Four volunteers will spend the next 378 days in a simulation of Mars, facing harsh, realistic challenges in tight quarters under NASA’s watchful eye in preparation for a real-life mission to the red planet. From a report: Research scientist Kelly Hasto…

quonset writes: In what is considered to be a first, the European Space Agency (ESA) will, if everything goes to plan, stream live images of Mars from ESA’s Mars Express orbiter on Friday, June 2nd. The event is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the …

The Mars helicopter ‘Ingenuity’ recently completed its 47th, 48th, and 49th flight, NASA reports on the blog for its Mars rover ‘Perseverance’. That rover is making a “long ascent” up the delta in Mars’ Jezero crater, “an area where scientists surmise …

“Planetary scientists now know how thick the Martian crust is,” reports ScienceNews, “thanks to the strongest Marsquake ever observed.”
On average, the crust is between 42 and 56 kilometers thick [26 to 34 miles], researchers report in a paper to appea…

The Associated Press reports that “water may be more widespread and recent on Mars than previously thought, based on observations of Martian sand dunes by China’s rover.” A paper published in Science suggests thin films of water appeared on sand dunes …

“Two years have passed since the Perseverance rover landed on Mars, carrying with it the Ingenuity helicopter,” notes Slashdot reader quonset. “Created from off-the-shelf components, the helicopter was only designed to last about five flights. Instead,…

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Red sand shifts under the boots of the crew members. In the distance, it appears that a rocky mountain range is rising out of the Martian horizon. A thin layer of red dust coats the solar panels an…

“In the foothills of a Martian mountain, NASA’s Curiosity rover found stunning new evidence of an ancient lake in the form of rocks etched with the ripples of waves,” reports CNN.

But they add that the evidence “appeared in an unlikely place.”
The ro…