Content tagged "Mars".
5 items (5 articles, 0 stories)
Japan's MMX spacecraft is heading to Phobos, the tiny, misshapen moon of Mars, to scoop up 10 grams of sand and bring it home. Is Phobos a captured asteroid or debris from an ancient impact? SORABUMI explains how a handful of dust could finally settle the question.
JAXA's MMX mission launches in fiscal year 2026 to land on Phobos, Mars's larger moon, and scoop up soil samples. Is this 22-km-wide moon a captured asteroid or a chunk of Mars itself? Isotopes in the returned dust will settle the debate. SORABUMI explains humanity's first sample-return mission from the Mars system.
In June 2026, scientists confirmed the first garnet ever found in a Martian rock, inside the meteorite NWA 8171. SORABUMI explains how a single crystal preserved a record of intense heat and pressure that no rover could ever reach.
More than 130 small volcanoes have been confirmed clustered at the floor of Valles Marineris, Mars' massive canyon system. Evidence that magma and water once coexisted there makes it a compelling candidate in the search for ancient life. SORABUMI explains.
A shelf-like landform in Mars's northern hemisphere may be the strongest evidence yet that a vast ocean once covered a third of the planet. Where did all that water go — and what does it mean for the search for life?