Exploration
Articles, research, and analysis on Mars exploration.
The Most Dangerous Places on Mars (And Why We Should Go There)
From the towering slopes of Olympus Mons to the pitch-black depths of Valles Marineris, Mars hides its most compelling science in its…
Climbing Olympus Mons: The Ultimate Mountaineering Challenge
Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system — nearly three times the height of Everest. Here's what it would…
Driving the Length of Valles Marineris: Mars Grand Canyon Road Trip
Valles Marineris stretches nearly 4,000 km across Mars — roughly the width of the United States. Here's what a road trip through…
The First Marathon on Mars: Running in Low Gravity
What would it actually feel like to run a marathon on Mars? With gravity just 38% of Earth's, the physics — and…
Base Jumping on Mars: Extreme Sports in Low Gravity
Mars's gravity is just 38% of Earth's, which would transform extreme sports like base jumping into something almost unrecognizable. Here's what the…
Surfing the Dust Storms of Mars: Extreme Weather as Sport
Mars hosts the most violent dust storms in the solar system, with winds topping 60 mph and planet-encircling events that last months.…
The Mars 2020 Mission: Everything Perseverance Has Discovered
NASA's Perseverance rover has spent over three years exploring Jezero Crater, detecting organic molecules, producing oxygen, and caching samples for eventual return…
SpaceX Starship and the Future of Mars Transport
SpaceX's Starship is the most ambitious Mars transport vehicle ever built, combining full reusability, methane propulsion, and in-situ resource utilization to make…
The Ingenuity Helicopter: First Flight on Another Planet
On April 19, 2021, a small helicopter called Ingenuity made history as the first powered aircraft to fly on another world. Here's…
Percival Lowell and the Canals That Were Never There
In the late 19th century, astronomer Percival Lowell convinced himself — and much of the world — that he could see the…