Mars
10 articles-
The Psychological Challenges of Just Getting to Mars
Life outside Earth has its own Hobbesian description: isolated, confined, and extreme—or I.C.E. “Space is the quintessential ICE environment,” according to a new paper, published in American Psychologist. Space includes inhospitable planets like Mars, whose arresting vistas, canyons, and mountains beckon. But only humans sealed inside cumbersome suits, trained to weather such nerve-racking circumstances, can […] -
How to Give Mars an Atmosphere, Maybe
The plan for an artificial Martian magnetosphere may sound “fanciful,” but researchers say that emerging research is starting to show that a miniature magnetosphere can be used to protect humans and spacecraft.NASA Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Earth is most fortunate to have vast webs of magnetic fields […] -
The Argument Against Terraforming Mars
When it comes to the ethics of actions, such as the decision to terraform Mars, we should ask: What sort of person would do that—a virtuous or vicious one?Photograph by Kees Veenenbos / Science Photo Library Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . In Kim Stanley Robinson’s science-fiction Mars Trilogy, […] -
There’s Mysteriously Large Amounts of Methane on Mars
The mystery isn’t just that we see methane when we shouldn’t. It’s also that, in a sense, we see too much of it. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . If you want to detect life on another planet, look for biomarkers—spectroscopic signatures of chemicals that betray the activity of […] -
Make Mars Great Again
How to terraform a room-temperature Mars in 100 years.
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19th-Century Code Helps 21st-Century Mars Rover Find Its Way
Back in the 1840s, Morse code was a ground-breaking approach for sending messages over a hot, new communications medium called the electrical telegraph. Earlier this year, the last telegram ever was sent, yet Morse code is not entirely out of a job. NASA’s cutting-edge Curiosity Mars rover, built by JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), uses this […]
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Space Travel for Everyone: The Intergalactic Travel Bureau
Trudging through the mire of midtown Manhattan in the middle of a July heat wave makes you long for relief from your earthly trials—and at the corner of 8th Avenue and 37th Street last week, you could find one. Nautilus popped in to the Intergalactic Travel Bureau, a pop-up shop promoting moon-hopping, sun-surfing, and all forms […]
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The Fun-House Mirror Earths
It’s been just over two decades since astronomers announced the first discoveries of exoplanets—planets orbiting stars other than the sun—and their progress in the intervening years has been so routinely remarkable its recitation now seems mundane: There are now thousands of cataloged exoplanets, and hundreds of billions more probably await discovery in the Milky Way […]
