Billionaire Elon Musk does a lot. It seems like he never sits still. He owns a car company at the cutting edge of technology, a rocket ship company that hopes to colonize Mars and an energy company that wants to harness the endless free energy the Sun provides. He thinks outside the box, and decades into the future, but wait, what's this about nuking Mars? Musk appeared on the Stephen Colbert show and in talking about some of his ideas, Colbert asked him how he thought humans could live on Mars. Clearly, humans could only survive on Mars inside of sealed domes, with their own energy sources and no one has a fool proof plan for this yet. Musk did have a radical idea though. One way to warm up the planet would be to drop nuclear bombs at each pole of the planet. Watch this part of the interview, and decide for yourself: Hero or villain?

Humans have a unique fascination with Mars. We've conceived of alien Martians and even thought of being our own human Martians who can colonize this red planet. After all, Mars is the closest planet to us that has familiar geological features like mountains, valleys, and even liquid water. It even has near 24-hour day cycles. But while Matt Damon made it look easy to be a Martian, lets reconsider some limitations of actually living on Mars. The red planet is just outside of Earth's Goldilocks zone, but far enough that the sun's heat can't warm this planet up to comfortable temperatures for most humans. As Bill Nye described it, living on Mars would be like living on Antarctica - dry and frigid. But don't forget that the air on Mars only has 0.14% oxygen (compared to the comfortable, life-enhancing 21% on Earth), so a human Martian will always need to be attached to an oxygen supply. The hostile temperature and air quality aren't exactly conducive to a sustainable source of food and water, so will future human Martians still rely on freeze-dried food packets? As if extreme temperatures and low oxygen aren't enough, there are even bigger problems to contend with. Watch the video to learn more about other limitations of living on Mars, and maybe you will appreciate Earth a bit more and rethink the costs of a journey to Mars.

As of this weekend, Mars is now in opposition; Mars and Earth are on the same side of the sun. So, Mars will rise as the sun sets and it will set as the sun rises. Mars will therefore be easily visible to the naked eye during clear skies. The easiest way to see Mars will be to go outside at midnight, local time, if you live north of the equator and look to the southeastern sky. Mars should also be close to the full moon, and except for the moon and Jupiter, will be the brightest object in the night sky. It will appear about 1/100 the size of the moon. The Hubble Space Telescope has taken a new image of Mars, released by NASA on May 19, 2016, to commemorate this event. The telescope is possibly most famous for the awesome images of nebulas and galaxies in other solar systems, but its also been very useful for researching our own Milky Way. NASA shares some details of its discoveries here too. Although Mars will be opposite of the Earth on Sunday, it will not be at its closest. That will occur in about a week on May 30, when it will be the closest to Earth it has been since November 2005.

International organizations are pouring in billions of dollars to find signs of life on Mars. While some evidence points towards the possibility of its existance in the distant past, many question whether it could still be there today. That said, here's a summary of what we know so far about the potential for life on the red planet.

ISS astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren talk about the challenges of a mission to Mars. Scott Kelly, when asked how the psychology of the mission to Mars would differ from a stint on the ISS said "There's no doubt about it, it will differ vastly." Kelly talked about the length of the trip getting to Mars and the fact that after a few days, astronauts on the way to Mars would not be able to see Earth. Kelly elaborated on one of the things he misses most about not being home: The ability to leave. As amazing at the ISS is, it's not like any of the residents can open a door and take a stroll down to the local pub. Another difference in a mission aboard the ISS and a journey to Mars is the communication. Astronauts going to Mars will not be able to communicate with Earth easily. Check out the video to hear more from Kelly and Lindgren about the differences between an ISS mission and a Mars mission.

