journey to mars story

11 Far-Out Stories About the Journey to Mars

Earth to Mars: We’re on our way. The July 30th launch of NASA’s Perseverance rover brings us one step closer to a better understanding of the Red Planet. Explore these 11 fascinating stories about the potential for life on Mars (past and present), the science of getting there, and the lore that inspires the journey.

Nasa’s New Mars Rover Is About to Embark on a Hunt for Ancient Alien Life

Perseverance’s biggest goal is to dig up samples to bring back to Earth one day.

3 Great Mysteries About Life on Mars

How habitable was early Mars? Why did it become less hospitable? And could there be life there now?

Living Life at a Distance

I spent four months pretending to live on Mars. Here’s what I learned about staying sane and passing time.

So Can We Terraform Mars or Not?

Elon Musk wants to engineer Mars’ atmosphere. Can he?

George RR Martin: Our Long Obsession With Mars

The author behind Game of Thrones spent his childhood reading stories about Mars and hoping to write one himself. As new discoveries on the red planet capture the world’s attention, he surveys a rich Martian literature.

The Astronomer Who Believed There Was an Alien Utopia on Mars

Percival Lowell’s dogged belief helped bring Mars science to 19th century America.

When a Mars Simulation Goes Wrong

A mission atop a Hawaiian volcano shows humans still have much to learn before they set foot on another world.

The Doctor From Nazi Germany and the Search for Life on Mars

Astrobiologists have used Mars Jars for decades. Many didn’t know about the controversial Air Force scientist who started them.

Mars Madness

The DIY explorers who dream of a 35-million-mile trek.

Forget Mars. Here’s Where We Should Build Our First Off-World Colonies

Is the Red Planet really the best target for a human colony?

Everything About Mars Is The Worst

But this jerk planet is still humanity’s best hope for another home in the cosmos.

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NASA's Perseverance journey to Mars: A story in 20 images

The rover is currently traveling through space to get to Mars.

Last week marked a new era of space exploration , as NASA launched its latest rover to Mars, where it will hunt for signs of ancient life.

The Perseverance rover launched at 7:50 a.m. Eastern on July 30. The timely liftoff took place at the Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where the rover was strapped atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket.

READ MORE PERSEVERANCE ROVER NEWS FROM INVERSE

The mission, which was first announced more than seven years ago, will take Perseverance an additional six to seven months to reach its destination by February 18, 2021, after a journey of more than 314 million miles.

The Perseverance rover undergoing some final prep in April at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Testing, 1,2,3 — Before it was cleared for flight to Mars, the Perseverance rover had to undergo final testing to ensure robotic explorer was up to the task. Testing began April 6, lasting for three days at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rover was lifted onto a special test fixture and slowly rotated around its x-axis, or the imaginary line that runs from its tail to its front, in order to test its center of gravity.

Perseverance was packed up, and boarded onto the rocket a week before launch.

Precious Cargo — A week before launch, Perseverance was packed into a fairing nose cone that was maneuvered into place on top of the Atlas V rocket, which launched the rover to Mars. Before doing so, Perseverance had to pass its Flight Readiness Review.

Where the journey will end — Before it took off to begin its interplanetary journey, Perseverance tweeted its boarding pass to Mars. The boarding pass has the rover's destination, Jezero Crater . The 28-mile wide, 500-meter-deep crater once housed a lake estimated to have dried out 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago. Therefore, it is the ideal location for Perseverance to hunt for signs of past microbial life.

Perseverance was packed up on the Atlas rocket from the night before, waiting to launch.

View from the pad — The night before takeoff, Perseverance awaited its big day nestled into the Atlas rocket overnight. The rover is kept inside a protective aeroshell capsule.

Alexander Mather, a 7th grader and winner of the contest and coiner of the name Perseverance, poses with the rover before takeoff.

The kid who named the rover — NASA held a nationwide contest to name the rover, announcing the name Perseverance in March. Alexander Mather, a seventh-grader and winner of the contest, poses next to the car-sized robot before it begins its journey to Mars.

The Atlas rocket takes off, beginning Perseverance's journey to Mars.

It launched on time — And we have liftoff. Perseverance launched right on time, beginning its journey to Mars, which is located more than 60 million miles away.

The Atlas V rocket soaring into space, carrying Perseverance onboard.

One minute into the mission looks like this — A different view of the rocket as it soars through Earth's atmosphere, carrying the Perseverance rover along for its journey to Mars.

Space oddity — The Virtual Telescope Project, which offers real-time observations of the cosmos with remotely controlled telescopes, caught the Perseverance rover on its way to Mars through this series of images.

A view of the launch aftermath.

Rocket, man — Earthly onlookers waved goodbye to the rover as it launched onboard the Atlas V rocket, leaving behind a dusty trail that stretches into space.

The Atlas V rocket soaring above the Earth.

Overview effect — A view from the Atlas V rocket as it soars above the Earth's surface three minutes after liftoff, carrying Perseverance for the first leg of its journey to Mars.

The Perseverance rover separating from the Atlas V rocket.

Separation Song — A little more than four minutes into flight, and the Perseverance rover bids farewell to the Atlas V rocket as the vehicle separates from the spacecraft in order to continue on its own journey to Mars through interplanetary space.

Hello, Ground Control — After separating from the rocket, Perseverance sent out its first signal to ground control and established contact with Earth down below. The signal was sent out through the Deep Space Network , a global network of antennas that manages communication with the spacecraft.

Perseverance will land on Mars' Jezero Crater, an ancient lakebed that may have at one point hosted life.

Arrival — The Perseverance rover is scheduled to land on Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, where it will look for signs of past microbial life in the Martian rocks.

A close-up view of an engineering model of SHERLOC.

A planet of robots — Perseverance will carry a highly skilled team of detectives on board, its instruments S.H.E.R.L.O.C. , ( S canning H abitable E nvironments with R aman & L uminescence for O rganics & C hemicals) and WATSON, Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering instrument, will look for microscopic clues in Martian rock.

The Ingenuity helicopter will take off from the Martian surface.

Flight on another planet — Perseverance isn't venturing to Mars on its own. The Ingenuity helicopter will hitch a ride with the rover, and allow NASA to test out its ability to fly a helicopter on a planet other than Earth for the first time.

A placard commemorating NASA's "Send Your Name to Mars" campaign was installed on the Perseverance Mars rover.

Data Transfer — The names of 10,932,295 people were etched onto Perseverance as part of NASA's "Send Your Name to Mars" campaign. The names were stenciled by electron beams and etched onto three tiny silicon chips the size of a fingernail.

Perseverance will carry a host of scientific instruments to Mars.

Souvenirs — The Perseverance rover will carry a total of seven science instruments on board, allowing the robotic astrobiologist to conduct some rock sample analysis on Mars. The rover will collect samples of rocks and soil and set them aside for the first-ever sample return mission from another planet. The rock samples will be stored away in tubes in a well-identified place on the Martian surface and left there to be returned to Earth.

Perseverance sampling Martian rocks, and analyzing them for hints of past microbial life.

Live on Mars? — The mission will also test out conditions for possible human exploration of Mars by trialing a method of producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, characterizing environmental conditions such as water and dust on Mars, and looking for resources.

Cruise Control — On Friday, a day after its launch, Perseverance updated the world with its flight status. The rover is currently in cruise control, making its way to Mars in about six to seven months.

The NASA Curiosity rover is awaiting Perseverance's arrival.

Real-Life Wall-E — Once on Mars, Perseverance will join another NASA rover, Curiosity, which has been roaming the Martian surface since 2012.

Now watch this: "NASA’s Race Against Time To Launch Perseverance Rover On Mars 2020"

"NASA’s Race Against Time To Launch Perseverance Rover On Mars 2020"

This article was originally published on Aug. 3, 2020

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Journeying to Mars: a history

Due to the political climate of the times, the USSR kept these missions a secret and did not even release to the West a name for the spacecraft. The missions are commonly referred to as “Korabl 4 and 5,” “Mars 1960 A and B,” or “Marsnik 1 and 2.”

Mariner 4 launched November 28, set with a modified protective cover to prevent the same ignominious fate of its predecessor. Mariner 4 arrived near Mars on July 14, 1965. Within 9,800 km of the surface, the spacecraft shot the first close-up images of the Red Planet. Other experiments revealed Mars’s atmospheric pressure to be less than 1% that of Earth’s. After successfully completing its job of studying the Red Planet, Mariner 4 orbited the sun and headed back toward Earth in 1967.

The images taken by the two Mariner spacecraft supplied a different view for scientists than Mariner 4. Rather than a moonlike surface, the new pictures showed Mars’s cratered deserts, depressions with no craters, and collapsed ridges. The larger and more advanced instrument stock allowed the two spacecraft to conduct studies of the atmosphere and its chemical composition. Even the communications system allowed for transmissions 2,000 times faster than Mariner 4’s capability.

