Mars - The Atlantic

Mars

An Act of Cosmic Sabotage

February 2026 Issue

Color photo of one-story building with garage door open to reveal a wheeled rover and a person in white coat working at a bench. A sign on the building reads "Mars Yard."

No One Actually Knows What a Moon Is

October 27, 2025

a blocky illustration featuring the moon

Something Weird Is Happening With Halloween Chocolate

October 7, 2025

Illustration of a half-unwrapped chocolate bar. Each square of chocolate is just an empty brown frame.

Yes, a Moon Base

August 10, 2025

Illustration of Earth, as seen from the surface of the moon through a porthole in a gray wall

Photos: 13 Years on Mars

August 5, 2025

A selfie of a large Mars rover, with a reddish-colored dry, rocky, and dusty Martian landscape in the background.

How NASA Engineered Its Own Decline

September 2025 Issue

collage with blocks of red, blue, orange, yellow on black background and images including astronaut, moon lander, eagle on moon, orbit diagrams, and Elon Musk waving U.S. flag at rally

Elon Musk Is Playing God

Charlie Warzel and Hana Kiros

June 24, 2025

Elon Musk in clouds with a rocket launching and a wireframe of a tent

What David Lynch Knew About the Weather

January 18, 2025

Photos of David Lynch, and vintage images of cloudy skies

What to Expect From Elon Musk’s Government Makeover

November 13, 2024

In a red image, Elon Musk claps and looks at the camera.

MAGA Goes to Mars

November 5, 2024

collage of trump tower placed on top of a planet in space

For How Much Longer Can Life Continue on This Troubled Planet?

October 3, 2024

A shadowy Earth against a starscape

The Most Believable Reality TV Is Set on Mars

August 28, 2023

Two 'Stars on Mars' contestants, dressed in orange-and-white spacesuits, interact in the Mars-esque Australian desert

How to Build Manhattan in Space

April 27, 2023

Illustration of the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Chrysler Building balanced on a small asteroid

There’s Snow on Mars

January 20, 2023

An orbiting spacecraft's view of frost, made of carbon dioxide and water, on the surface of Mars

If You Must Cry Over a Space Robot, Make It This One

December 28, 2022

An illustration of NASA's InSight lander, with its wing-like solar panels, on the surface of Mars

The Luckiest Rover

December 17, 2022

A white, billowy dust devil against the rust-colored, bumpy backdrop of Mars

Just Like That, We’re Making Oxygen on Mars

September 12, 2022

The gold moxie box is examined in a lab; the Perseverance rover carries it on Mars

We’ve Never Seen Mars Quite Like This

July 6, 2022

Rocky outcroppings on the surface of Mars, as captured by NASA's Perseverance rover

Mars’s Soundscape Is Strangely Beautiful

April 29, 2022

An illustration of the planet Mars wearing a set of big headphones

A Mars Rover Explored a Wasteland and Found an Oasis

October 7, 2021

A view of Jezero crater on Mars

Move Over, Mars

June 3, 2021

A view of Venus

The Atlantic Daily: SpaceX Really Might Change American Spaceflight Forever

Caroline Mimbs Nyce

May 7, 2021

Red 'A' on the Atlantic

No, You’re Crying About a Helicopter on Mars

April 19, 2021

The Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars

A Portal to Mars on the Tip of Iceland

Robin George Andrews and Quanta Magazine

April 11, 2021

A photo of the volcanic eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula.

An Eerie Glow in the Sky Might Come From Mars’s Direction

March 24, 2021

A photograph of an abandoned farm in rural Illinois at night, with the glow of zodiacal light overhead

Mars Is a Hellhole

Shannon Stirone

February 26, 2021

Landscape of Mars's surface

No One Has Seen a Mars Landing Quite Like This

February 23, 2021

NASA Perseverance Mission

Scientists Really, Really Want a Piece of Mars

February 18, 2021

An illustration of the planet Mars

Mars Doesn’t Look So Dead After All

Robin George Andrews and Quanta Magazine

February 6, 2021

Cerberus Fossae, a region of Mars marked by fault lines

The Simple Task That Mars Made Impossible

January 29, 2021

An animation of the InSight Mars spacecraft

Can We Still Go to Mars?

October 1, 2020

A glowing Mars in the starry night sky

The Most Overhyped Planet in the Galaxy

August 11, 2020

A view of Mars from afar

NASA Goes Looking for Tiny Ancient Martians

July 30, 2020

A view of Jezero crater, the landing spot for the Perseverance rover

The Pros and Cons of a Lunar Pit Stop

February 18, 2020

Mars and the Moon

The Fraught Effort to Return to the Moon

July 17, 2019

Buzz Aldrin moves equipment on the moon.

A Startling Spike on Mars

July 3, 2019