Earth doesn't have a monopoly on celestial light shows in the night sky. Mars has them, too.NASA's MAVEN spacecraft (short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spotted ultraviolet "Christmas light" auroras dancing in the Red Planet's atmosphere for five days leading up to Dec. 25, 2014."What's especially surprising about the aurora we saw is how deep in the atmosphere it occurs - much deeper than at Earth or elsewhere on Mars," Arnaud Stiepen, of the University of Colorado, a team member with MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument, said in a NASA statement. "The electrons producing it must be really energetic." Source: Space.com

NASA launched its Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission back in November of 2013 with the intent of studying Mars’ upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and how our planetary neighbor responded to the Sun and the effects of solar wind. Image Credit: NASA MAVEN was initially estimated to sport a life expectancy of just two years, but it has well-outlived its purpose. It continues to operate soundly, and with NASA slated to launch its Mars 2020 rover next year, MAVEN is about to take on a new role as a full-time communications satellite. In a public statement released Monday evening, the American space agency unveiled its plans to tighten MAVEN’s orbit around Mars such that it could act as a radio relay between NASA engineers and the Mars 2020 rover when the latter touches down on the red planet’s surface. The statement goes on to explain that the maneuver will reduce MAVEN’s highest point in its elliptical orbit from 3,850 miles above Mars’s surface to just 2,800 miles. “The MAVEN spacecraft has done a phenomenal job teaching us how Mars lost its atmosphere and providing other important scientific insights on the evolution of the Martian climate,” said Mars Exploration Director Jim Watzin. “Now we’re recruiting it to help NASA communicate with our forthcoming Mars rover and its successors.” Related: Meet the future landing site of the Mars 2020 rover As it would seem, NASA’s reasoning for positioning MAVEN closer to the Martian surface is to improve wireless reception with the Mars 2020 rover when it begins exploring Mars. The space agency compares the scenario to using a cell phone, adding that being closer to your cellular tower improves signal strength and performance. MAVEN will achieve its lower altitude by using a technique known as aerobraking. As MAVEN dips lower into Mars’ atmosphere, the spacecraft will experience a drag that slows it down; this drag will permit the probe to descend even more until NASA engineers are satisfied with its position. Image Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Kel Elkins and Dan Gallagher Alternatively, NASA could fire MAVEN’s thrusters to achieve instant results, but that would waste precious fuel. The tried-and-true aerobraking method will take several months, but it’s more efficient than firing MAVEN’s thrusters to achieve the same result, and there’s plenty of time left before the Mars 2020 rover launches en-route to Mars. “The effect is the same as if we fired our thrusters a little bit on every orbit, but this way, we use very little fuel,” explained MAVEN principal investigator Bruce Jakosky. Related: Learn more about the advanced technologies that are packed into the Mars 2020 rover NASA engineers have dipped the MAVEN spacecraft to low altitudes previously to capture measurements of and study Mars’ atmosphere, but this time MAVEN is expected to stay in its new position where it will work in tandem with the Mars 2020 rover for the rest of its days. Source: NASA

The planet Mars has always been known as a bone-dry world, incapable of possessing liquid water on its surface. This is primarily due to the lack of atmospheric pressure necessary to keep water in its liquid form, as Mars exhibits a ground level atmosphere pressure 0.6% of Earth’s. This long-standing theory of why there was a lack of liquid water on Mars had cold water thrown on it when a 2018 study published in Science revealed the possible existence of groundwater beneath the south pole of Mars when scientists saw bright radar reflections underneath the polar cap. But the purpose of science is to keep asking questions and challenging hypotheses. A new study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters found that the radar reflections actually matched those of volcanic plains found all over the surface of Mars. "For water to be sustained this close to the surface, you need both a very salty environment and a strong, locally generated heat source, but that doesn't match what we know of this region," said Dr. Cyril Grima, a planetary scientist at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), and lead author of the study. For the study, Dr. Gima added an imaginary ice sheet across a radar map of Mars, which essentially caused the previous south pole findings of liquid water to blend in with the rest of the map. This revealed how the terrain of Mars would look through a mile of ice, which allowed scientists to compare features across the entire planet with those previous findings under the south polar cap. The study was based on three years of data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s Mars Express, which was launched in June 2003 and inserted into Mars orbit that December. Dr. Grima and co-author Dr. Jérémie Mouginot, a research scientist at the Institute of Environmental Geosciences in Grenoble, France, are continuing to work on proposed missions to find water on Mars using radar, both to aid future astronauts on the red planet as well as find signs of past life. Sources: NASA, ArXiv, AGU