Mars 1969A and Mars 1969B — USSR The Soviet Union planned and launched two identical Mars orbiters, Mars 1969A and Mars 1969B. Launched just five days apart, the two flew for a collective total of about 8 minutes. 1969A’s engine shut down 7 minutes into the flight and exploded, pieces landing in the Altai Mountains in southeastern Siberia. 1969B didn’t even make it that far, crashing to Earth just 3 km from the launch site. Both were equipped with cameras and other equipment to survey the martian surface and atmosphere. 1971 Cosmos 419, Mars 2, and Mars 3 — USSR The Soviet Union launched three spacecraft to Mars in 1971. The first, later named Cosmos 419, launched on May 10. Minutes after liftoff the spacecraft turned to the east and entered orbit around Earth. At this stage, the fourth rocket was supposed to fire and start the probe on a course for Mars. Due to a mistake while setting the rocket’s timer, it failed to go off as planned. Originally expected to ignite at 1.5 hours, the timer was set to 1.5 years. Two days after liftoff, Cosmos 419 returned to Earth and was destroyed. Interestingly enough, the USSR denied the claim that Cosmos 419 was ever headed for Mars. However, the subsequent identical vehicles that successfully reached Mars were labeled Mars 2 and 3.

Mars 2 blasted off on May 19, followed nine days later by Mars 3. Both functioned as expected. Mars 2 reached the Red Planet and began its orbit on November 27. Its lander deployed as planned but lost contact. Scientists suspect it crash-landed due to the raging dust storm on the surface. Mars 2 enjoyed a life of 150 orbits around the planet, whereas its partner, Mars 3, lasted just seven before failing. However, its lander successfully arrived on the surface, despite the severe wind and dust. The camera started its scan of the surface. Twenty seconds later, all communication with the lander was lost, and no images were transmitted.

The orbiter’s sole function was as a transporter for the lander. The instruments on the orbiters were geared specifically for assisting the lander’s descent and placement. Cameras, infrared mappers, and atmospheric water detector helped scientists pick the ideal location for the landers.

The original 1973 launch for these two spacecraft was delayed until 1975 because of financial and technical concerns.

Viking 1 launched on August 20 and its twin on September 9. Viking 1 began orbiting Mars on June 19, 1976, and the lander separated one month later on July 20, 1976. It landed three and a half hours later. The camera worked properly, but the seismometer did not.

On July 28, Viking 1’s robotic arm reached down, scooped up some soil from the surface, and transferred it to the biology laboratory for study. The gamut of tests failed to conclusively establish the presence of life on Mars. Viking 2’s tests, though taken 4000 miles from Viking 1, were similarly inconclusive.

The two landers remained on the planet after finishing the tests. Viking Orbiter 2 developed a propellant leak in 1978 and stopped function on July 25 of that same year. Its lander ceased operations two years later on April 12, 1980. Months later, Viking Orbiter 1 ran out of propellant on August 7, 1980. Its lander fell silent on November 13, 1982.

Combined, the Viking orbiters and landers returned more than 50,000 high-resolution photos of Mars.

Then, on January 29, 1989, Phobos 2 arrived near its namesake, Phobos, and embarked on its own orbit of Mars. Four days before it was to send a pair of landers to the surface, Phobos 2 conducted a photo session, to scout possible landing sites. Two days later, on March 27, 1989, it attempted another session. Phobos 2 was never heard from again after it failed to turn its radio signals back to Earth. It is believed that a computer error caused the failure.

Leading up to the failure, though, Phobos 2 successfully made significant measurements of martian particles and the fields environment. Fortunately, this important information was gathered and transmitted before its demise.

Observer took its first image of Mars in July 1993, after a successfully mundane trip to the Red Planet. One month later, though, on August 21, 1993, it received the command to temporarily shut down its transmitter so it could prepare its propellant lines for an engine firing to begin its orbit. The transmitter never restarted, and NASA tried in vain for one year to reacquire contact with the spacecraft.

The suspected cause of the failure was that some propellant had leaked through a valve that was not intended to operate for 11 months after launch. If this theory is right, then the Observer sailed right past its target, and entered an orbit around the sun.

Scheduled for launch in November 1996, it took off on November 7, already an improvement over Observer. But MGS’s trip was more eventful than Observer’s, if only a little. Quickly approaching Mars, MGS was commanded to unfold its solar arrays. One of them did not properly unfold, bent just out of position. Besides causing a slight delay in the spacecraft’s aerobraking schedule, the solar array still generated full power.

MGS started its primary orbit around Mars on September 11, 1997, and lowered into the upper reaches of the martian atmosphere six days later. The damage to the solar arrays was discovered on October 11, but after three weeks of investigation, MGS resumed aerobraking. In March 1999, the Global Surveyor started mapping the Red Planet. Having completed mapping 3 years and 3 months after launch, MGS inherited the job as communication satellite for landers. It remains in orbit and continues to take clean, crisp images of the martian surface.

Mars 96 — Russia Originally slotted for a 1994 launch, economic crises in Russia forced the mission to be rescheduled and slimmed down. Mars 96 was to be a Mars orbiter that would send two landers and two penetrators to the surface. The landers would arrive on airbags, similar to NASA’s Pathfinder. After settling on the surface, the penetrators would fall to the surface and the instruments would be buried in the soil. A radio transmitter would stick out of the ground to send information from below the surface back to the orbiter.

On November 16, Mars 96 launched without complication. From an Earth orbit, a small liquid-fueled rocket was supposed to send Mars 96 to its target planet, but it didn’t and the spacecraft remained in Earth orbit before reentering Earth’s atmosphere and plunging into the Pacific Ocean.

Mars Pathfinder — United States The second mission under the umbrella of NASA’s new “Discovery” program – intended to get the highest quality spacecraft into space in the least amount of time from concept to design, at the lowest possible cost – was Mars Pathfinder, a single lander with a six-wheeled rover, named Sojourner, attached. It launched on December 4 and enjoyed an uneventful trip to Mars. The lander was deployed on July 4, 1997. 300 meters above the martian surface, the computer commanded four airbags to inflate, surrounding the Pathfinder and protecting it from the jolting landing. After three rockets brought the descent to a halt 30 meters above the surface, the spacecraft fell like a ball dropped from the hand of a child the rest of the way. It finally rolled to a stop after bouncing nearly a dozen times.

Once stationary, Pathfinder deflated and retracted its airbags. A rover, a camera, and an antenna emerged from the blossoming solar arrays. Before Sojourner could roll down the exit ramps to the ground, parts of an airbag blocking the path away from the lander had to be retracted. On July 6, 1997, the first Mars rover rolled down the ramp onto the red surface.  Both instruments on the rover, a camera and an alpha x-ray spectrometer surpassed all expectation and even operated well beyond their expected lifetimes of one week.

On September 27, 1997, Pathfinder stopped transmitting. No signals were again heard from Pathfinder after October 6.

It launched on July 4, 1998; one year after Mars Pathfinder’s lander began its historic descent to the martian surface. Originally planned to inject itself onto the interplanetary trajectory to Mars on December 20, the rocket responsible for setting it on the right course did not fully fire. The spacecraft thus lacked the necessary velocity to reach Mars as planned. Off course, but not out of touch, Nozomi received commands to orbit the sun three times before it re-encountered Earth in December 2002, and later this summer on June 19, 2003. It is expected to reach Mars in July 2004. Once in orbit around the Red Planet, Nozomi will begin its study of the martian upper atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind to help develop technologies for use in future planetary missions.

The mission is planned to continue sending data on Mars from December 2003 to October 2005, and possibly longer.

Mars Surveyor 98, Mars Climate Orbiter, and Mars Polar Lander — United States Hoping to gain momentum after the successful Mars Pathfinder mission, NASA readied two other spacecraft, Mars Surveyor 98 lander (Mars Polar Lander) and an orbiter (Mars Climate Orbiter) for launch in 1998. The orbiter mission would launch first in December 1998. It carried just two scientific instruments for studying Mars: a color imager to take pictures of the martian surface, and an instrument to measure the temperature and pressure at various locations in Mars’s atmosphere, and to determine the distribution of dust and water vapor in the atmosphere. Starting more like Mars Observer than Pathfinder, the original launch date, December 10, for the orbiter had to be bumped just a day as a result of a computer problem during countdown. It lifted off without complication on December 11.

The lander lifted off as scheduled on January 3, 1999. It was equipped with an instrument called Deep Space 2 (DS2), two penetrators similar to those on the failed Mars 96 mission.

Nine months after lifting off from Earth, the orbiter arrived to Mars on September 23, 1999. Unfortunately, though, a navigational error prevented it from slowing down as it neared the martian atmosphere and it crashed to the surface. Investigators discovered that a gross miscommunication between Jet Propulsion Laboratory navigation team and the industrial partner, Lockheed Martin, was the reason for the crash. The JPL team requested thruster impulse data in metric units of kilogram-meters per second, but Lockheed Martin provided the numbers in pound-seconds. The factor of 4.5 difference between the two numbers is enough to severely alter the course of the spacecraft.

After discovering a fault in one of Mars Express’s electronic modules, engineers delayed the launch — originally scheduled for May 23 — to June 6. The new launch date of June 2 results from the timely efforts of the project team to fix the problem.

At the end of its six month journey to the Red Planet, Mars Express will deploy Beagle 2, a lander, to perform exobiology and geochemistry research on the martian surface. Beagle 2’s scientific payload includes a panoramic and wide field camera, a robotic arm to pick up and analyze rocks for traces of organic matter, and a small electronic that will scatter across the surface to burrow into the ground to collect samples for a gas analysis system. All of these instruments will help scientists discover evidence for the possibility of life on Mars — at least, within range of Beagle 2’s landing site.

