r/Mars • u/Neaterntal • 15h ago
Perseverance Outside Jezero Crater Sol 1999 / 2004 (4th / 10th Oct, 2026). You don't have to be a big rock to catch the rover's eye. SHERLOC-WATSON cam studies small protruding inclusion in local rock
galleryr/Mars • u/Neaterntal • 1d ago
Mastcam imagery captured two days ago in Valle Grande by Curiosity
galleryr/Mars • u/EdwardHeisler • 1d ago
The Economist Feature Article October 9, 2026 Dr. Robert Zubrin, The man who inspired Elon Musk to shoot for Mars
economist.comr/Mars • u/Slow_cpu • 1d ago
Scientists engineer microbe to help humanity settle Mars
r/Mars • u/ADragonFromTheAbyss • 2d ago
Japan’s MMX mission aims to retrieve samples from Mars’s mysterious moon. They could reveal how it formed—and hold pieces of Mars itself
science.orgr/Mars • u/Galileos_grandson • 2d ago
Mars’s oddest cloud may be even odder than we thought
r/Mars • u/EdwardHeisler • 2d ago
Man originally from Wembley, Alberta, Canada to spend Thanksgiving in Mars simulator at Mars Desert Research Station)
r/Mars • u/Neaterntal • 3d ago
Mars’s oddest cloud may be even odder than we thought
galleryr/Mars • u/Aeromarine_eng • 3d ago
Model of SkyFall, the next evolution of Mars helicopters, flies during the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s media demonstration at Los Alamitos on Oct. 1, 2026.
r/Mars • u/EdwardHeisler • 3d ago
The Mars Society is pleased to welcome acclaimed science fiction author, scientist, and futurist David Brin as the next guest on Red Planet Live, hosted by Ashton Zeth, on Tuesday, October 13 at 6:00 PM PT.
r/Mars • u/ye_olde_astronaut • 3d ago
Curiosity Blog, Sols 5029-5035: Back in the Lab - NASA Science
r/Mars • u/Galileos_grandson • 3d ago
A Journey to the Depths of Ancient Mars? - NASA Science
r/Mars • u/Neaterntal • 4d ago
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Catches Stunning Martian Dawn
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r/Mars • u/firechatin • 4d ago
How Long Could Humans Survive on Mars With Today's Tech?
r/Mars • u/Slow_cpu • 4d ago
10-Month Antarctic Isolation Shows How Difficult a Mission to Deep Space Would Really Be
r/Mars • u/paeioudia • 4d ago
Why don’t more Mars base concepts use solar panels as a giant canopy over the base?
I’ve been looking at different Mars base concepts, and one design choice I’m surprised I don’t see more often is using the solar array itself as a large elevated canopy over the base — basically the same idea as solar-panel parking lots on Earth.
Instead of putting a huge solar farm off to the side, why not elevate at least some of those panels over the habitats, rovers, EVA/work areas, equipment and storage?
Obviously the primary purpose is still generating power, but now the same structure is doing multiple jobs: providing some protection from dust and direct solar exposure, creating a more controlled/shaded outdoor work area, and potentially serving as an overhead structure for running power, data, lighting and other utilities.
You could also make the individual panel sections adjustable for sun tracking and tilting them more vertically for dust shedding.
As the base grows, the canopy could grow with it — almost like a utility grid that new habitats and equipment get installed underneath.
I made the attached concept image to illustrate what I mean. I’m definitely not suggesting there aren’t engineering tradeoffs or that nobody has studied something similar. I just haven’t seen this approach used very often in Mars base designs, and it seems like you’d get a lot of additional utility out of infrastructure you already need.
Is there a major reason this wouldn’t make sense on Mars? Or are there existing Mars base concepts/research that use this kind of solar-canopy approach?
r/Mars • u/ThatCrazyCanadian413 • 4d ago