The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently shared a really interesting panoramic photograph of Mars, taken by the Mars Express spacecraft, which is hovering above the surface of Mars. The panoramic photograph shows the South pole the planet, which gives us a good view of an ice cap on the planet. The image, shared just last week by the ESA, was taken on February 25th of this year. The ESA says that the ice cap is comprised of frozen water and carbon dioxide ice, and that it changes in shape and size depending on the planet’s season. On Mars, this time of the year is Summer, so this photograph was actually taken during the Summer time. The ESA says that when it’s Winter on Mars, this same ice cap is known to extend far out into the smoother plains surrounding the ice cap. Despite the red hue of Mars, don’t be fooled – the planet isn’t hot. It’s further away the Sun than the Earth is, and reaches much colder temperatures than the Earth does. Out beyond on the smoothness, you can see the cratered surface of Mars, which shows the impacts that the planet has taken over the course of its lifetime. The ESA says that this panoramic photograph was taken much higher up from the surface of Mars than the spacecraft typically goes when it normally takes surface pictures. This time, the spacecraft was positioned at 9900 kilometers above the planet’s surface, rather than its typical 300 kilometers. Being so high up gives the spacecraft the advantage of being able to see a large surface area of the planet at once. This large panoramic photograph also gives the spacecraft what the ESA calls a “broom calibration” image, and that’s because it allows the spacecraft’s sensory equipment to use this photograph as a baseline for anything else it picks up when it goes closer to the planet’s surface again. Source: ESA

After landing on the Moon, heading to Mars became the next logical step for space exploration. Some suggest that flying towards Venus is both a faster and cheaper way to get there. Noam Izenberg, a planetary geologist at John Hopkins University, and others have drafted a white paper recommending a detour to Venus while on the way to or from Mars. To understand why let's look at the two ways to travel between Earth and Mars. The first involves flying a spacecraft between the two planets where their orbits align. This is known as a conjunction mission. After reaching Mars, astronauts would need to wait for the planets to align again before returning to Earth- meaning they would need to spend at least a year and a half on the planet. The second way is known as an opposition mission. In this case, the spacecraft would make a detour towards Venus to or from Mars, and use its gravitational pull to alter its course. In doing so, astronauts could significantly reduce the amount of energy needed for each trip. This would lead to significant savings on fuel, weight, and of course, cost. This kind of mission would also mean that launches between the two planets could happen every 19 months, as opposed to every 26 months. It could also potentially allow astronauts to spend as little as one month on Mars at a time, as opposed to a year and a half via conjunction mission. Already, it seems that NASA is planning on employing an opposition mission to Mars. In a report from April, the agency mentions 'two-year Mars class missions', as a future aim. Kirby Runyon, a planetary geomorphologist at Johns Hopkins University, and one of the co-authors of the whitepaper, said, "Assuming that this report is talking about normal forms of propulsion, the only way you can get to Mars and back in two years is if you include a Venus flyby." Sources: Space.com, ARXIV

Space agencies and commercial space companies are taking the idea of colonizing Mars very seriously. There’s just one problem: the red planet isn’t entirely habitable for humans (at least not yet). Astronauts could technically live inside of pressurized live support bubbles and wear space suits with oxygen tanks every time they wanted to set foot outside. On the other hand, this isn’t the ideal solution for long-term colonization. That’s why scientists are now throwing around the idea of ‘terraforming’ Mars, which means transforming the planet’s atmosphere, temperature, and topography to make it habitable like Earth’s. Sounds like something right out of a science fiction movie, right? That’s because it is; on the other hand, it also might be possible with the right mix of know-how and technology, and perhaps a whole lot of patience too. It’s thought that there could be enough oxygen trapped in Mars’ polar ice to harness for life support and water production, but pumping oxygen alone into the Martian air would be a far cry from Earth’s rich atmosphere, which is comprised mostly of nitrogen, slightly of oxygen, and a plethora of other gasses. Creating a livable atmosphere would solve a lot of problems with Mars’ current habitability, including the ability to breathe, blocking harmful space radiation, and warming up the planet’s average frigid temperature of -80 degrees Fahrenheit. But just how feasible is this? The short answer is, we aren’t sure. Scientists have some ideas to make this terraforming project happen, but much of it necessitates insane amounts of energy, resources, and time we don’t have. Moreover, it would be cheaper and more feasible to simply build pressurized life support systems akin to stationary land-based versions of the International Space Station. Will we ever terraform Mars? Perhaps, but it doesn’t look likely in the foreseeable future. Given just how long it’s taking to put the first human astronaut on Mars, it would be a miracle if a terraforming project had any impact on the red planet anytime in the next several generations. Then again, only time will tell…