Beagle 2 will also act as a seeing-eye dog for other “incoming” international Mars lander missions from 2003 to 2007.

Mars Express will begin orbiting Mars after Beagle 2’s descent to the surface. In orbit, the spacecraft will put to work its impressive scientific inventory of seven instruments. The total stock of technology is capable of conducting the most thorough search for water on Mars ever carried out.

The Mars Express mission is expected to last about two Earth years, but will assist future Mars missions after completing its own scientific objectives.

One of the fascinating aspects of this mission is the active collaboration between the stock of instruments on board the rovers. With each instrument program to interact and help another, the rovers will closely resemble a geologist or archaeologist scouring the martian surface. Even the wheels can conduct scientific experiments. The rovers are even programmed to function on their own, making intelligent and safe decisions about where and how to drive as well as obtain scientific measurements.

The team in charge of this mission has carried the synergistic philosophy all the way to communication. The rovers will not only keep in touch with their delivery orbiter, but also connect with Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor both expected to still be orbiting Mars when the rovers roll onto the surface, the first on January 4, 2004, and the second three weeks later on January 24. By working with the three different orbiters, the rovers will be able to send almost three times the amount of imaging data to Earth.

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A brief history of science fiction’s journey to Mars

Mankind has been going to mars for centuries—in science fiction, that is..

Posted on Oct 7, 2015   Updated on May 27, 2021, 8:36 pm CDT

Last week was a big one for Mars fans. First we discovered water , and then we rescued  The Martian . NASA is already on a mission to reach the planet  in our lifetime, and would-be space travelers are already planning ways to warm it up once we get there.

But the recent resurgence of interest in the red planet isn’t just down to images from the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers. If the annals of science fiction are any indication, humans have had their sights fixed on Mars for centuries.

“I suspect the current interest in Mars is due to both new information about the planet itself and new understandings of the complex human effort it will take to get there,” Professor Lisa Yaszek told the Daily Dot.

“Historically speaking,” Yaszek said, “popular interest in Mars has waxed and waned over the past 150 years in relation to new technologies that provide new perspectives on the planet.”

Yaszek teaches science fiction at Georgia Tech, which  led the study  revealed in last week’s Mars water discovery. We asked her about the history of space exploration on the red planet—along with the history of Martian invasions. Yaszek discussed how Andy Weir’s novel  The Martian  fits into this pattern—and how it stands out.

H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds

Wikimedia Commons

The history of “Mars invasion” stories has always seemed to be about exploring our fear of

the Other.  The Martian , on the other hand, is about humanity exploring and colonizing a

world that’s essentially unthreatened by human ingenuity. Does this make it unique, or is it a

return to the kind of “new frontier” stories of the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

Yaszek:  Science fiction authors have been telling stories about Mars since the inception of this

wildly popular genre in the nineteenth century. Such stories tend to fall into two broad

types: invasion stories such as H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (1897) and adventure or

exploration stories such as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars stories (novelized as

A Princess of Mars in 1917). 

Sometimes the two even come together, as in Garrett P.

Serviss’s Edison’s Conquest of Mars (1898), which is an unauthorized sequel  to War of the

Worlds in which Thomas Edison leads an expedition to the red planet to obliterate the

Martians once and for all—and to claim Mars as the new American frontier! 

As a story about exploration and colonization, The Martian clearly fits into the latter

category. But the fact that there are no Martian natives to grapple with in Weir’s book—just

a dangerous and potentially hostile landscape—suggests that his novel is actually closer in

spirit to the new generation of Martian colonization stories that sprung up in the 1950s and ’60s. Prior to this period, authors tended to skip over the details of how we might get to

Mars in favor of speculation about what kinds of life Mars might host. But by the middle of

the 20th century, early successes in the space race made interplanetary travel seem

like something that might happen soon, while new visual data suggested that Mars was

likely to be inhospitable to human life. 

Accordingly, stories such as Arthur C. Clarke’s The

Sands of Mars (1951) and Isaac Asimov’s “The Martian Way” (1952) try to imagine in

practical terms what kind of effort it would take to colonize Mars and make it livable for

Aymar Stadler

This period also sees the first stories about explorers who are stranded on the red

planet, including Lester Del Rey’s Marooned on Mars (1951) and James Blish’s Welcome to

Mars (1966). While most of these stories are more realistic and less romantic than their

turn of the century counterparts, they all share the same optimistic belief that brave men

and women can work together creatively and compassionately, using all the scientific and

technical knowledge available to them, to survive a hostile Martian landscape and even

claim the red planet for humankind. That optimism is very much at the heart of The

Do you think this recent resurgence of interest in

Mars is due to advancing science and new understanding of the planet, or is it reflective of a

cultural shift? Or both?

I suspect the current interest in Mars is due to both new information about the planet

itself and new understandings of the complex human effort it will take to get there.

Historically speaking, popular interest in Mars has waxed and waned over the past 150

years in relation to new technologies that provide new perspectives on the planet. Mars

first became a popular setting for science fiction stories in the mid-to-late 1800s, when

telescopes revealed that the moon was inhospitable to human life, but suggested that there

might indeed be water, vegetation, and perhaps even the remnants of an ancient

civilization on Mars. As telescopes were refined and new data revealed that Mars was likely

to be very dry and cool with little atmosphere, authors shifted emphasis from stories about

invasion and exploration to the promises and perils of colonization. 

Photos taken by the

Marnier probe in 1965 and the Viking probes in 1976 confirmed that Martian conditions

were so inhospitable to human life that science fiction authors became discouraged and

turned their attention elsewhere.

By the mid-1980s, however, scientists and politicians were ready to return to the

challenges of thinking about Martian colonization; indeed, in 1989 U.S. President George

Bush revealed a plan to put humans on Mars by 2019. 

Meanwhile, new data from recent

missions including Pathfinder (1996), Rover (2003) and Phoenix (2007) bolstered hope

that there might still be water beneath the planet’s surface, which would make colonization

efforts somewhat simpler. And at that point, science fiction authors were ready to start

dreaming about Mars again, too! 

What’s interesting about this period is that authors

resurrect all the old Martian story forms—the invasion tale, the Martian romance, the

colonization tale—but with a new appreciation for the beauty of the Martian landscape.

This leads to an explosion of stories about the promises and perils of terraforming, as in

Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy and Geoffrey Landis’s Mars Crossing (2000). Even

stories such as Rick Moody’s The Four Fingers of Death , which hearkens back to War of the

Worlds, can be seen as part of this new movement in its appreciation and celebration of

Martian microbial life. 

Blue Flower Arts

A similar appreciation haunts Andy Weir’s The Martian as

well—even when it seems most likely to kill him, our hero manages to take a few moments

here and there to really appreciate the beauty of this world that seems determined to kill

But new technoscientific information isn’t the only factor informing our new optimism

about the possibility of human life on Mars; instead, new understandings of the complex

efforts it will take to get there are important, too! Over the past two decades it has become

increasingly apparent that no individual country is likely to make it far into space on its

own, while joint efforts such as the International Space Station suggest that humans from

all nations can make great strides when they work together. Even with its limitations,

cross-country collaborations such as these are the stuff that science fiction dreams are

Ever since Garrett P. Serviss imagined that Thomas Edison would lead an

international crew to the red planet… science

fiction authors have dreamed of futures without borders. We see this again in the most

recent generation of science fiction stories about Mars and especially in The Martian ,

where the fate of our nominally American hero hinges at several points on the decisions

made by non-Americans across the globe and in outer space. It’s a heartening story in an

age of very complex global politics.

For the newbie reader, what are some of the quintessential must-read/must-watch sci-fi related to Mars in your opinion? 

There are so many great stories—and films, and comics, and video games—about Mars

that it’s hard to choose just a few! As a literary person, I can’t help but recommend mostly

stories. If the newbie reader hasn’t encountered Wells’ War of the Worlds (1897) yet, I’d

suggest beginning with that—and then reading Garrett P. Serviss’s very 19th-century

American response, Edison’s Conquest of Mars (1898). 

There is also an amazing great early

science fiction film set on the red planet, Soviet director Yakov Protazanov’s Aelita: Queen

of Mars (1924). 

From the middle of the 20th century, when colonization stories first become popular,

I’d recommend anything by Robert Heinlein that takes place on Mars, but especially the

book Red Mars and the film Rocketship X-M . 

Art by Steele Savage for the 1971 edition of Heinlein’s Red Planet

Monster Brains

I’d also recommend Ray Bradbury’s Martian

Chronicles because it provides a very different, very surreal take on the planet—it’s a

beautifully written set of stories! 

And if the newbie was so inclined, I’d recommend hunting

down Detective Comics  [Issue] #225, which introduces the first Martian superhero: J’onn J’onzz,

aka Martian Manhunter! 

In terms of recent science fiction about Mars, I’d say it’s essential to read Kim Stanley

Robinson’s Red Mars or, if at all possible, the entire Mars trilogy. When those came out,

there was a sense in the science fiction community that, that’s it, nobody will ever write a

better set of stories about Mars. Fortunately, science fiction people like a good challenge

and so there are many other great offerings out there from recent years! 

