The atmosphere of Mars is more than 96% carbon dioxide, but the planet is cold because its atmosphere is extremely thin, very dry and further away from the Sun.
Articles on Mars exploration
Displaying 21 - 31 of 31 articles
An academic describes the career high of working on the most successful mission to Mars, and the little rover that made it possible.
Mars has long captured our imagination, from claims of canals to Martian attacks and now our latest NASA exploration to look inside the red planet.
The moon is our closest neighbour and our best hope for building capacity to explore space.
Augmented reality technology could help recreate familiar sensory experiences from Earth.
If humans are to live on Mars they will need a stable supply of food. Earth plants are not suited to the Mars climate but we can engineer plants that are.
Researchers have found evidence of a large lake of salty water, buried 1.5 kilometres beneath the southern polar ice cap on Mars. So what does that mean for life on the red planet?
The race may be on to send humans to live on Mars, but is it worth the effort – and the spend – when we have our own problems to deal with on Earth.
Beagle 2 shows the fine line between success and failure in Mars exploration. There’s a lot we can learn from it going forward.
Planetary protection protocols try to make sure we don’t seed places like Mars with life from our planet. An astrobiologist argues they’re misguided – especially with human astronauts on the horizon.
Space exploration is exciting - but there are barriers for humans hoping to visit and even stay on planets. Buried ice on Mars could be a water source for interplanetary visits of the future.
Top contributors
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UKSA Mars Science Fellow, Department of Physics, University of Oxford
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Professor of Planetary Science, University of Leicester
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Reader in Astrobiology, University of Edinburgh
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Executive Dean (Engineering), Edith Cowan University
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Associate Professor in Chemistry, Dublin City University
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Andrew Dempster is a Friend of The Conversation.
Director, Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research; Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW
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Professor of Space Systems Engineering, University of Bristol
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Postdoctoral research associate, University of Oxford
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Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, Macquarie University
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Adjunct professor, UNSW
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Associate Professor - Physics, RMIT University
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Senior Lecturer, Centre for Hypersonics, School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland
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Senior Teaching Fellow in Space and Cyber, Hunter Centre For Entrepreneurship, University of Strathclyde
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Research Scientist at Centro de Astrobiología, Spain, and Visiting Scientist in Astronomy, Cornell University
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Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University