mars.nasa.govNASA’s Mars Exploration Program

-- NASA NASA Science Mars Exploration Program Skip Navigation menu Nine Finalists Chosen in NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Naming Contest Nine finalists have been chosen in the essay contest for K-12 students across U.S. to name NASA's next Mars rover. Now you can help by voting for your favorite. Read Article › Choose Your Favorite Name › Curiosity Mission Updates Get the latest from the surface of Mars. Mission Updates › Raw Images › Media Get a Close-Up of NASA's Mars 2020 Rover The clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was open to the media to see NASA's next Mars explorer before it leaves for Florida in preparation for a summertime launch. MORE Space History Is Made in This NASA Robot Factory From rockets to rovers, JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility has been at the center of robotic spaceflight. Here's a closer look at what makes it so special. MORE Mars 2020 Launch Blog Get the latest updates as Mars 2020 gets ready for launch. MORE MORE The Red Planet The Red Planet Dashboard Science Goals The Mars Exploration Program studies Mars as a planetary system in order to understand the formation and early evolution of Mars as a planet, the history of geological processes that have shaped Mars through time, the potential for Mars to have hosted life, and the future exploration of Mars by humans. The strategy has evolved as we have learned more about Mars and as more questions have arisen. We have gone from “Follow the Water” to “Explore Habitability” to “Seek Signs of Life.” The Planet Atmosphere Astrobiology Past, Present, Future, Timeline Dashboard DATA DATA: TODAY'S WEATHER (°F) 3° high -103° low Sol 2652 – MSL DATA: TODAY'S WEATHER (°C) -16° high -75° low Sol 2652 – MSL DATA: SUNRISE, SUNSET 5:35 AM 5:25 PM Sol 2652 – MSL DATA: ATMOSPHERE Moderate UV Sunny Condition Sol 2652 – MSL DATA: SEASON Summer Sol 2652 – MSL DATA: PRESSURE 717 mean Pascals Sol 2652 – MSL RECENT IMAGES The Slow Charm of Brain Terrain The Slow Charm of Brain Terrain Exposing the Rock in Impact Craters Exposing the Rock in Impact Craters Wind Flow Wind Flow A First Look at Dunes A First Look at Dunes Multi-Elevation Gullies Multi-Elevation Gullies Impact Near the South Pole Impact Near the South Pole Farewell to Mars Farewell to Mars InSight's First Image from Mars InSight's First Image from Mars Ice-Rich Clouds - False Color Ice-Rich Clouds - False Color Storm Clouds - False Color Storm Clouds - False Color COMPARE COMPARE: DISTANCE FROM SUN MARS 142 EARTH 93 millions of miles avg. COMPARE: DEEPEST CANYON VALLES MARINERIS 4.35 GRAND CANYON 1.1 miles deep COMPARE: DIAMETER MARS 4,220 EARTH 7,926 miles COMPARE: LENGTH OF DAY MARS 24:37 EARTH 23:56 hours:minutes COMPARE: HIGHEST MOUNTAIN OLYMPUS MONS 16 MAUNA KEA 6.34 miles (approximate) COMPARE: LARGEST IMPACT CRATER HELLAS CRATER 1,400 VREDEFORT (S. AFRICA) 186 miles in diameter COMPARE: TEMPERATURE MARS -81° EARTH 57° average (°F) COMPARE: YEAR MARS 687 EARTH 365 Earth days LATEST FINDINGS December 10, 2019 NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars › November 12, 2019 With Mars Methane Mystery Unsolved, Curiosity Serves Scientists a New One: Oxygen › July 30, 2018 Mars Terraforming Not Possible Using Present-Day Technology › July 25, 2018 NASA Statement on Possible Subsurface Lake near Martian South Pole › July 23, 2018 NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft Finds That 'Stolen' Electrons Enable Unusual Aurora on Mars › June 7, 2018 NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars › February 15, 2018 Long-Lived Mars Rover Opportunity Keeps Finding Surprises › February 8, 2018 Tiny Crystal Shapes Get Close Look From Mars Rover › January 23, 2018 Dust Storms Linked to Gas Escape from Mars Atmosphere › January 11, 2018 Steep Slopes on Mars Reveal Structure of Buried Ice › Science Goals The Mars Exploration Program studies Mars as a planetary system in order to understand the formation and early evolution of Mars as a planet, the history of geological processes that have shaped Mars through time, the potential for Mars to have hosted life, and the future exploration of Mars by humans. The strategy has evolved as we have learned more about Mars and as more questions have arisen. We have gone from “Follow the Water” to “Explore Habitability” to “Seek Signs of Life.” The Planet Atmosphere Atmosphere Mars’ atmosphere is composed primarily of carbon dioxide (about 96 percent), with minor amounts of other gases such as argon and nitrogen. The atmosphere is very thin, however, and the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Mars is only about 0.6 percent of Earth’s (101,000 pascals). Scientists think that Mars may have had a thicker atmosphere early in its history, and data from NASA spacecraft (the MAVEN mission) indicate that Mars has lost significant amounts of its atmosphere through time. The primary culprit for Mars’ atmospheric loss is the solar wind! Astrobiology Astrobiology Astrobiology is a relatively new field of study, where scientists from a variety of disciplines (astronomy, biology, geology, physics, etc.) work together to understand the potential for life to exist beyond Earth. However, the exploration of Mars has been intertwined with NASA’s search for life from the beginning. The twin Viking landers of 1976 were NASA’s first life detection mission, and although the results from the experiments failed to detect life in the Martian regolith, and resulted in a long period with fewer Mars missions, it was not the end of the fascination that the Astrobiology science community had for the red planet. The field of Astrobiology saw a resurgence due to the controversy surrounding the possible fossil life in the ALH84001 meteorite, and from the outsized public response to this announcement, and subsequent interest from Congress and the White House, NASA’s Astrobiology Program ( https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ )and one of its major programs, the NASA Astrobiology Institute ( https://nai.nasa.gov/ ) were formed. Also at this time, began to investigate Mars with an increasing focus on missions to the Red Planet. The Pathfinder mission and Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) were sent to Mars to “Follow the Water,” recognizing that liquid water is necessary for life to exist on Earth. After establishing that Mars once had significant amount of water on its surface, the Mars Science Laboratory (which includes the Curiosity rover) was sent to Mars to determine whether Mars had the right ingredients in the rocks to host life, signaling a shift to the next theme of “Explore Habitability”. MEP is now developing the Mars 2020 rover mission ( https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mars2020/ ) to determine whether life may have left telltale signatures in the rocks on Mars’s surface, a further shift to the current science theme “Seek the Signs of Life”. Finding fossils preserved from early Mars might tell us that life once flourished on this planet. We can search for evidence of cells preserved in rocks, or at a much smaller scale: compounds called biosignatures are molecular fossils, specific compounds that give some indication of the organisms that created them. However, over hundreds of millions of years these molecular fossils on Mars are subject to being destroyed or transformed to the point where they may no longer be recognized as biosignatures. Future missions must either find surface regions where erosion from wind-blown sand has recently exposed very ancient material, or alternately samples must be obtained from a shielded region beneath the surface. This latter approach is being taken by the ExoMars rover ( http://exploration.esa.int/mars/48088-mission-overview/ ) under development where drilled samples taken from a depth of up to 2 meters will be analyzed. Past, Present, Future, Timeline Follow the Journey Learn about NASA’s new Exploration Campaign: Back to the Moon and on to Mars. '/layouts/shared/addthis_connect' -- Latest News January 21, 2020 Nine Finalists Chosen in NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Naming Contest January 13, 2020 N...