Fanart for the first in Robinson’s Mars trilogy, ‘Red Mars’

CarlosNCT/deviantART

[As a bonus, Robinson listed all of his favorite Mars books for more advanced science fiction fans here .]

In terms of print

fiction, of course I’d recommend Andy Weir’s The Martian . Given the new appreciation of

the Martian landscape for what it is in both the science and science fiction community, I

think it’s no surprise that many recent video games—including Doom , Doom III , and Mass

Effect III, all take place on Mars and/or its moons, where navigating the nonhuman

landscape becomes an important part of the gameplay. 

The first of the original series of ‘Mars Attacks!’ trading cards upon which the 1996 Tim Burton film is based

https://www.flickr.com/photos/31558613@N00/sets/72157625601126001/

And finally, to prevent the newbie from thinking that the science fiction community is

always sober and serious, I’d recommend a few of the very many and very funny Mars

stories out there, including Warner Brothers’ animated shorts about Marvin the Martian,

director Nicholas Weber’s Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964), and Tim Burton’s

Mars Attacks! (1996). Because if we can’t laugh at ourselves and our hopes and fears about

red planet, then we aren’t going to have nearly as much fun once we get there!

Photo via NASA

Aja Romano is a geek culture reporter and fandom expert. Their reporting at the Daily Dot covered everything from Harry Potter and anime to Tumblr and Gamergate. Romano joined Vox as a staff reporter in 2016.

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Our Journey to Mars

Humans have long been fascinated with our closest rocky neighbor. christiaan huygens was the first person to draw detailed maps of mars in the 1600s using a telescope of his own design..

This story was created for the Google Expeditions project by Vida Systems, now available on Google Arts & Culture.

Powered Descent for Perseverance (Illustration) (2020) NASA

H.G Wells wrote a groundbreaking novel in 1898 featuring visitors from Mars called War of the Worlds. Both the former Soviet Union and the United States have landed probes on its red, rocky surface.

First Humans on Mars (Artist's Concept) (2019) NASA

Our search for life outside Earth draws us to Mars and despite the lack of evidence of life so far, humans are determined to set foot on the planet itself.

Mars environment

A number of international space agencies have announced that they intend to send humans to Mars in the next 30 years. As well as developing the technology needed to get humans to Mars, the environment that the humans will be arriving to is an equally important consideration.

Mars has a very thin atmosphere, approximately 100 times thinner than Earth’s. Carbon dioxide comprises 95% of the atmosphere, a situation that isn’t compatible to human life. On Earth, our atmosphere contains just 0.04% carbon dioxide.

Simply moving about on Mars could be a challenge for humans. Mars’ gravitational pull is much less compared to Earth’s. A human that weighs 200 pounds on Earth will only weigh about 76 pounds on Mars. 

Temperature

The average surface temperature on Mars is minus 80ºF, much colder than any place on Earth. Mars’ thin atmosphere doesn’t retain heat like Earth’s, and it is also further away from the sun than our planet.

Water is present in the polar regions of Mars. However, due to its thin atmosphere any liquid water will most likely disappear quickly. Although Mars measures half of Earth’s diameter, it has the same amount of dry land.

Current exploration

Exploration of Mars began just 10 years after the launch of the first satellite into Earth’s orbit. From the first flyby, space technology evolved rapidly, and currently 14 spacecraft can be found on the surface of Mars itself.

Mariner 4, launched in 1964 by the United States, was the first spacecraft to perform a flyby over Mars. It sent back 21 images in 1965. The photos showed a deserted Mars, without any signs of life that many on Earth had been imagining.

NASA’s Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit Mars in 1971. It orbited the planet for nearly a year and discovered huge canyons, massive dormant volcanoes, and the presence of dust storms, taking over 7,000 photos.

Viking 1 was the first successful, long–term functional lander (the Soviet Union was the first to land on Mars, however its lander only functioned for a few seconds). These landers worked for years, sending back lots of information for scientists.

NASA’s Phoenix landed on the surface of Mars in 2008. Equipped with a specialized robotic arm to fulfill its water–finding mission, it landed further north than previous expeditions and found evidence of water ice under the surface of Mars. 

Opportunity

Opportunity has traveled 28 miles so far and was operational from 2004 until June 2018. Scientists are still trying to re-establish contact with the spacecraft after a massive, planetwide dust storm caused the rover to fall silent. 

The trip to Mars

Currently 3 agencies have set dates for landing humans on the surface of Mars: SpaceX, a private company based in the United States; the US space agency NASA; and the Russian government space agency Roscosmos.

Any agency planning on putting humans on Mars faces large obstacles in order to get them there, and all are building on knowledge and lessons learned from previous expeditions.

Mars is really far away from Earth: at least 30–60 million miles, depending on where the 2 planets are in their orbits. Spacecraft would have to be designed to keep a crew alive for at least 300 days before even reaching Mars’ orbit.

Radiation could be a big problem for humans as they travel through space as well as when they land on the surface of Mars. Journeying to Mars will expose astronauts to high levels of dangerous, cell–changing solar radiation.

Getting home

Getting astronauts to Mars is an ambitious project in itself, and getting them home may be even more difficult. Fuel, food, protection, and medical supplies for at least a 600–day mission won’t be an easy task.

Mental preparation

Humans who travel to Mars, and possibly back, will need to be mentally prepared. They need to be able to keep themselves happy for at least 300 days of travel in a small space, then be prepared for extremely harsh conditions on the surface. 

Mars settlement

Even though humans have yet to set foot on the surface of the Red Planet, architects and scientists around the world are designing self–contained habitats that humans could potentially use once they arrive. 

With the harsh conditions present in Mars’ atmosphere, it may be necessary to build some of these accommodations underground.

Any habitat will need an artificial atmosphere in order to supply oxygen to visitors as Mars’ atmosphere contains very little oxygen. It will also need to protect the travelers from harmful solar radiation and dust storms. 

Space suits

When not inside the artificial habitat, humans will need to wear space suits. These will need to be redesigned, however, as current space suits weigh over 400 pounds, and are used only occasionally, especially by International Space Station astronauts.

Astronauts would need to grow their own food. Specialized greenhouse habitats would have to be built to support crops, and soil may need to be brought from Earth as the soil on Mars may not be fit for growth.

Dust storms

Every Martian summer, massive dust storms occur. Some of these storms are so large they engulf the entire planet and last for months. An advantage of dust storms is that they can reduce the planet’s extreme temperature swings.

Rocket and fuel

At the moment, the heaviest item to land safely weighed under 1 ton. A rocket with all of its cargo and crew would weigh at least 10 times heavier. Ideally, astronauts will return to Earth, so rockets will need enough fuel to get home also.

Once the challenges of getting humans to Mars and building a basic settlement are overcome, the real work begins. Living on Mars for an extended period of time presents a whole new set of technical problems and challenges that will need to be met.

People living on Mars will need to be entirely self–sufficient. Any supplies or equipment that may be needed from Earth will take almost a year to reach the Red Planet, and that’s a long time to wait for a delivery.

Generating electricity is a must for an ongoing Mars settlement. Solar panels will work well until a dust storm descends, and these storms can last for months at a time. Nuclear power is a possibility if it can be transported from Earth safely.

If a stable supply of water isn’t found on the Mars surface, settlers will need to bring water with them. This will take up a huge amount of rocket space, and settlers will need to be very careful not to waste their water supply.

The first settlers on Mars will need to be highly skilled in a range of fields. Not just space travel, they will need medical training, agricultural skills, and building knowledge. Settlers will also need to know how to maintain the life support systems.

Dust doesn’t sound like a big issue, but on Mars it will be an integral part of life. Very fine Martian dust can cover everything, getting into machinery and filters and on solar panels. Settlers will constantly be clearing dust from essential support systems.

Things can go wrong very quickly. Settlers will need to manage situations like a loss of atmospheric pressure, temperature controls or oxygen tanks failing, and massive dust storms. Since the nearest help is almost a year away, people will need to be prepared. 

Race to Mars

Governments of many countries have plans to get humans on the surface of Mars. Private companies have also indicated that they are going to land humans on Mars, either in partnership with government agencies or on their own.

NASA, the government space agency of the United States, currently has working rovers on the surface of Mars. It has the most experience placing satellites in Mars’ orbit and landing spacecraft on the surface. It plans to land humans on Mars by 2030.

Boeing is the main contractor working with NASA to build a custom designed super heavy rocket that is planned to get humans to Mars. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has stated publicly that the first person on Mars will arrive there in a Boeing rocket.

SpaceX is a privately owned company based in the United States. It has developed a large, reusable rocket called the Falcon Heavy. CEO Elon Musk has stated that the company plans to land humans on Mars by 2023, an incredibly ambitious target. 

China National Space Administration

Despite having one of the youngest space agencies, China has proved it is a worthy contender of sending humans to Mars. The first to land a probe on the far side of the Moon, it plans to send a rover to Mars in 2020.

Roscosmos is Russia’s space agency. It has teamed up with the European Space Agency to land a rover on Mars in 2020. Russia’s president has also mentioned trying to send a crewed mission to Mars even before SpaceX.

The James Webb Space Telescope Explained

What will the james webb space telescope see, ellison onizuka, newton’s laws of motion in space, nasa armstrong's go for flight, how newton's 3rd law gets us off the ground, what is acceleration, what is the james webb space telescope, 6 out of this world scientific discoveries from the iss.