Humankind is getting closer to the ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars for scientific research, and then eventually colonization later down the line. But time and time again, missions exploring the red planet have continued to fascinate us in ways we never thought imaginable. Mars is a terrestrial planet just like the Earth, albeit a much smaller one with a less robust atmosphere. In fact, Mars has approximately the same surface area as all of Earth’s continents combined. Underneath Mars’ bright red surface is a core comprised of iron, nickel, and sulfur, which some scientists think may have produced a magnetic field that, at one point, protected the red planet from the Sun’s radiation. Mars’ rustic red color comes from the planet’s high surface iron content, which reacts with the small amounts of oxygen in its atmosphere. Mars’ surface is also riddled with various types of features that tell a captivating story of flowing water and rich, potentially habitable conditions. These findings have piqued so much interest, in fact, that scientists are preparing to capture surface samples for analysis with the Mars 2020 rover. Mars is also home to Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the solar system that stands up to three times taller than Mt. Everest here on Earth. Some scientists believe that Mars’ weaker gravitational pull may have contributed to Olympus Mons being able to grow to such heights. While Mars looks like a dry and desolate wasteland today, scientific missions have revealed that frozen water exists at the plant’s polar ice caps, and it’s hoped that we might be able to utilize this frozen water to create oxygen and rocket fuel if astronauts ever make it to Mars as planned. This same water could have potentially supported life in the planet’s distant past, but this has yet to be confirmed…

Anyone who follows space science knows that there are long-term goals to put humans on Mars. Leaders from both NASA and SpaceX aspire to send astronauts there so they can develop the first interplanetary colonies that will enable humans to live on the red planet. On the other hand, is a permanent trip to Mars a good idea? Some planetary scientists have their doubts. While it might be a good idea to send people to Mars temporarily to experience the red planet's environment first-hand, a permanent settlement might come with too many drawbacks. For example, Mars has too thin of an atmosphere and lacks a magnetosphere, so there's no natural protection from cosmic radiation. Unless we find a way to shield future Mars-explorers from said radiation, it could negatively impact the first Martian settlers' health. Most experts agree that Mars' first visitors would need to live underground or spend their lives inside of protective shielding; neither situation is ideal. But is there a better solution? Some scientists have suggested turning a blind eye toward Mars and looking elsewhere. Saturn's moon Titan, for instance, has a thick atmosphere like Earth's. Although it lacks oxygen, humans could derive it from frozen water stored on Titan's surface, so that's not a tremendous issue. There's certainly a lot to think about, but we'll leave that to the experts at NASA.

On Earth, we sometimes experience something called an Earthquake; this is when Earth's tectonic plates shift in such a way that the ground vibrates beneath us. On the other hand, Mars doesn't have tectonic plates, so would we ever experience a Marsquake on the red planet? Planetary scientists think we might, but not from tectonic activity. Instead, Marsquakes would occur from alternative sources, such as asteroid impacts, magma flow activity, and internal planetary cooling and warming. NASA's upcoming InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations) lander will investigate Marsquakes in an attempt to understand the red planet better. As these vibrations occur beneath the red planet's surface, we can better map out the interior layers of Mars to obtain a better idea of how it formed. No one's sure how many Marsquakes InSight will detect, but it should be interesting to see what we might learn from deploying this mission.

NASA’s InSight mission officially landed on Mars last November, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the media hyped this mission’s purpose on the red planet, including its goal of investigating Mars’ internal planetary mechanisms. But it’s been almost a year since the InSight mission arrived at Mars, and the media has been particularly quiet regarding what the mission has found thus far. Shortly after landing on Mars, InSight’s sensors immediately began studying the world around it. The seismometer picked up vibrations that told NASA more about the planet’s winds, and an onboard camera recorded time lapses showcasing the water vapor moving through the atmosphere – this told NASA about the direction of that wind. NASA also commanded InSight to place its seismometer on the ground and to place the mole that would be used to identify the sub-surface temperature on Mars. While the seismometer was successful, the mole unfortunately got stuck, likely because it struck a hard rock beneath the surface. The mole was extracted with the robotic arm, but work is currently underway to place the mole somewhere else. InSight has thus far detected its first marsquake, a step in the right direction for mapping Mars’ interior, and it’s hoped that the team can get the mole on the right track to better understand the planet’s internal thermals. With this information, planetary scientists hope to learn more about Mars’ history and why it’s the desolate wasteland it is today.

