The InSight Lander mission to Mars is preparing for launch in May 2018. But there are seven (or eight) other planets to explore: why have we such a hang up on Mars?
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Mars
Displaying 161 - 180 of 280 articles
The launch of Elon Musk’s Falcon Heavy rocket is undoubtedly a spectacular feat of engineering - but the release of a sports car into orbit also says something about our values as human beings.
LED lights can actually improve upon the sun and help grow plants in space. A Canadian team of researchers is helping to refine and perfect LED technology.
If we find microbes on Mars, it will be difficult to exclude the possibility that we have accidentally brought them there from Earth.
The race may be on to send humans to live on Mars, but is it worth the effort – and the spend – when we have our own problems to deal with on Earth.
Clay on early Mars could have formed under hot and steamy conditions, challenging the idea that it was created just like that on Earth.
Simulations in a special chamber suggest how the Mars landscape could have been shaped under certain conditions.
Future Mars colonists may want to form their own legal system. What would stop them?
Beagle 2 shows the fine line between success and failure in Mars exploration. There’s a lot we can learn from it going forward.
They erupted for billions of years and make Earth’s volcanoes look like molehills. Here’s what we know and what we don’t know about them.
Musk’s audacious plan to blast people to Mars by 2024 glosses over some important social and political challenges that SpaceX will need to successfully navigate to get off the ground.
Sending humans to Mars is a 5-10 year project goal for several global operators right now. It’s expensive - but Elon Musk unveiled his new commercial plan today.
Planetary protection protocols try to make sure we don’t seed places like Mars with life from our planet. An astrobiologist argues they’re misguided – especially with human astronauts on the horizon.
Will humans ever live on Mars? Whoever it is to get there first will benefit from the experiences of those who stayed in simulated Martian missions here on Earth.
Space exploration is exciting - but there are barriers for humans hoping to visit and even stay on planets. Buried ice on Mars could be a water source for interplanetary visits of the future.
Scientists used to believe that snowfall could never reach the ground.
The volcanoes would be a great place t to search for fossilised microbes.
We need a positive vision for humanity, not tech-driven life on Mars.
We will one day grow food in conditions as extreme as Mars. Developing the controlled environments required will help not only space explorers but also support our own survival here on Earth.
Musk dismisses one of the main technical challenges of being on the Martian surface: the temperature.
Top contributors
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Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University
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Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Space Science, University of Birmingham
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Professor of Planetary Geosciences, The Open University
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Professor of Physics, Deputy Director (Solar System) at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL
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Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University
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Senior Instrument Scientist, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
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Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria and Honorary Fellow at University of Melbourne, Museums Victoria Research Institute
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Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air University
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Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science and Planetary Exploration, University of Stirling
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Sterrenkenner, History & Philosophy of Science, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Planetary Science, University of Leicester
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Professor in Earth Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Emeritus Professor of Mineral Physics, University of Cambridge
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University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona
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Professor of Astrobiology, UNSW Sydney
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Associate member of the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, UNSW Sydney