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NASA's Perseverance Rover Launches to Mars

NASA's Perseverance Rover began its long journey to Mars today by successfully launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a ULA Atlas V rocket. It now begins its seven-month journey to the Red Planet, landing there on Feb. 18, 2021. Perseverance will seek signs of ancient microbial life on Mars along with collecting samples for future return to Earth and demonstrating key technologies to help prepare for future robotic and human exploration. Also flying with Perseverance is NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, which will attempt to show controlled flight is possible in the very thin Martian atmosphere. For more about Perseverance, visit mars.nasa.gov/perseverance For more about Ingenuity, visit mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/

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Nicola Twilley

Algae Caviar, Anyone? What We'll Eat on the Journey to Mars

To anyone who happened to be looking up that morning, perhaps from the deck of a boat off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the plane would have appeared to be on an extremely alarming trajectory. It rocketed into the cloudless late-summer sky at a 45-degree angle, slowed momentarily and leveled out, then nosed down toward the ocean, plunging 17,000 vertical feet in a matter of seconds. At the last moment, it leveled out again and began another climb, looking for all the world as though it were being piloted by a hopelessly indecisive hijacker.

Onboard the plane, the mood was euphoric and a little hysterical. The main cabin had been converted into a kind of padded cell, lined with soft white tiles in lieu of seats and overhead bins. Two dozen passengers, clad in blue jumpsuits, lay on their backs on the floor. As the plane neared the crest of its first roller-coaster wave, a member of the flight crew got on the PA. “Pushing over, slow and easy,” he shouted over the roar of the engines. “Release!” Moments before he uttered that final word, the passengers began to levitate. Their feet, hands, and hair lifted first, then their bodies, arms dog-paddling and legs kicking ineffectually as they giggled and grinned like fools for a fleeting, floating instant. “Feet down, coming out,” the crew member said 20 seconds later. The passengers hit the floor ass first and lay spread-eagled, staring at the ceiling.

March 2020. Subscribe to WIRED .

The plane flew 20 parabolic arcs that day, for a total of around six minutes of weightlessness. Each time gravity loosened its grip, the blue-suited occupants frantically got to work on a range of activities and experiments. I hovered in the middle of the cabin, toes down, hair up, and took in the scene. Up by the cockpit, a square-jawed jock raced to strap himself into a vertical rowing machine. Not far away, a waifish young woman sculpted spidery 3D figures in midair with a hot glue gun, sucking on her lip piercing with a look of deep concentration. Behind me, toward the rear of the fuselage, the world's first musical instrument designed exclusively for performance in microgravity—a sort of metallic octopus called the Telemetron—emitted plaintive digital chimes as it spun. A woman wearing a seahorse-inspired robotic tail rotated serenely, twirling around its flexible ballast like a stripper on a pole.

A few feet away from where I hung, Cady Coleman, a former NASA astronaut with six months of spaceflight experience, took a nostalgic joyride, somersaulting and gliding like a pro. Nearby, silkworms in varying stages of development bounced gently in the hammock of their freshly woven cocoons, largely unnoticed inside a small acrylic box. I struggled to keep hold of my pencil and notebook as I watched industrial designer Maggie Coblentz, immaculately costumed in a Ziggy Stardust-inspired white jumpsuit and matching go-go boots, chase down and swallow a handful of boba pearls, nibbling at them like a goldfish.

The flight had been chartered by Ariel Ekblaw, the intimidatingly accomplished founder of the MIT Media Lab's Space Exploration Initiative. Ekblaw has a round face, long curls, and the earnest demeanor that comes with being a Girl Scout Gold Award winner and high school valedictorian. Her mother set the bar for overachievement in a male-dominated field: She was a reservist instructor in the US Air Force back when female trainers were unheard of, and she would have flown fighter jets if women had been allowed to at the time. But it was Ekblaw's father, a fighter pilot himself, who kindled her obsession with space. He was a sci-fi buff, and Ekblaw grew up devouring his paperback copies of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. She also watched Star Trek: The Next Generation at a formative age, imprinting on its impossibly optimistic vision of the future. After majoring in physics, math, and philosophy as an undergrad, she earned a master's degree in blockchain research. Then, four years ago, at the age of 23, she decided to return to her first love.

The Space Exploration Initiative's goal is to bring together “artists, scientists, engineers, and designers to build a real-life Starfleet Academy.” Ekblaw and her expanding team of more than 50 collaborators are getting ready for the day when humanity becomes a space-native civilization, as comfortable in the cosmos as we have been on Earth. “People say we're putting the cart before the horse,” Ekblaw concedes. “But the complexities of space are such that we really should be at least designing the cart while the horse is being prepared.”

As the billionaire rocket bros never tire of reminding us, we stand on the cusp of a new era of space travel. In the coming decades, there will be celestial cruises aboard Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. There may be off-world factories and lunar mining operations, courtesy of Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin . There will probably be hydroponic grow houses at Elon Musk's SpaceX colony on Mars. Even the bureaucrats at NASA have grand plans for the future. But while a new generation of aerospace engineers toils over the tech that will get us into orbit and beyond—reusable launch vehicles, rocket-bearing planes—an important question remains unanswered, Ekblaw says: “What will delight humans in space?”

Even in the near term, this is not a frivolous concern. A one-way trip to Mars will take about nine months, which is a long time to spend inside a hermetically sealed tube hurtling through a cold, dark void. Like all animals, humans require stimulation; without something to break the monotony, most of us end up like a tiger pacing its cage—stressed, depressed, and prone to problematic behaviors. Indeed, many scientists believe that boredom is one of the most serious challenges facing future spacefarers.

Dell Cameron

Andy Greenberg

Rhett Allain

Ryan Waniata

Until now, design for space has focused on survival. But Ekblaw thinks it's possible, even essential, to imagine an entirely new microgravitational culture, one that doesn't simply adapt Earth products and technologies but instead conceives them anew. Cady Coleman amused herself by playing her flute on the International Space Station —another astronaut brought his bagpipes—but future travelers might instead pick up a Telemetron. They might wear clothes spun of special zero-g silk, or sculpt delicate forms that couldn't exist on Earth, or choreograph new forms of dance, assisted by their robot tails. They might, in other words, stop seeing themselves as homesick earthlings and begin to feel like stimulated, satisfied spacelings.

Whatever else they do, they'll require nourishment, which is why food is a central focus of the MIT program. NASA and other government space agencies have traditionally treated food as a practical challenge—an extreme version of provisioning for an outback camping trip. But while a highly trained astronaut might be able to subsist on space gorp without losing her mind, what about a civilian with a one-way ticket to Mars? Coblentz, who is leading the Space Exploration Initiative's gastronomic research, argues that, as much as art or music or movement, good food will enable us to thrive as we leave Earth behind. It has always been the glue that connects us to each other and to the environment around us. Our pursuit of food has shaped the evolution of our sensory apparatus—the very tools through which we, as a species, perceive the world. The choices we make every day about food selection, preparation, and consumption lie at the foundation of our identities and relationships and affinities. As the Italian historian Massimo Montanari succinctly put it, food is culture.

This truth will surely endure into our interplanetary future—even as far as the 24th century, if Ekblaw's beloved Star Trek is to be believed. When Captain Jean-Luc Picard narrowly survives an attempted body-snatching by the Borg, a group of pasty techno-supremacists who invade his mind with nanoprobes and threaten to steal his humanity forever, the place he goes to recuperate is his family's ancestral vineyard in France, where his brother still works the soil, tends the vines, and harvests the grapes, and where the meals are made from scratch. Picard was lucky: Real-life spacefarers won't have the option of hightailing it back to Earth to regain their sense of meaning and identity. They'll need to make it fresh in whichever brave new world they find themselves. As Coblentz puts it, “What will the terroir of Mars be?” To find out, she's compiling a speculative guide to the kinds of culinary tools, tastes, and rituals that might help humans feel at home in space—an interplanetary cookbook.

Coblentz grew up just outside of Toronto and spent her summers canoe-tripping in the Canadian wilderness. After high school, she studied design in New Delhi and New York; she favors the all-black wardrobe common to the field. Yet her love of backcountry exploration has translated into a fascination with extreme environments. Before she came to MIT, she investigated the role that food plays in prisons and on the battlefield. Still, outer space presents challenges all its own; before she could begin developing interplanetary recipes, some market research was in order. And so, on a sunny morning in September, she invited Cady Coleman, Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and a handful of MIT colleagues to a daylong workshop at the Media Lab.

The focus group gathered in a fluorescent-lit conference room decorated with large-format photos of lollipops and Buffalo wings and coiled spirals of salami. On the table, Coblentz had laid out small plastic cups of M&Ms, freeze-dried cheese bites, and Tang; these would serve as both snacks and design inspiration. Nespoli showed up with props of his own—some silvery foil packets from NASA's current menu rotation; some cans filched from the Russian supplies and the European Space Agency, including one simply labeled SPACE FOOD; and a translucent plastic package filled with what looked like yellowish plugs of ear wax but were apparently dehydrated mashed potatoes. “Nobody goes to space for the food,” Coleman said.

