Everything you need to know about Mars

Besides Earth, Mars is the only possibly habitable planet in our solar system

Sending humans to Mars in the following decades poses significant challenges, from the vast distance covered to get materials there to powering technology during weekslong dust storms. Research is ongoing to develop life support systems that can regenerate or recycle consumables.

Moon 101: NASA's complete overview of our lunar companion

From modulating our tides to impact our climate, Earth's lone natural satellite plays a key role forming the planet's habitat. Before diving into the rest of the resources on this page, check out NASA's overview of the basics of the Moon—how it got its name, its size and distance from Earth, its structure, and much more.

Explore a world map of Mars

The yellows spots scattered across the map indicate meteor impacts while the red regions represent volcanoes and their associated lava flows. The varying shades of brown indicate cratered highlands and midlands, which make up most of the southern hemisphere.

View the surface of Mars from NASA's Perseverance

Simulate a visit to the red planet with the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover. This 3D interactive experience lets you explore various locations on the martian surface. See closeup images the rover has taken and view key points of interest. It's the next best thing to being there and certainly far safer!

What is Mars Curiosity rover up to?

Mars continues to reveal itself through the Mars Curiosity Rover, which continues to ramble and roll across the red planet's surface. Here is NASA’s real-time portal for Mars exploration, featuring the latest news, images, and discoveries from the Red Planet. See evidence of the ancient rivers that once ran through the martian landscape, and see how Curiosity is setting the scene for possible future exploration by humans.

Mars features distinct geographic contrasts between its northern and southern regions

Unlike the uniform terrains found in most rocky planets, Mars has a smooth, low northern hemisphere and a rough, high southern hemisphere with much thicker crust. This dichotomy may originate from a massive collision early in the planet’s history.

How NASA measures marsquakes

Most probes sent to other planets and asteroids focus on surface phenomena, but NASA's InSight Lander is interested in looking deeper. Studying marsquakes as well as the red planet's crust and core, InSight provided four years of insight into how the rocky planets of the inner solar system formed.

Some 19th century astronomers thought Mars was inhabited

As telescope technology advanced, astronomers became able to observe the surfaces of objects in our solar system with greater detail. The dips, valleys, and lines crisscrossing Mars, particularly, captured onlookers' imagination, leading some to speculate that the seemingly organized features could only have been created by an intelligent civilization.

Explore a gallery of photographs of Mars taken from space

Spacecraft have been taking pictures of Mars from space since 1965, when the Mariner 4 probe became the first to beam back an image of a planet other than our own. The technology has significantly evolved since then, with ultra-high definition resolutions revealing previously unseen surface features.

Mars was named after the Roman god of war for its reddish hue, resembling blood

A single day on Mars lasts 24.6 hours, while a year lasts 687 Earth days. The rusting of iron in rocks on the Martian surface contributes to brown, gold, and tan colorations.

Everything you need to know about the planets in our solar system

NASA provides a re-introduction to our solar systems's planets, and a few other neighborhood residents. In the Milky Way galaxy, there are more planets than stars. We’ve discovered thousands of planets orbiting distant stars, but it all started with the current lineup of eight planets orbiting our own star—the sun. Learn more here.

Mars once had oceans and a thick atmosphere

It formed over millions of years as small clumps of matter orbiting the sun smashed together, solidified, and cooled. Geological features indicate the presence of past surface water, which evaporated away due to the planet's weak gravitational field.

Ambient sounds on Mars are lower-pitched and more muted than those on Earth

The planet's thin atmosphere absorbs higher frequencies, and audio captured by the Perseverance rover from the Ingenuity Mars helicopter revealed that sound waves travel farther than previous atmospheric models suggested.

Everything you need to know about Jupiter, the gas giant

NASA introduces you to the fifth planet from the sun, the gas giant Jupiter. When it comes to our solar system, Jupiter is the biggest kid on the block. Named after the king of the Ancient Roman gods, Jupiter is a planet of storms and chaos, most famously in its Great Red Spot, a hurricane larger than the earth itself.

The history and success of the mysterious Mars Inc.

Mars, Incorporated manufactures some of the world’s favorite treats, including M&M’s, Snickers, and Milky Way bars. Despite their success, you’ve probably not heard of them. The privately held company is largely unknown to the world despite being owned by the second-richest family in the US. This podcast discusses the mysterious Mars family and their remarkable entrepreneurial feat. Listen to uncover more.

Dust particles on Mars can generate lightning

Through triboelectric charging, sand and dust on the Martian surface can become electrified when they rub against one another, causing friction to displace electrons and create charged particles. If this matter forms a strong enough electric field, it can overcome atmospheric insulation and produce electrical discharges, resembling lightning on Earth.

NASA plans to build a lunar-orbiting space station to support future missions to Mars

Planned for a 2027 launch, NASA Gateway is a lunar-orbiting space station meant to support Artemis lunar missions and future Mars travel. This resource includes an interactive 3D model of the proposed station's modules and layout.

Mar's moons, Phobos and Deimos, are thought to be captured asteroids

Of the two Martian moons, Phobos orbits more quickly, completing three revolutions a day. It gets 1.8 meters closer to Mars every year, and may crash into the planet in about 50 million years.

Viking mission planning director Gentry Lee (1942–) on getting to Mars

"We didn't know then what we know now, which is how tough it really is to land on Mars."

How do planets form? An interview with a planetary scientist

Dr Farzana Meru, assistant professor and planetary scientist, shares how planets come to be in this interview. Protoplanetary discs are swirling, dusty, and gaseous formations that form and revolve around stars. Some 4,000 extra-solar planets have already been discovered, and through these protoplanetary discs more are on the way.

An overview of Venus, from its retrograde rotation to its volcanic surface

Boasting over 1,600 major volcanoes—more than any other planet in the solar system—Venus rotates in the opposite direction as Earth, potentially due to a major collision during its formation that flipped the planet upside-down. The planet's rotation also makes days on Venus last longer than its entire year.

Read the NASA overview of the results of Viking’s biological experiments on Mars

Three experiments on the Viking 1 and 2 landers searched for signs of metabolic activity in soil samples, indicating the presence of microorganisms. No definitive evidence of life was found in any experiment or lander imaging.

A quick guide to everything SpaceX

SpaceX has single-handedly reignited commercial space exploration, with its reusable rockets, broadband satellite constellation, and plans to populate Mars. The company has gone from a mere idea in 2002 to the world's most well-known private space company. Learn the basics about this pivotal company with this quick guide from CNET.

What are the ten largest deserts?

Read this article to learn more about the ten biggest deserts in the world—including what their climates are like, where they can be found, and just how big they actually are. Did you know, for instance, that Antarctica is home to the world’s...

The science of springtime, 101

Dive into the basics on springtime including the astronomy that brings it about, natural signs of spring's arrival, and some of the cultural approaches to the season.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

This poison ivy knowledge quiz—accompanied by photos of the plant's varied forms—may help you identify this common rash-inducing growth.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Planarian flatworms are small, aquatic worms with exceptional regenerative capabilities. When cut, the worms can regenerate multiple bodies in a matter of weeks.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.