Overview | Mars – NASA Solar System Exploration
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun – a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Mars is also a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was even more active in the past.
In Depth | Mars - NASA Solar System Exploration
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.
Six Things to Know About NASA's Opportunity Mars Rover
Feb 13, 2019 · Foremost among Spirit and Opportunity's many science discoveries: Mars was likely wetter and warmer in the past. These conditions could have served as a cradle for life on Mars at a time when life first emerged on Earth. Opportunity contributed several key findings to this conclusion.
To find out if Mars could have been a habitat for life, Curiosity surveys the environment at Gale Crater and acquires rock, soil, and air samples for onboard analysis.
How Will Perseverance Land on Mars? - NASA Solar System …
Feb 17, 2021 · “Perseverance is NASA’s most ambitious Mars rover mission yet, focused scientifically on finding out whether there was ever any life on Mars in the past,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in …
Viking 20th Anniversary - NASA Solar System Exploration
Jul 15, 1996 · Although no traces of life were found, analysis of the Martian atmosphere and soil indicated that all elements essential to life on Earth -- carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and phosphorus -- were present on Mars. Liquid water is also considered an …
Mars By the Numbers - NASA Solar System Exploration
Dec 19, 2024 · Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited entirely by robots.
In Depth | Our Solar System - NASA Solar System Exploration
Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.
Dust Storms Linked to Gas Escape from Mars Atmosphere
Jan 23, 2018 · Fast Facts: Rising air during global dust storms on Mars hoists water vapor high in the atmosphere, researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter report. Regional dust storms every year uplift water to a lesser extent and appear to drive a seasonal pattern in loss of hydrogen from the top of Mars' atmosphere.
In Depth | Phobos – NASA Solar System Exploration
Phobos, gouged and nearly shattered by a giant impact crater and beaten by thousands of meteorite impacts, is on a collision course with Mars. Phobos is the larger of Mars' two moons and is 17 x 14 x 11 miles (27 by 22 by 18 kilometers) in diameter.