Coblentz began by making her pitch. Humanity's off-world survival, she said, will depend on a diet that can nourish not only travelers' bodies but their minds and souls. Space food must inspire and unite; it must reflect both the grandeur of the endeavor and the majesty of the surroundings. Coleman, a kind-faced, nurturing type who wore a T-shirt depicting a Martian mountain range, nodded. Nespoli, a rugged former special-forces operator from Milan, raised his heavy eyebrows in polite skepticism.

Undaunted, Coblentz invited Coleman and Nespoli to describe their culinary experiences aboard the International Space Station—the challenges, the frustrations, and the highlights. “You know, people ask me, ‘Why don't you cook pasta in space? You're Italian!’ ” Nespoli replied, still seemingly determined to deflate Coblentz's grand aspirations. “And I'm like, ‘Well, I would love to. But you simply cannot.’ I think you will not understand food in space unless you start understanding some of the practical problems that make food in space what it is.”

Those practical problems have been the focus of sustained research for more than half a century. In the earliest days of the original space race, scientists worried that it might not be possible to eat in zero g at all. The human digestive system evolved to function in Earth's gravitational field; prolonged weightlessness might cause choking, constipation, or worse. The problem required research, but at the time there was no way of duplicating the proper conditions on Earth. “Gravity as a physical factor of environment has the outstanding property of being omnipresent and everlasting,” a 1950 technical report explained. “Not a single individual has as yet been away from its influence for more than one or two seconds.”

The scientists attempted a number of workarounds, the most memorable of which involved a German-born aeromedical doctor, Hubertus Strughold, numbing his buttocks with novocaine. Once anesthetized, he had a pilot fly him through a series of acrobatic maneuvers, reasoning that the lack of any seat-of-the-pants sensation would be a decent substitute for weightlessness. According to contemporary accounts, “he found the experience very disagreeable.” (Strughold was one of many former Third Reich scientists who were brought to the US after World War II to work on the space program. Although he was revered for decades as the so-called father of space medicine, his reputation has since been tarnished by his alleged association with Nazi war crimes. He denied any involvement.)

By 1955, the Air Force had refined the art of parabolic flight and could reliably provide up to 30 seconds of microgravity at a time. Although some test subjects initially struggled, choking and gasping when they tried to eat or drink, it was clear that scientists' earlier concerns had been overblown. Still, there is a reason planes like the one Ekblaw chartered are known as “vomit comets.” Somewhere between half and three-quarters of all spacefarers suffer from what NASA calls space adaptation syndrome, triggered by a sudden lack of data from the otoliths. These ancient organs in the inner ear, made up of tiny crystals of chalk embedded in a gelatinous membrane, normally tell the brain where it is in relation to Earth's gravitational field.

Most astronauts get over their motion sickness within a few days, but nausea is far from the only hunger suppressant they face. For one thing, there's no way of cracking a window in space, which means the enclosed environment could easily smell, as Ekblaw described it, “like everyone who has ever been there, every meal that has been eaten, and every dump that has been taken.” Coleman was quick to point out that the ISS has an excellent filtration system, but the fight against funkiness never ends. “They tell you if you open a package of food you have to eat it, all of it, if you like it or not,” Nespoli said. “Whatever you have left over, it will start rotting and it will stink. And you are a good disposal machine.” This organic tendency in food—its inevitable trajectory toward decay—is a major headache for space agencies. When Nespoli asked to bring aged Parmigiano-Reggiano aboard the ISS, NASA said no, because the artisans who produced the cheese could not provide its expiration date. (He had better luck with lasagna.)

Maggie Coblentz, the Space Exploration Initiative’s head of food research, created a special helmet for eating in zero g.

Mitigating the malodor, but reinforcing the appetite loss, is a condition known as “space face.” In the absence of gravity, body fluids pool in the head. This is the suspected cause of the irreversible vision problems reported by some astronauts, but it also means that, for many, eating in orbit is like eating with a severe head cold here on Earth. Astronauts have reported cravings for stronger tastes that cut through the flavor-muffling congestion. Coleman says she “liked sugar up there a little bit more” and began taking her coffee sweetened; her crewmate Scott Kelly, who'd never much cared for desserts on the ground, became something of a chocoholic during his year aboard the ISS.

But the “practical problems” Nespoli alluded to exert by far the biggest effect on astronauts' diet. Every pound that NASA transports to and from space costs thousands of dollars, which means food must be lightweight and compact. It also has to last a long time. Like Nespoli's mashed potatoes, many of the dishes on offer—shrimp cocktail, chicken teriyaki, or one of a couple hundred other options—come dehydrated. And they tend to share another property too, Coleman said: “Everything is kind of mushy.” This is a side effect of NASA's all-out war on crumbs. On Earth, crumbs fall; in microgravity, they can end up anywhere, including inside critical equipment or astronauts' lungs. On the earliest space missions, food came in the form of squeezable purées and “intermediate moisture bites” such as bacon squares and brownies, which were coated in a crumb-proof layer of gelatin. Today's menu is more expansive, but certain foods, like bread, remain off limits. In its place is the all-purpose flour tortilla, to which rehydrated sauces and stews adhere thanks to surface tension.

Although it's possible to eat, say, Fig Newtons or Doritos in space, Coleman said such friable indulgences require careful planning. “You really need to open them near a vent so that any crumbs go on the vent,” she explained. “Then you take the vacuum cleaner and you vacuum the vent, like a good space station citizen.” (Identical rules apply to clipping one's fingernails.) Even so, astronauts often notice little edible-looking things drifting by. In Kelly's 2017 memoir, Endurance , he relates a stomach-turning anecdote in which the Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti confesses to having eaten an unidentified floating object she thought was candy but turned out to be garbage.

Nespoli's longed-for spaghetti is not crumbly, but even if he did find a way to cook it, there would be no appropriate way to eat it. For the most part, space cutlery has been reduced to a pair of scissors, for opening packages, and a spoon, for scooping out their contents. (As it happens, Nespoli's ancestral compatriots were the first Europeans to adopt the modern fork. It was a multi-tined improvement on their previous tool—a combination ravioli spear and spaghetti twirling rod.) The process of cooking is similarly simplified. On the ISS, the astronauts typically rehydrate their food by adding hot water from a nozzle mounted on the ceiling, then kneading the package. Dinner is ready to eat at this point, but most dishes are apparently greatly improved by also being warmed inside a slim aluminum briefcase with a heating element in the middle. “This is where it gets crazy,” Nespoli said. “You have a space station that cost a gazillion dollars, built by engineers that can build the most amazing things, and the food warmer is a briefcase that takes 20 minutes and only fits enough food for three people at a time.”

As a result, finding something to eat in the storage containers, rehydrating and kneading it, then warming it can easily take 30 or 40 minutes. Astronauts are always short on time; their days are tightly programmed by mission control, and overruns on repairs or science experiments frequently cut into their already limited window for meals. During the Media Lab focus group, Coleman described a favorite dinner that involved molding rice into sticky balls and then mixing it with Trader Joe's Thai curry, which she'd brought up as part of her personal allowance. “I really loved it,” she said. “But it took me probably twice as long to eat dinner when I did that.” Especially toward the end of her mission, she was more likely to eat a food bar instead, “because it was just efficient.”

By this point in the meeting, Coleman and Nespoli had rattled off an extraordinarily long list of challenges and constraints. Finally, though, they made the admission that Coblentz had been chasing all along: Food was an important part of daily life in orbit—and the subject of many of their fondest memories. Coleman said their entire crew, even the cosmonauts, made a point of eating together on Friday evenings. “It's how you become a team,” she explained, to Coblentz's evident delight. Coleman opened her laptop and flipped through her favorite photographs from her time aboard the ISS. One showed the kitchen table, which juts out into the corridor between the Russian and American segments of the station. “Everybody had bruises on each hip—one for the way there, one for the way back,” she said. “It was exactly in the way.” Of course, there's no real reason for a table to be horizontal in space; packets of food and drink have to be secured using Velcro either way, so it could just as easily lie parallel to the wall. But Coleman said there was an unspoken resistance to such an arrangement. The crew needed a place to “hang around,” she explained, and to ask that most human of questions: “How was your day?”

Nespoli's favorite ISS snapshots involved food too, in a way. He pulled up an image he captured of clouds over Lake Garda, Italy. “That looks like a margherita pizza,” he said. “And then the next picture—that looks like a quattro stagioni pizza.” Earth was pizza, pizza was Earth, and both were entirely out of reach. This was the obstacle Coblentz was determined to surmount.

The first people ever to leave Earth orbit and strike out into space were the three crew members of Apollo 8. They were surprised to find that the most compelling thing they saw on the quarter-of-a-million-mile-long journey lay in the rearview mirror. “We set out to explore the moon and instead discovered the Earth,” astronaut Bill Anders wrote 50 years after the mission's end.

It was Anders who captured the iconic “Earthrise” photo on Christmas Eve of 1968: a shiny blue jewel wreathed in clouds, floating above the pockmarked lunar surface, alone in the pitch-black void. Reflecting on the image in 2018, he recalled the powerful emotions that led him to ignore his assigned task—documenting potential landing sites—and turn his lens toward home. “Once-distant places appeared inseparably close,” he wrote. “Borders that once rendered division vanished. All of humanity appeared joined together.” His sublime experience, an overwhelming feeling of oneness coupled with a sudden awareness of Earth's beauty and fragility, became so common among future generations of astronauts that it earned a name: the overview effect. It offers an escape from the confined, smelly conditions, the mushy, repetitive meals, and the endless checklists. When Coleman was aboard the ISS, she played her flute in the Cupola, a windowed observatory purpose-built for world-watching.