Anyone who’s paid any attention to SpaceX over the years knows that Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, has a slight obsession with Mars. Fortunately, that’s a great trait to have as a leader of one of the United States’ most influential commercial space companies. Image Credit: Pixabay On Friday, Musk took the stage in Adelaide, Australia to discuss the company’s plans for Mars with a whole host of other space aficionados. His ambitious thinking could put uncrewed spacecraft on Mars by 2022, and crewed spacecraft could arrive there by 2024. One of the greatest challenges besides safety has been the cost factor of sending a large spacecraft to Mars. Fortunately, Musk says he might have found a way to fund the endeavor. "The most important thing... is that I think we have figured out how to pay for (BFR), which is to have a smaller vehicle, it's still pretty big, but one that can... do everything that's needed in the greater Earth orbit activity," Musk said Related: SpaceX's Elon Musk shares detailed concepts for colonizing Mars SpaceX plans to continue regular profitable space launches that will put satellites into orbit around the Earth and resupply the International Space Station with fresh food, experiments, and new astronauts on a regular basis. Moreover, SpaceX plans to one day supply lunar-based science labs whenever we get around to building them. So far, the ESA wants to establish a base on the lunar surface while the United States and Russia want to collaborate to build a space station that orbits the Moon. But if that wasn't enough, Musk also has yet another incredible idea to generate revenue. At some point, Space rockets could become a commercial transport system for ferrying people from one major city on one side of the planet to another on the other side in less than an hour. "I feel fairly confident that we can complete the ship and launch in about five years," Musk added, explaining how all these monetizing resources would help pay for the new equipment and the expensive research and development behind it all. Related: How SpaceX plans to put humans on Mars The first ships to arrive at Mars would be uncrewed because it’s critical to establish a starting ground for the first human explorers. These uncrewed missions would be necessary for discovering a reliable water source, generating electrical power to energize life support systems, and delivering equipment for resource-gathering. Once these autonomous or remote-controlled systems have some time to incubate in the Martian environment, we can begin adding humans to the equation. Related: Is Mars' environment more hostile than originally thought? You can watch the full presentation of what Musk had to say in the YouTube video below, which was published by SpaceX Friday morning: It should be interesting to see how SpaceX’s plan to colonize Mars unfolds. After all, crewed Mars missions have been on Musk's to-do list for years. Even NASA shares similar goals, but the space agency foresees crewed Mars missions happening decades into the future; not years, as Musk estimates. Regardless, Musk's words today are inspiring minds all around the world to push forward with these ambitious goals. Perhaps sooner, rather than later, we'll have astronauts walking on the red planet's surface for the first time in human history. Source: SpaceX via Phys.org

As it turns out, we have it pretty good on Earth; the planet’s magnetic field keeps us safe from most forms of harmful cosmic radiation that can damage DNA and cause cancer. But the same can’t be said about Mars, a place that NASA and SpaceX want to send astronauts for scientific study in the future. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a robust magnetic field, and the deep space astronauts would need to travel through to get there is particularly unshielded from this harmful radiation. Faced with these challenges, astronauts would be heavily dependent on artificial radiation shielding for protection; unfortunately, it’s not as effective as a planetary magnetic field would be. Given the circumstances, visiting Mars may be more dangerous than initially thought, and it’s raising serious concerns about sending people to Mars for scientific exploration or for interplanetary colonization. It should be interesting to see how space agencies will tackle this problem and whether we’ll still move forward with plans to visit the red planet in the next couple of decades. Without question, more research is needed to better understand the impacts of cosmic radiation on the human body beforehand.

The news that evidence of water has been found on Mars is exciting, but what scientists are learning now is even more significant. Curiosity has been collecting tons of data in the Gale Crater and analysis of that data shows that there were large fresh water lakes 3 billion with a B .years ago. While there are only small traces of water left now, back in the day, there was a lot more. Mount Sharp, at the center of Gale Crater, was examined by the Mars rover and the layers of rock there show that a lake there was at least a few meters deep. Scientists were also able to tell that the lake at the center of the crater would have been there for possibly thousands of years. It would have frozen and thawed in turn with the Mars climate and even have been tidal. Check out the video to see more details of what kind of planet Mars was in the old days.

