All About Mars: Information, Facts, Pictures, Videos, and More

When We Send Astronauts to Mars, You’ll Want to Have Read This

Barren and desolate, Mars is one of the most inhospitable places imaginable. There’s hardly any air and we couldn’t breath it if there was. There’s no soil, so growing food is infeasible. The atmosphere is full of carbon dioxide, so relying heavily on life support systems is a must. So what is it about Big Red that draws the attention of the human race so intensely?

The Hawaiian Dome Where Nasa Prepares Humanity for Life on Mars [The Guardian]
Video (9 minutes)
“When you’re looking at long-duration human space travel, you’re naturally going to have humans as part of these complicated systems. So, the human component, if it breaks, is just as critical as any other component…”

What It Would Take To Drink The Water On Mars [Fusion] by Daniela Hernandez
Article (4 minutes)
“NASA scientists have found evidence of present-day liquid water on Mars. But before you start thinking about a second home there, know this: that water isn’t drinkable. It’s chock full of salts called perchlorates that can be toxic to humans…”

One Way Ticket to Mars [99% Invisible] by Roman Mars
Podcast (12 minutes)
“We can get to Mars. That’s easy. To break earth’s gravity and hurdle towards the red planet is totally doable. The science fiction part, the tech problem NASA says will take four decades to solve, is how to get back…”

Water on the Red Planet: Nasa Reveals Major Discovery – in Pictures [The Guardian] by Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Video (2 minutes) & Article (5 minutes)
“These dark, narrow, 100-metre streaks called recurring slope lineae flowing downhill on Mars are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water. Recently, planetary scientists detected hydrated salts on these slopes at Hale crater, corroborating their original hypothesis that the streaks are indeed formed by liquid water…”

What The Martian Gets Right and Wrong About Mars Science [WIRED] *SPOILER ALERT*
Video (3 minutes)
“I’m entering this log for the record. This is Mark Watney and I’m still alive. Obviously…”

Elon Musk Elaborates on His Proposal to Nuke Mars [The Verge] by Loren Grush
Article (2 minutes)
“He doesn’t want to nuke the surface of Mars; he just wants to nuke the sky over the Martian poles every couple of seconds…”

How Will We Get Off Mars? [National Geographic] by Mark Strauss
Article (8 minutes)
“NASA engineers are faced with the daunting task of landing a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) safely on the Red Planet, where it will manufacture its own fuel to bring the astronauts home…”

How Mars Might Hold the Secret to the Origin of Life [TED] by Nathalie Cabrol
Video (16 minutes)
“Microbes are talking, and we are listening. And they are telling us about diversity, abundance of life, and how this life has survived thus far to reach civilization, intelligence, technology, and indeed, philosophy…”

Las Vegas Odds on Who Will Set Foot on Mars First are Totally Nuts [CNET] by Eric Mack
Article (4 minutes)
“In the October 2015 issue of Popular Mechanics, the magazine got sports handicapper Raphael Esparza of Doc’s Sports Service to come up with some odds on who will be the first to put a human on Mars. To my eyes, the resulting odds are…odd…”