Cosmic Perspectives from Amid the Stars:
Astronomy Blog

In the late nineteenth century, astronomers believed they had discovered canals on Mars. These obviously artificial structures had to be the work of a civilization on the Red Planet. The idea was so popular that it even influenced H.G. Wells to write The War of the Worlds. The idea that there was life on Mars entered the mainstream mind. However, later observations with better telescopes proved there were no such artificial structures on Mars. It was simply an optical illusio

Today, March 24, 2026, NASA announced Space Reactor-1 Freedom, a nuclear-powered spacecraft that’s planned to travel to Mars as early as 2028. Freedom would be the first nuclear-propelled craft to venture beyond Earth orbit and it could be the future of exploration in our Solar System. Traveling to planets beyond our own is a tricky prospect. There’s a reason that humans have never traveled further from Earth than the Moon. But Mars is on the top of our list for places to se