its February 2021 landing at Jezero Crater to July 2024, when it took its “Cheyava Falls” sample. As of October 2024, the rover has driven over 30 kilometers (18.65 miles), and has collected 24 samples of rock and regolith as well as one air sample.
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.
Mars Relay Network: Interplanetary Internet
How We Explore
Mars Sample Return
NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) are planning ways to bring the first samples of Mars material back to Earth for detailed study.
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Mars Perseverance Rover (Mars 2020)
The Mars 2020 mission Perseverance rover is the first step of a proposed roundtrip journey to return Mars samples to Earth.
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Mars Curiosity Rover (Mars Science Laboratory)
Curiosity is investigating Mars to determine whether the Red Planet was ever habitable to microbial life.
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MAVEN
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission is the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere.
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter searches for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for a long period of time.
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Mars Odyssey
Mars Odyssey mission created the first global map of chemical elements and minerals that make up the Martian surface.
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Multimedia
Mars Resources
View the one-stop shop for all Mars iconic images, videos, and more!
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.