Life on Mars

Latest about Life on Mars

D. radiodurans (affectionately known as "Conan the Bacterium") is particularly well-suited to surviving Mars' harsh environment.

Bacteria could survive underground on Mars for hundreds of millions of years, new study finds

By Stephanie Pappas published

New research suggests that signs of ancient Martian life could be out there – or rather, hidden just beneath the Martian surface, safe from harmful radiation.

Mars
Mars in late spring. William Herschel believed the light areas were land and the dark areas were oceans.

First Martian life likely broke the planet with climate change, made themselves extinct

By Ben Turner published

The finding comes from a modeling study that assumes ancient Martian life was similar to that on Earth during the same time period.

Mars
Artist's illustration of a Mars with Earth-like surface water. The Red Planet was a wet world in the ancient past.

Mars was doomed to desiccation

By Mike Wall published

Mars was doomed to desiccation by its small size, a new study suggests.

Mars
The bright white region of this image, captured by Europe's Mars Express spacecraft in December 2012, shows the icy cap that covers Mars’ south pole, composed of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide.

Buried 'lakes' on Mars may just be frozen clay

By Charles Q. Choi published

Bright reflections that radar detected beneath the south pole of Mars may not be underground lakes as previously thought but deposits of clay instead, a new study finds.

Mars
The HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this photo of the Curiosity rover on April 18, 2021.

Curiosity rover discovers that evidence of past life on Mars may have been erased

By Ben Turner published

The findings from the Curiosity rover could help the Perseverance rover decide which samples to collect for later analysis.

Mars
NASA's Curiosity rover took this selfie while inside Mars' Gale crater on June 15, 2018, which was the 2,082nd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission.

'Alien burp' may have been detected by NASA's Curiosity rover

By Ben Turner published

Methane tends to only be made by biological life, so scientists are wondering if the source is from alien microbes.

Extraterrestrial Life
An artist's depiction of NASA's Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, storing samples of Martian rocks in tubes for future delivery to Earth. Perseverance will land inside Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.

NASA rover Perseverance survives death-defying plunge, lands safely on Mars

By Rafi Letzter published

NASA's rhinoceros-size Perseverance rover pulled off the most precise landing in Martian history Thursday (Feb. 18), touching down successfully in Jezero crater.

Mars
There seems to be a network of underground bodies of liquid water at Mars’ south pole.

Mars: Mounting evidence for subglacial lakes, but could they really host life?

By David Rothery published

The best place for life on Mars might be more than a kilometre below its surface!

Mars
Mars Perseverance - mission steps.

NASA's next Mars rover will land in less than 100 days

By Mike Wall published

The life-hunting Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which launched on July 30, is scheduled to land inside Jezero Crater on the afternoon of Feb. 18, 2021.

Mars
Pieces of Mars made their way across the solar system to Antarctica, where they were discovered in the 1980s.

Scientists discover evidence of ancient, nitrogen-rich Martian groundwater hiding in Antarctica

By Rafi Letzter published

Martian meteorites found in Antarctica in the 1980s just gave up the ghosts of ancient water, rich in organic nitrogen, that existed on Mars.

Mars
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