To date there have been 42 missions to Mars, with exactly half of them complete failures. Other than the Earth it is the most studied planet in the solar system, and for centuries it has been at the heart of wild speculation and groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Observations of Mars have not only revealed otherwise unknown secrets but also posed new and exciting questions, and it is for these reasons that it has become the most intriguing planetary body of our time. Take a look at the map above to see key geological points of interest as well as the landing and crash sites for several spacecraft.

This image of the surface of Mars was created by reconstructing data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter and observations by NASA’s Viking spacecraft.
Space

The surface of Mars

Take a virtual stroll around the Red Planet.
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971c44dd47993eb1d7bbc51c41de98e21 Space

How did Mars500 work?

The mission intended to simulate humanity’s eventual journey to Mars finished today after 520 days. How did this experiment work? Find out after the jump.
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Face on Mars (NASA) Space

Did aliens build a human face on Mars?

In the latest How It Works magazine, issue 22 (on sale now), we’ve busted 100 myths and separated fact from fiction. Here’s one of the 100 we covered, and we’ll post two more over the weekend, but for the rest you’ll have to check out the latest issue
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Phobos Space

Mars’ moon remnant of catastrophic event

According to new evidence presented in Rome, Italy, Mars’ moon Phobos is made from rocks blasted off the planet’s surface in a catastrophic event, rather than the entrenched scenario that the satellite was captured by the planet’s gravitational pull and originated in the main belt of asteroids
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croppeds Space

18-month exile for cosmonauts

In preparation for the Mars500 project which begins in May, four candidates who wish to accompany the mission at a later date (only two can go), have volunteered to be locked away in steel containers for 18 months in order to test their mental resilience for extended spaceflight
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Phobos revealed

Phobos, Mars’ small rocky moon, has been imaged closer than ever before by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft
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