Earth might be our natural home in the solar system, but many scientists propose terraforming nearby planets like Mars and Venus such that they can be made habitable for humankind. Venus, which is considerably closer to Earth than Mars, sports an insanely-high surface temperature with crushing atmospheric pressures. These two elements make for an inhabitable world, but some scientists think that we could cool the planet down with solar shields or create high-rising cities that reside in the lower-pressure portions of the Venusian atmosphere. Mars, on the other hand, lacks many of the necessities of life. Its thin atmosphere and lack of flowing surface water mean that it would take significant resources to make the planet habitable. Some scientists have suggested detonating thermonuclear bombs at Mars' poles to release liquid water, but this idea seems a little far-fetched. In either case, terraforming Mars or Venus would require significant time and resources. So much, in fact, that it may not be feasible in our lifetimes. That aside, scientists are actively researching new ways to move forward with ideas so that they can happen sooner rather than later.

It should be safe for humans to travel to Mars, provided journeys don’t take more than four years. The corresponding research was published in Space Weather by researchers from Russia, Germany, and the US. Space radiation from Solar Energetic Particles (SEP) and Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) are major health concerns when planning long-term human space missions. The intensity of both rays depends on solar activity. GCR rays are most present during the solar minimum- the period of least solar activity in the Sun’s 11-year cycle, while SEP rays are at their lowest probability and density during the same period. In the present research, scientists set out to answer two key questions: Would particle radiation pose too great a threat to human life to conduct round trips between the Earth and Mars? And, could the timing of missions to Mars help shield astronauts and spacecraft from radiation? Via a series of calculations, they found that, provided spacecraft have sufficient shielding, round trips between the Earth and Mars could last up to four years. They also found that Mars-bound missions would be most plausible during the solar maximum as the most dangerous and energetic particles from distant galaxies would be deflected by enhanced solar activity. As it takes around nine months to reach Mars from Earth, the researchers say that human return missions to the planet could take less than two years; within the bounds for human safety. They say, however, that missions longer than four years would expose astronauts to dangerous amounts of radiation. "This study shows that while space radiation imposes strict limitations on how heavy the spacecraft can be and the time of launch, and it presents technological difficulties for human missions to Mars, such a mission is viable," said Yuri Shprits, co-author of the paper. Sources: Space Weather, Science Daily

