The next era of Mars exploration is here!

NASA’s Perseverance rover arrived safely on Mars. The spectacular landing marks the third and final Mars arrival for three new missions launched last year. Preceding Perseverance were the United Arab Emirates’ Hope probe and China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter and rover. Perseverance will search for signs of past life and collect samples for future return to Earth. Pictured: Perseverance sent this first image back to Earth shortly after landing on 18 February 2021. Image credit: NASA/JPL.

InSight will hunker down as Mars reaches the farthest point in its orbit from the Sun. Less sunlight means less energy for NASA’s solar-powered lander, which has also acquired a thick coat of Martian dust. The lack of sunlight prompted mission managers to turn off non-essential functions like the lander’s weather monitoring station. Learn more about the mission.

An uncrewed Russian Progress cargo spacecraft carrying water and propellant arrived at the International Space Station. The vehicle will remain at the station until later this year. When it undocks, Progress will take its docking port with it, creating an open slot for a Russian science module called Nauka that will arrive afterwards. Learn more about the ISS.

Thank you for making Planetfest ’21 a great success! Last weekend over 1,500 people joined us for a 2-day celebration of Mars and the adventure of space exploration. 61 experts shared their insights in 21 sessions, and participants enhanced each others’ learning experiences by sharing more than 2,700 messages in the conference’s community forum. We are also very grateful to have raised a whopping $27,700 in the Beyond the Horizon fundraising gala. The festivities climaxed with our Perseverance landing party on 18 February, featuring commentary by Bill Nye, Planetary Society President Bethany Ehlmann, Veritasium’s Derek Muller, and “The Space Geologist” Raquel Nuno. Bill also announced the Society's exciting new partnership with MOVA Globes to create an exclusive globe depicting Enceladus and an official Planetary Society Collection of moons, with proceeds benefiting our mission and programs. To all of you who joined us for all or part of Planetfest ’21, thank you!

If you missed Planetfest ’21, don’t worry! You can watch recordings of each session on our YouTube page. Plus, listen to this week’s Planetary Radio to hear host Mat Kaplan’s conversations with Andy Weir, author of The Martian, Omran Sharaf, the leader of the United Arab Emirates’ Hope mission, and journalist Andrew Jones, who reports on China’s space program.

Two new articles explore the search for life beyond Earth. Is there life on Mars? This age-old question doesn’t have an answer yet, but we’ve learned a lot in seeking to answer it. Learn more about the possibilities. Looking further afield, contributing editor Jatan Mehta explores whether the worlds around red dwarf stars might be good places to look for life.