When NASA’s Opportunity rover landed on Mars in 2004, it settled at the bottom of a crater in an interplanetary hole-in-one shot that would make even a golf champion jealous. When the rover trundled out of its unexpected hole, it left behind its landing platform. Now, 13 years later, we’ve caught our best glimpse yet of this historic landing site and the crap NASA left behind.

In all likelihood, a Martian colony won't resemble a silver city rising in stark contrast to the planet's signature red soil. Instead, it will blend right in, especially if a new, intriguing discovery pans out. Engineers from the University of California in San Diego have created bricks composed of simulated Martian regolith (soil). Amazingly, these basic building blocks turned out to be stronger than steel-reinforced concrete!

The humans have been fascinated by Mars for ages now, and it all started way before we discovered that we could actually visit other places outside of our own planet, like the Moon, for example. Mars has inspired so many Sci-Fi movies, books and anything in between, and for years now, we’ve dreamt of setting foot on the red planet. And so, decades of research, scientific breakthroughs, determination, and effort have finally given as a chance to do so.

Graduate architect students at the University of Calgary designed habitats for Mars explorers in a Mars Studio course.

After a seven-month investigation, ESA has released the results of its inquiry into the crash of its unmanned Schiaparelli lander on Mars last October. Telemetry data and orbital images show that the accident was due to a violent rotation of the module that fooled the onboard computer.

High concentrations of silica point to the existence of groundwater long after lakes evaporated. This finding extends the potential window for life on the planet. The discovery of light-toned bedrock – called ‘halos’ – with high concentrations of silica in Mars’ Gale crater, reveals that groundwater persisted once the lake in Gale crater dried up. The discovery was made by NASA’s Curiosity rover which traveled more than 16 km over 1,700 Martian days from the bottom of Gale crater to Mount Sharp in the crater’s center.

High concentrations of silica point to the existence of groundwater long after lakes evaporated. This finding extends the potential window for life on the...

You'd think NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has seen everything there is to see on the Martian surface in the 11 years it's orbited our nearest neighbour, but a snapshot taken over the planet's South Pole has revealed something we can't...

NASA has found diverse minerals in rocks examined by the Curiosity rover on lower Mount Sharp, Mars. These suggest that wet environmental conditions there changed over time.

And there are indications that groundwater persisted for far longer. By John Timmer.

From Donald Trump's face to crabs to jelly doughnuts, entertaining images from Mars amuse scientists and excite conspiracy theorists and alien fans.

A fantastic tale from an uncertain future. By John Rogers.

Curiosity has been studying Mars on its own for a year. By Sean O’Kane.

Using the most powerful telescope ever sent to Mars, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught a view of the Curiosity rover this month amid rocky mountainside terrain.

A city on Mars with a million inhabitants could be achievable within 50 years, South African space entrepreneur Elon Musk has forecast, as he laid out plans to turn mankind into a multi-planetary species. The SpaceX founder warned that humans would need to venture away from Earth to avoid a “Doomsday event” and our “eventual extinction”.

Humans probably shouldn't go to Mars until we figure this out.

Twenty years ago, NASA landed a little rover on Mars . . . and blew up the Internet.

Discovery has major implications for hunt for alien life on the red planet as it means any evidence is likely to be buried deep underground. By Ian Sample.

“Our nation will return to the moon and we will put American boots on the face of Mars,” US vice president Mike Pence, newly ensconced as the head of the National Space Council, said last week in a speech at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The only problem? The US government’s plan to do this relies on an building an expensive rocket and spacecraft that is scheduled to only fly once a year. That’s been a drain on resources that has delayed design and construction of other needed ingredients...

In an exclusive interview, Buzz Aldrin discusses the importance of science and the value of getting humanity walking on alien worlds.