On a journey to Mars, or beyond, that will no longer be an option. Psychologists have no idea how the so-called break-off phenomenon—the sense of detachment that can arise when our planet slips from view—will affect future astronauts' mental state. What's more, any communication with the now-invisible Earth will be subject to as much as a 45-minute lag. Kelley Slack, one of the experts on NASA's Behavioral Health and Performance team, recently told NBC, “It will be the first time that we've been totally disconnected from Earth.” Since the summer of 1975, when NASA convened a group of experts to discuss permanent settlement in space, researchers have warned of a psychological condition called “solipsism syndrome,” in which reality feels dreamlike and lonely astronauts become prone to self-destructive mistakes. Mars could be the theory's first real test.

“Food assumes added importance under all conditions of isolation and confinement because normal sources of gratification are denied,” Jack Stuster, an anthropologist and NASA consultant, wrote in Bold Endeavors , his 1996 book on the behavioral issues associated with extreme environments. “Usually, the longer the confinement, the more important food becomes.” Managers of offshore oil rigs, supertankers, and Antarctic research stations all appreciate the importance of food to maintaining group morale and productivity in isolated, remote, and confined situations. Stuster noted that “food has become such an important element onboard fleet ballistic missile submarines that, for years, meals have been served at cloth-covered tables in pleasant paneled dining rooms.”

Outer space is perhaps the most extreme environment humans will ever confront. To mitigate the inevitable burnout, NASA has developed a range of what it calls “countermeasures.” During his yearlong mission aboard the ISS, for instance, Scott Kelly tested a pair of rubber suction trousers, designed to combat fluid shift. (Afterward he reporting feeling, for the first time in months, “like I wasn't standing on my head.”) He and his crewmate Kjell Lindgren, the man with the bagpipes, also grew and ate some red romaine lettuce—a first for American astronauts.

Research by Marianna Obrist, a professor of multisensory experiences at the University of Sussex, suggests orbital agriculture could be a promising countermeasure. “In a way, that appreciation of what it takes to grow food and how wonderful and alive fresh food tastes—that's something you don't often think when you are eating here on Earth,” she told me. Perhaps a crunchy leaf of romaine could serve as the edible equivalent of the overview effect. For the foreseeable future, though, onboard farming will never provide more than a tiny portion of a crew's dietary requirements. The MIT team will have to look elsewhere.

Obrist's recent work has documented exactly the void that Coblentz is trying to fill. In anticipation of mass-market space tourism, she and her colleagues conducted a survey in which they asked ordinary people about the eating experiences they would want on a flight to the moon or Mars. The responses were clear: For the shorter lunar trip, travelers were perfectly happy to provision themselves like campers, provided there would be treats. But when it came to the longer Mars journey, the respondents said they'd require a wide variety of flavors, textures, and temperatures. They also felt it would be important to re-create some of the rituals and environments that accompany eating on Earth.

In short, Coblentz said, making better space food means thinking bigger than countermeasures. “If humans are going to thrive in space, we need to design embodied experiences,” she told me. She has even looked to zoos for inspiration. “For predatory animals like tigers, instead of just throwing a carcass into their cage, they might have a hunting contraption that drags and twitches the meat,” she explained. “They're manufacturing this more challenging experience to make eating more engaging for the animals, and I wondered what the space food analogy might be.” Hiding food around a spacecraft to encourage foraging behavior might not be feasible, she concluded, but what about meal preparation? What kinds of culinary transformations are possible in space—and what kinds of rituals could be built out of them?

Like generations of chefs before her, Coblentz began by taking advantage of the local environment. Liquids are known to behave peculiarly in microgravity, forming wobbly blobs rather than streams or droplets. This made her think of molecular gastronomy, in particular the technique of using calcium chloride and sodium alginate to turn liquids into squishy, caviar-like spheres that burst delightfully on the tongue. Coblentz got to work on a special spherification station to test in zero g—basically a plexiglass glove box equipped with preloaded syringes. She would inject a bead of ginger extract into a lemon-flavored bubble, or blood orange into a beet juice globule, creating spheres within spheres that would deliver a unique multipop sensation unattainable on Earth. And unlike their terrestrial counterparts, Coblentz's spheres would float rather than sit on a plate, meaning they could be appreciated in 360 degrees, rather than 180, and garnished accordingly. The entire process, as whimsical as it might seem, could offer future space travelers a welcome chance to express their culinary creativity and enjoy eating as a sensory experience, even if “space face” means the flavors themselves are subdued.

Coblentz holds a dish of algae-based "caviar," designed to remind space-faring earthlings of their faraway home.

Coblentz also had weightier weightless recipes in mind. Many of Earth's most deeply comforting foods rely on the byproducts of microbial digestion. Because metabolism works differently in microgravity, for microbes as well as humans, the resulting flavors might differ too. What would a wheel of space-aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, a loaf of space-risen sourdough bread, or a tube of space-fermented salami taste like? Coblentz is planning to send a batch of miso paste to the ISS later this year, to learn how its flavor profile changes. She has also developed a new way of consuming it. Pondering the station's lack of cutlery, she struck upon the idea of creating silicone “bones”—solid, ivory-colored crescents that resemble oversize macaroni more than the ribs that inspired them. Nibbling and sucking foods directly off a silicone bone might reduce spoon fatigue, she explained, and perhaps even put spacefarers in touch with humanity's most ancient foodways.

Coblentz has also considered sending brine into orbit, to evaporate into salt. As Phil Williams, who recently launched the world's first astropharmacy research program at the University of Nottingham, told me recently, “One of the problems of making crystals on Earth is that you have convective currents.” Driven by gravity, these currents affect the quality of crystal growth. “You can get far bigger crystals with fewer defects in microgravity,” he said. Chefs and foodies already pay a premium for the large, hollow pyramids of Maldon sea salt, a shape preferred for its crunch, its intermittent bursts of saltiness, and its superior adhesion to baked goods. No one yet knows what culinary properties the crystalline perfection of space salt might possess. Many pharmaceuticals rely on crystallization too, and any alteration in those structures can change the drug's therapeutic effects. “There may one day be compounds that we can only make off-planet and bring back,” Williams said, conjuring up a dazzling vision of the future in which drug factories and gourmet brine ponds orbit Earth.

In the weeks leading up to the parabolic flight, as Coblentz surveyed her prototypes, she decided she'd like to spend her precious moments in zero g actually eating stuff, not just fiddling with the spherification station. She would set aside time to inject a few test spheres, but for now she was more interested in replacing some of the ambiance, texture, and flavor that astronauts complain is missing aboard the ISS.

“I've designed a special space food helmet and a tasting menu,” she told me on our last call before we flew. “Have a light breakfast.”

As astronauts and entrepreneurs alike are fond of saying whenever something goes horribly wrong, “space is hard.” The same rule seemingly applied to MIT's zero-gravity flight. Initially slated for March, it was delayed for months, owing to a government shutdown, scheduling conflicts, and then at the last minute—with all the passengers, including the silkworms, ready to go—the FAA's refusal to recertify the plane until a single part was replaced. Finally, the morning dawned. I ate a quarter of a bagel, applied a motion-sickness patch, and boarded the team bus to ride up to an airstrip at Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire.

We gathered in a hangarlike space haphazardly furnished with plastic tables, folding chairs, a metal detector, and an x-ray machine. Staff from Zero-G Corporation, the company operating the flight, issued us our blue onesies, complete with name badges, and our boarding passes. Flight ZG491 was scheduled to depart at 9 am.

As the passengers suited up and checked their experimental equipment one last time, the preflight briefing began. There would be no somersaults, no flipping, no spinning without permission—seriously, no horsing around of any kind.

“Don't look down,” one staffer warned. “You'll feel like your eyeballs are falling out.”

“Don't take off a ring and try to float it while you take a picture,” said another. “There's still a wedding ring in there somewhere from the last guy that tried that.”

After the briefing, I tried on Maggie Coblentz's food helmet, a sort of giant plastic goldfish bowl with two hand holes carved out. “It was injection-molded for me by people who make aquariums,” she said. “When you put it on, you're in a world of your own—and it catches crumbs. I've tried it in bed.” There was a built-in lazy Susan on which she had mounted five small containers. I spotted boba pearls in one and Pop Rocks in another. The hardware was spray-painted an Instagram-friendly rose gold.

We went through our own private TSA security line, after which Coblentz handed me some contraband boba pearls. As a potential hazard to the equipment onboard, they were approved for flight only on the condition that they remain contained within her helmet. I didn't have a helmet of my own, so I stashed them in my breast pocket, sealed it with velcro, and boarded the plane. Several rows of seats were installed at the back, and we sat and listened to a modified safety spiel. If the airplane lost pressure, we were told, oxygen masks would not drop automatically; instead, we would have to make our way over to the oxygen boxes mounted along the center aisle and walls. After a perfectly normal takeoff, the seat-belt sign switched off and we all moved forward to our appointed stations, next to the bolted-down equipment.