Mars, the fourth planet from our Sun. The Red Planet. From time immemorial, we have gazed at it in wonder and dreamed about what kinds of life we might find there, and also what it would be like to actually live there. But what we once thought was a lush paradise actually turned out to be a dry, desert world completely devoid of life. We have sent countless spacecraft and landers to explore and study it, but we have yet to find a single trace of present-day life anywhere on its surface. Despite this, Mars continues to captivate us. It continues to make us dream of the endless possibilities for life beyond Earth. But why have we been fascinated with Mars for so long, and continue to be fascinated by it? Why do we continue to dream about finding life there, and eventually sending humans there? Maybe it’s as simple as it’s the closest planetary body we can study that mirrors Earth, even in only a few ways. Whatever the reasons, Mars has us hooked, and here we will explore the fascinating history behind our fascination with the Red Planet. Ancient Rome Our fascination with Mars began in ancient Rome, who gave it the name Mars for their god of war because its reddish color was reminiscent of blood. Along with being the god of war, he was also an agricultural guardian, which was a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was believed to be the son of Jupiter and Juno and was the most prominent of the military gods in the religion of the Roman army. Ptolemy and the Earth-Centered Model Claudius Ptolemy was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, and lived from 100 AD to 170 AD as a member of the Roman Empire. Ptolemy was responsible for modeling the retrograde motion of Mars, meaning at times it slows down and moves backwards before resuming its course, a phenomenon that had been known to the ancient Egyptians as far back as ~1500 BC. Ptolemy’s model called for the use of epicycles to explain this phenomenon, putting the Earth at the center of the universe, which ultimately became known as the geocentric model of the universe. This model would not be officially debunked until the 16th Century when astronomers Nicolaus Copernicus and Tycho Brahe would successfully demonstrate that the planets orbit the Sun, not the Earth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on3LCB4C52w Percival Lowell While Mars has been observed since the time of the ancient Egyptians, it didn’t become a true cultural phenomenon until the late 19th Century. A wealthy American diplomat named Percival Lowell began observing the Red Planet from a private observatory that he built in Flagstaff, Arizona called Lowell Observatory, and claimed to see “canals” on its surface. The word “canals” was actually mis-translated into English after Italian astronomer, Giovanni Schiaparelli, noticed channels on Mars in 1877 and called them “canali”. While the word “canali” actually means channels, he made no reference to intelligent design. Because of the recent completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, this eventual mistranslation by Lowell would spark decades of cultural obsession with the Red Planet. Born into wealth in 1855 and eventually graduating from Harvard in 1876 with distinction in mathematics, Percival Lowell spent the 1880s traveling in the Far East, spending part of his time as a counselor and foreign secretary to the Korean Special Mission to the United States. Upon returning to the United States in 1893, Lowell read the book La planète Mars by French astronomer, Camille Flamarion, while later hearing about Schiaparelli’s channels on Mars. these combined experiences sparked a fire in Lowell, and he proceeded to use his wealth and influence to build what would become the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. From 1893 to 1908, Lowell studied Mars extensively and made intricate drawings of the surface as he perceived it. He published several books during this time: Mars (1895), Mars and Its Canals (1906), and Mars As the Abode of Life (1908), while sharing his alleged findings of intelligent beings on Mars with the press. Lowell’s findings would be discredited almost as quickly as he rose to fame, as his canals could not be observed by other scientists. His findings could not be duplicated, nor could astronomers find any sign of intelligent life, or life in any form. It was deduced that the Martian atmosphere was too thin, and the gravity was too low. Despite this, and even after his death in 1916, Mars fever was here to stay in the United States. In the decades that followed, countless fictional works were made involving Mars, most notably in 1938 with the Orson Welles’ radio drama War of the Worlds, which actually caused innocent listeners to believe Earth was actually being invaded by Martians! Mariner While Lowell’s findings had long been discredited by other astronomers, it wasn’t until NASA’s Mariner 4 flyby of Mars in 1965 that Lowell’s canal-like features he allegedly observed were finally disproved. Making its closest approach on July 15, 1965, Mariner 4 was responsible for taking the first photos of another planet from space. But instead of seeing the lush, green landscapes that Lowell had proudly described to the press and his many fans, Mariner 4 sent back images of a desolate and heavily-cratered surface that could have easily been mistaken for our own Moon. Lowell’s dream of a living Mars was officially dead. Despite these disappointing results, the urge to find life on Mars was higher than ever. NASA would send three more Mariner spacecraft (Mariner 6, 7 and 9), to the Red Planet, with Mariner 9 paving the way for the Viking landings. Viking Project Following the success of the Mariner missions, NASA’s Viking Project became the first U.S. mission to land a spacecraft safely on Mars in 1976 and return images of the surface. The project consisted of two orbiters and landers, with each lander ultimately touching down on two separate areas on Mars. Along with taking countless photos of the Martian surface, each lander was equipped with three biology experiments designed to look for signs of life. While these experiments discovered unexpected activity within the Martian soil—also called regolith—they ultimately did not provide clear evidence of microorganisms near their respective landing sites. Pathfinder and Further Exploration NASA would not land another spacecraft on the surface Mars until 1997 with the Pathfinder mission and its Sojourner rover. While Sojourner only explored its surroundings for four months, this mission ushered in a new era of planetary surface exploration in the coming decades. In 2004, the rovers Spirit and Opportunity successfully land on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Missions. These two rovers far exceeded their initial lifespans and discovered that Mars possessed a much warmer and wetter climate in its ancient past. While these little rovers traverse the Martian surface, NASA’s Phoenix Lander touched down near the Martian north pole in 2008 and confirmed the existence of Martian water near the surface. The year 2012 marked a massive leap forward in Martian surface exploration, as NASA’s Curiosity Rover landed in Gale Crater and its operations continue to this day. In 2018, NASA’s InSight mission successfully landed on Mars to study its interior and seismic activity. All of the science and engineering learned from these missions led to the ultimate rover landing on Mars, as NASA’s Perseverance Rover successfully touched down in Jezero Crater in February 2021, which was also equipped with the first helicopter on another planet. Conclusion Mars has beckoned our fascination ever since the time of the Ancient Egyptians, and that fascination continues to this very day. Throughout the centuries, this small red dot in the night sky has helped shaped our understanding of the cosmos and our place in the universe. Are we fascinated by it because it’s right next door, or is there another innate drive within us? Carl Sagan once said, “Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.” Our fascination with Mars continues to burn bright. To the stars, and to Mars, we shall continue to go. Sources: NASA Solar System Exploration, Britannica (1), arXiv, Galileo and Einstein, NASA Mars Exploration, Space.com (1), NASA (1), Britannica (2), Zientzia.eus, Web.archive.org, Space.com (2), Popular Mechanics, NASA JPL, NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive, NASA Mars Exploration Program, CNN (1), Mars Exploration Rovers, NASA (2), CNN (2), CNN (3), CNN (4)

