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Mars Daily
Mars missions, rover discoveries, planetary science, exploration technology, and the people, agencies, and companies shaping humanity's next destination.
In 1971, a global dust storm on Mars swallowed the entire planet for weeks, hiding every surface feature from Mariner 9 as it arrived in orbit, and forcing NASA to wait months before the first detailed maps could even begin
Every year, roughly 27.7 million tons of Saharan dust cross the Atlantic on trade winds and settle over the Amazon, carrying the phosphorus that keeps the rainforest soil from collapsing into something closer to sand
In December 2025, NASA’s Perseverance rover completed the first drives on another planet whose routes were generated by artificial intelligence, travelling 210 and 246 metres along Jezero Crater’s rocky rim after engineers verified the plans on Earth.
Mars was once a warmer world of rivers, lakes and a thicker atmosphere, but after its internal dynamo died and the planet lost the magnetic shield that helps protect an atmosphere, the solar wind stripped much of its air away over billions of years, leaving the cold desert we see today
In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon quietly released a cloud of carbon dioxide that rolled through nearby villages and killed 1,746 people in a single night, along with every cow, bird, and insect within a 25-kilometre radius
'Strongest evidence yet' of liquid water on Mars: NASA
Space experts swoon for 'The Martian' despite inaccuracies
Space Cadets line up for one-way Mars trip
SpaceX's Musk unveils plan to reach Mars by 2022
SpaceX says 'reusable rocket' could help colonize Mars
