Vox Members got to read this story first. Support independent journalism and get exclusive access to stories like this by becoming a Vox Member today. One day, Mars might become a home to humans. But ...

"I think humans will still go to space and explore Mars and beyond, but we will be in interesting company." "Artificial astronauts" could fly as actual crew members on human missions to Mars, and ...

The idea of a human mission to explore Mars has been studied repeatedly over the past 75 years. More than 1,000 piloted Mars mission studies were conducted inside and outside NASA between about 1950 ...

When Philip K. Dick imagined artificial beings in his book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," the question was whether machines could think and feel like humans. Today, NASA is posing a related, ...

Before we get to Mars, we're going to have to practice. And develop radical leaps in technology, but also practice. A Mars mission will be utterly unlike anything attempted by humanity. We're talking ...

The cosmos has long been a canvas for creatives who imagine a future where people live among the stars. Now, humanity stands at a pivotal juncture as the laborious, expensive and high-stakes process ...

Blue Origin is proposing a version of its Blue Ring spacecraft to serve as a Mars communications satellite. Credit: Blue Origin SALT LAKE CITY — Blue Origin is offering a version of its Blue Ring ...