Minerals are the building blocks of rocks, and the types of minerals and their chemistry provide critical information about rock formation and history....
The polar vortex is a consequence of Martian seasons, which occur because the planet’s axis is tilted at an angle of 25.2 degrees, according to University...
NASA’s Perseverance rover has explored and sampled igneous and sedimentary rocks within Jezero crater to characterize early Martian geological processes...
On July 24, 2025, the 4,608th Martian day, or Sol, of the mission, NASA’s Curiosity rover imaged wind-eroded rocks shaped like a piece of coral in the...
Radiolysis induced by Galactic cosmic rays could provide a viable energy source for microbial metabolism in the subsurface environments of rocky planetary...
Planetary scientists have discovered more than 15,000 km of ancient riverbeds in Noachis Terra, a region in Mars’ southern highlands. This discovery...
The Martian meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 16254 is a 406-g gabbroic shergottite found two years ago in Algeria.
Image of the entire NWA 16254 sample...
In their new paper, Los Alamos National Laboratory planetary scientist Nina Lanza and colleagues looked at what would be needed to make the surface environment...
Slope streaks are dark features on Martian slopes that form spontaneously and fade over years to decades. Some planetary scientists have interpreted those...
Mars hosts various auroral processes despite the planet’s tenuous atmosphere and lack of a global magnetic field. To date, all aurora observations have...
Observations of large valley networks on today’s Mars suggest formation by flowing water. However, most climate models cannot sustain temperatures above...
NASA’s Curiosity rover has found evidence of a carbon cycle on ancient Mars, bringing scientists closer to an answer on whether the planet was ever capable...
Recent measurements from NASA’s InSight mission show that Mars’ core is less dense than planetary scientists previously believed. This indicates that...
A Martian dust devil can be seen consuming a smaller one in a series of images taken by a navigation camera aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover.
Dust devils...
Certain lichen species can withstand Mars-like conditions with an X-ray radiation dose of 50 Gy (Grays) that is expected on the Mars surface over one year...
The Sample Analysis at Mars instrument onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected decane, undecane, and dodecane molecules in a sample from Gale crater.
This...
Atmospheric gravity waves play a crucial role in driving latitudinal air currents on the Red Planet, particularly at high altitudes, according to a new...
A team of researchers at the Bayerisches Geoinstitut has conducted high-pressure-temperature laboratory experiments to determine the crystal structure...
