Advances in synthetic biology, planetary engineering, and ultra-low-cost launch systems have dramatically altered how researchers view Mars terraforming. Once seen as an impossible sci-fi fantasy, ...

As humanity prepares to take its first steps on Mars, a comprehensive report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and steered by scientists at Penn State lays out ...

The best reason to send humans to Mars isn’t for guts or glory—or the construction of colonies to safeguard against existential Earth-bound risks. Instead it’s to answer a single, simple question: Is ...

WASHINGTON — A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine identifies the highest priority science objectives for the first human mission to Mars, and says searching ...

WASHINGTON — The search for past or present life should be the top science objective of future human missions to Mars, a new National Academies report concludes. The report, A Science Strategy for the ...

When astronauts set foot on Mars, it will be one of humanity’s greatest milestones. These first steps will be the result of decades of research, engineering, and imagination coming together, marking ...