Martian soil

NASA Wants to Make Rocket Fuel From Martian Soil

Humanity is building powerful rockets like the SpaceX BFR and NASA Space Launch System that can take a payload far away from Earth. However, making the return trip means you have to lug a lot more fuel with you. Efforts to send humans to Mars in the coming decades would be helped if we could make fuel on the red planet.

Mars is even more toxic to life than we thought

 

We haven’t found life on Mars yet, but the discovery of organic molecules in the soil and atmosphere have left many hoping that it’s just a matter of time before we do. However, recent experiments may have thrown some cold water on these dreams. Scientists have studied compounds within Martian soil and discovered that they are toxic when combined with Mars’ UV rays.

Mars rover reaches site that scientists still can’t explain

When new discoveries on Mars are made you typically see the name “Curiosity” associated with them, but NASA has another rover cruising around the martian surface, and it just arrived at one of the most confusing places on the planet. The pint-sized rover is now investigating “Perseverance Valley” — a massive gash in the martian surface that researchers still can’t fully explain.

Mars mountain may have arisen from lake sediments: NASA

A mountain on Mars may have built up over time from lake sediments, according to NASA scientists who have been studying observations from the Curiosity rover scouring the Red Planet.
      
The latest analysis is based on rocks discovered at the lower edges of Mount Sharp, which is located, rather oddly, in the midst of a crater on Earth's neighboring planet.