Dr. Phil Varghese

NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter arrived at Mars on Oct. 24, 2001.

This graphic depicts the relative shapes and distances from Mars for five active orbiter missions plus the planet's two natural satellites. It illustrates the potential for intersections of the spa...

This graphic shows the ongoing contributions of NASA’s rovers and orbiters during a Martian dust storm that began on May 30, 2018.

Five decades of successful NASA missions to the Red Planet, 1965-2015.

Continuing our survey of non-crater dune fields brings us to this group of dunes in Aonia Terra. The daytime IR illustrates the warmth of the dune material compared to the surrounding materials.

Download a PDF of the Mars as Art Booklet.

Bacolor Crater is a magnificent impact feature about 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide.

Snow falls and ice and frost form on Mars, too. NASA's spacecraft on and orbiting the Red Planet reveal the similarities to and differences from how we experience winter on Earth.  

The annotated area of Mars in this illustration holds near-surface water ice that would be easily accessible for astronauts to dig up. The water ice was identified as part of a map using data from ...

A vast dune field lies near the northern polar cap of Mars. Seen here in summer, the dunes have partially buried an impact crater about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) wide.

Sand-laden jets shoot into the polar sky in this view by noted space artist Ron Miller.

Fly Through Mariner Valley

Spider Web Pattern

A large mound of sand and dune forms are located on the floor of an unnamed crater south of Rabe Crater in Noachis Terra.

The artist's animation depicts how NASA's Curiosity rover will communicate with Earth during landing. As the rover descends to Mars, it will send out basic radio-frequency tones that go directly to...

Just as on Earth, volcanism and tectonism are found together on Mars. Here is an example: the ridges and fractures of Claritas Fossae are affecting or perhaps hosting the volcanic flows of Solis Pl...

Mars is experiencing large regional dust storms over its northern hemisphere during the past week.

This series of images was taken in visible-wavelength light as the THEMIS camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey scanned across the Martian moon Phobos on Sept. 29, 2017. The apparent motion is due to progr...

This image from NASAs Mars Odyssey shows lava flows from Alba Mons, and a tectonic graben called Cyane Fossae.

As fractures opened near the summit of Tyrrhena Patera, the ground collapsed to make pits and chains of pits aligned with the fractures. The large pit seen here is about 400 m (1,300 ft) deep.

This image shows two small tributaries, just east of where they join Shalbatana Vallis.

This computer-generated view based on multiple orbital observations shows Mars' Gale crater as if seen from an aircraft north of the crater.

Researchers estimating the amount of carbon held in the ground at the largest known carbonate-containing deposit on Mars utilized data from three different NASA Mars orbiters.

Download a PDF of the Explore Mars Sticker.

This image combines two products from the first pointing at the Martian moon Phobos by the THEMIS camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, on Sept. 29, 2017. Surface-temperature information from obse...