Recently, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover snapped a photograph of a flower-like rock artifact on the surface of Mars. While this image can be easily mistaken for the possibility of extraterrestrial life on the Red Planet, this is far from the truth, as Mars is incapable of supporting life (at least on the surface) due to its harsh environment - extreme cold, lack of atmospheric pressure, and deadly cosmic radiation constantly bombarding the surface. Instead, this unique penny-sized rock artifact was likely formed by mineral precipitating from water, and according to NASA, it was likely “made in the ancient past when minerals carried by water cemented the rock.” This intriguing artifact was given the name Blackthorn Salt, and is known as a diagenetic feature, or a structure made from precipitated minerals from ancient water previously mixed with Martian rocks, as noted by Dr. Abigail Fraeman, Deputy Project Scientist for Mars Curiosity. She added that diagenetic features found on Mars can either have a branched shape, also known as dendritic form, or even be more rounded and spherical as exhibited by other rocks in this same photo. Past Water on Mars It is hypothesized that Mars was once a much lusher and more hospitable environment, with liquid water cascading across its surface billions of years ago. Much like here on Earth, sedimentary rocks are formed from being clumped together in flowing water, and over time these clumps cement together, forming unique structures such as the “flower” seen by Curiosity. Further evidence of past liquid water on Mars was observed by the Mars Opportunity rover, having photographed evidence of layering and spherules on the Red Planet, which included iron-rich concretions nicknamed “blueberries”, which can only be formed in liquid water based on terrestrial analog studies on Earth. Whatever methods were responsible for forming this mysterious “flower”, whether from liquid water or another method, this observation continues to demonstrate how wonderful the universe really is and brings us one step closer to finding life on other worlds. As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: NASA JPL, Space.com (1), Study Finds, Local News 8, Inverse, Live Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Space.com (2)

New research from Nature Astronomy shows that magma is still shaping the surface of Mars to this day. Researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland led an international team of scientists to analyze seismic data from the Mars Insight Rover. The paper was published on October 27. The presence of magma on the Red Planet is relatively new. In April 2022, a team of scientists at the Australian National University and the Institute of Geology and Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences also discovered the presence of magma on Mars using data from Insight Rover. This was contradictory to the long-held understanding that tectonics were responsible for the quakes on Mars. The researchers explain that much of Mars' landscape was shaped over three billion years ago. Lava and magma created the most extensive volcanic system in our solar system, Tharsis Montes, and consequently, the largest volcano, Olympus Mons, which is almost three times the elevation of Mount Everest. The researchers studied over 13,000 marsquakes (like earthquakes, but on Mars) originating from Cerberus Fossae, a region of semi-parallel gashes on Mars’ surface. Faults form the rifts beneath the surface of the planet. The researchers analyzed 20 recent marsquakes in the region and determined that the low frequency of the quakes was most likely explained by magma under the surface of Cerberus Fossae. The orbital images of Mars also confirmed that the tremors originated near a structure that looks like a volcanic fissure. The images also showed darker dust deposits around the volcanic fissure, indicative of “recent volcanic activity” within the past 50,000 years. The researchers even suggest that they are observing the dying breaths of this volcanic region as the magma flows out of the area. They think it’s heading east, towards its next explosion. Source: ETH Zurich, Nature Astronomy