On the first weightless parabola, my shoelaces came undone. They remained that way for the duration. My instinct was to swim, but that didn't work. Moving gingerly, I hovered to one side, trying not to get in the way as Coblentz injected her spheres. (We wouldn't be eating them on the flight, mostly because there wasn't time to fish them out of the plexiglass box; still, the experiment would serve as proof of concept.) She was struggling too, her arms visibly shaking as she tried to control the speed at which the liquid came out of the syringes. Before either of us had any idea what was going on, it was time to serve the tasting menu.

Coblentz put on her helmet and immediately relaxed. She told me later that it functioned almost like noise-canceling headphones, allowing her to focus on eating amid the uproar. She piped in a soundtrack of frying onions, then opened a canister that released a matching scent—an attempt to increase her appetite and induce salivation, both known to enhance food enjoyment. The helmet became both restaurant and plate as she unleashed a handful of Pop Rocks and boba pearls and chased them in circles. Immediately, Coblentz sneezed: Most of the popping candy appeared to have gone straight up her nose. I set loose my contraband pearls and promptly lost half of them; perhaps they would reappear on a future flight. The few that managed to connect with my mouth bounced around on my tongue, a sensation that made me snort with laughter.

As we entered our final few parabolas, Coblentz sucked miso paste from her silicone bones. I floated the length of the cabin, marveling at an agility and grace I'd never demonstrated on Earth. Behind me, two unfortunate researchers were hunched, barf bags in hand, stricken by space adjustment syndrome. For the rest of us, weightlessness was over far too quickly.

Back at the airfield, Zero-G had laid out a sandwich buffet for our “regravitation celebration.” I dragged myself to it, heavy-limbed and slow. As I lifted my turkey club baguette to my mouth, I could hardly believe I'd have to eat this way for the rest of my life. At least for now, the psychological benefits of earthly terroir seemed hardly worth the price of being permanently rooted to the ground. I glanced at Coblentz. She was draped over a chair, eyes closed, with a huge smile. Slowly, her right arm floated up and she began gently combing Pop Rocks from her hair.

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Nicola Twilley is the cohost of Gastropod , a podcast that looks at food through the lens of science and history. She is at work on two books, one about refrigeration and the other about quarantine.

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Join nasa for the launch of the mars 2020 perseverance rover, jet propulsion laboratory, countdowntomars, social media filters, send your name to mars, again, mars photo booth, virtual launch packet, spacecraft 3d rover experience, watch the launch and share your excitement .

Editor’s note: The story has been updated to include social-media filters that are now available.

Team with NASA to send off the Perseverance rover to Mars – from the convenience of your own home. The mission launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida, this summer, and you’re invited to participate remotely – with a global, collective launch countdown where you can submit your own videos, take a photo on Mars or next to the rover, dive into an interactive launch packet, and sign up to send your name to Mars on a future space mission. 

After a seven-month journey to the Red Planet, the rover will land in Jezero Crater , an ancient lakebed with intriguing geology. In its search for astrobiological evidence of ancient microbial life, Perseverance will gather rock and soil samples there for future return to Earth. It will also characterize the planet’s climate and geology and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. 

In addition, Perseverance carries the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, a technology demonstration that marks the first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet.

“During these challenging times, no matter where you are, you can participate in this launch and help send this robotic geologist on a mission to explore worlds beyond our own,” said Michael Greene, the director for communications and education at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission. 

With local restrictions on public gatherings in place, NASA recommends watching the launch virtually. To learn how, use our launch toolkit . And here’s a menu of options for sharing in the Perseverance launch:

You know that “5-4-3-2-1” right before a spacecraft blasts off? You can record your own version of a launch countdown video clip and tag it on social media using #CountdownToMars. Your clip may be featured on NASA social media or even on launch day. Here’s how to participate .

Share the excitement about the Perseverance launch with friends and followers on Instagram and Facebook using new AR filters designed for the occasion. Put on your flight director’s headset in  Mission Control , place a  3D Mars Rover  in your scene, or even  Put Yourself on Mars . Filters are available from NASA on both the Instagram and Facebook apps.

Perseverance carries three dime-size chips with 10.9 million names submitted worldwide to travel aboard the rover. The people who already signed up can get a special “Now Boarding” stamp and are ready for launch. If you missed that opportunity, you can soon sign up to send your name on a future mission to Mars.  

While sharing the Mars Launch at Home virtually, take a souvenir photo with our virtual Mars Photo Booth . You can pose next to the mighty Atlas V rocket that will launch the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, strike a pose on Mars, or put yourself next to the rover in the JPL clean room where it was assembled. Just upload your favorite picture, choose a background, and download the new image.   

Get an interactive magazine-style booklet to enhance your launch-viewing experience. The flipbook includes information about the Perseverance rover launch and all the print products for the mission. You can also download it as a PDF .  

Zoom in, rotate, and twirl around the Perseverance rover in an interactive 3D experience . Click and select different sections to learn all about the science tools and instruments that make up this mighty rover.

Watch the mission briefings and other Mars 2020 programming on NASA TV, culminating with the launch on July 30. See the schedule for Perseverance programming .

How to stream NASA TV .

Stay connected with the mission on social media, and let people know you’re following it on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the hashtag #CountdownToMars. Follow and tag these accounts:

Twitter: @NASA ,  @NASAPersevere ,  @NASAMars

Facebook: NASA ,  NASAPersevere

Instagram: NASA

Perseverance videos will be posted to the NASA JPL YouTube channel and NASA YouTube channel .

You can also sign up for the Mars newsletter to stay informed about all the ways to experience this launch.

However you choose to participate in the Mars Launch at Home, we look forward to seeing you online for launch, which is targeted for July 30: The time in which the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission can launch extends to Aug. 15. Check out this page for the latest launch date and time. Doing a Mars Launch from Home may burn up some energy. Perseverance pancakes, anyone?

More information about the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is on this mission website .

DC Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-9011 [email protected]

Grey Hautaluoma / Alana Johnson NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0668 / 202-358-1501 [email protected] / [email protected]

Written by Jane Platt

A Trip to Mars: Mass Facts Essay

Facts about mass, food and accommodation, safety risks, works cited.

Mars is one of the eight major planets that form the solar system together with the sun. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, and it takes about 686.93 days to completely revolve around it. The atmosphere of Mars is estimated to be less than 1% of that of the earth.

Its atmosphere is so thin that it can neither retain heat within the surface, nor prevent the planet from receiving strong radiations from the sun. The atmosphere comprises about 95% carbon dioxide, 1.6% argon, 2.7% nitrogen, 0.13% oxygen, and 0.03% water (Coffey 1).

Apart from its unique atmosphere, Mars has other interesting features that other planets do not have. Firstly, the planet has the tallest volcano in the entire solar system. The volcanic mountain is called Olympus Mons and it is approximately 27 kilometers in height above the plains surrounding it.

The volcano is still active as evident by the lava that flows from it. Additionally, Mars has the most extensive and deepest gorge in the entire solar system, which is called the Marineris Valley. The canyon covers a distance of approximately 4,000 kilometers along the planet’s equator and stretches for a depth of about 7 kilometers into the ground (Cain 1).

In addition, Mars is regarded as the only other planet apart from the earth that can support life. Mars has an atmosphere that is composed of gasses such as carbon dioxide, argon, nitrogen and oxygen. Mars also has water, which is also one of the essential elements that support life. The planet’s water exists in liquid form just like it does on earth, which has numerous living things (Cain 1).

The trip to Mars can take a long time, but that depends on the date of the trip. The shortest distance between the earth and Mars is approximately 55 kilometers, which occurs when the former and the latter are at their farthest and closest points from the sun respectively. When the two planets are on opposite sides, the distance between them can go as far as 401 kilometers.

The trip to Mars could take about 160 days if it started on the right time of the year. The trip will be made comfortable as much as possible by providing the passengers with luxurious items, such as cameras for capturing the unique features found on the planet. The trip to Mars is worth it since it will provide the passengers with an opportunity observto e the unique features found on the planet.

The passengers involved in the trip to Mars will be provided with higthe h-quality packed food and the best accommodation facilities to make their trip interesting and comfortable. The passengers will be provided with a variety of foodstuffs that are sufficient for the entire journey. The passengers will also be given insulating jackets and blankets to protect them from the strong radiations, which fall on the surface of the planet.

There are a few safety risks that may arise during the trip. Firstly, the spacecraft might develop mechanical problems during the journey. Secondly, the passengers may be adversely affected by the strong radiations hitting Mars’ surface as a result of the thin atmosphere of the planet.

However, these risks will be well provided for to ensure that the journey remains successful and comfortable. The first risk will be mitigated by using a spacecraft that has been severally tested for efficiency. The second risk will be prevented by using a spacecraft with a highly polished surface that can reflect the dangerous radiations from the sun.

Cain, Fraser. “Interesting Facts About Planet Mars.” Universe Today , 2008. Web.

Coffey, Jerry. “Atmosphere of Mars.” Universe Today, 2008. Web.

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1. IvyPanda . "A Trip to Mars: Mass Facts." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-trip-to-mars/.

Bibliography

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The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Katrin Bennhold is the Berlin bureau chief. A former Nieman fellow at Harvard University, she previously reported from London and Paris, covering a range of topics from the rise of populism to gender. More about Katrin Bennhold

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