Astronauts visiting Mars in the future may be able to look forward to a fresh salad when they arrive, thanks to Canadian research. Lettuce, radishes and beets have been planted in a remote Arctic greenhouse, where researchers are learning how to grow crops without human contact in an environment that can't normally support edible plants. Alain Berinstain, the Canadian Space Agency scientist in charge of the project, said no other greenhouse is designed to operate autonomously like the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse on Devon Island in Nunavut.

Solar panels could be kept free from dust and grime which hampers energy output using a self-cleaning system developed for NASA’s Mars rover robots. The devices scouring the red planet have sensors which detect dust build-ups and zap the surface of their solar panels with an electrical charge to keep them shiny. Dr Malay Mazumder, who helped create the technology for NASA, said it could help boost efficiency of large solar power plants, many of which are situated in arid and dusty desert locations.

Two years in the making, "Packing for Mars" necessitated visits to aeronautic institutions in various countries, as well as the sipping of her own recycled urine. For research. Asked if it was difficult to get NASA's American astronauts to confess about vomiting or mid-orbit existential crises, she simply says: "Why do you think I went all the way to Russia?" During her Russian trip, it should be noted, she describes touring a museum dedicated to Soviet rocketry, discusses head lice and takes shots of whiskey with retired cosmonauts. All by 11 a.m., Moscow time.

A fresh crater on Mars has revealed a hidden cache of frozen water in some of the latest photos from a powerful NASA spacecraft. A recent false color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter clearly shows a patch of Mars water ice at the bottom of a 20-foot (6-meter) wide crater in the Martian surface. The photo came from the orbiter's high-resolution HiRISE camera.

One of the instruments on a 2016 mission to orbit Mars will provide daily maps of global, pole-to-pole, vertical distributions of the temperature, dust, water vapor and ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere. The joint European-American mission, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, will seek faint gaseous clues about possible life on Mars. This instrument, called the ExoMars Climate Sounder, will supply crucial context with its daily profiling of the atmosphere's changing structure.

Photos just released by the European Space Agency give an up-close look at the strange, elongated Martian crater known as Orcus Patera. The crater lies near the equator in Mars' eastern hemisphere, between the volcanoes Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons. It's big, measuring 380 km (236 miles) long, 140 km (87 miles) wide and about 2.3 km (1.5 miles) from rim to floor.

When researchers found an unusual linkage between solar flares and the inner life of radioactive elements on Earth, it touched off a scientific detective investigation that could end up protecting the lives of space-walking astronauts and maybe rewriting some of the assumptions of physics. It's a mystery that presented itself unexpectedly: The radioactive decay of some elements sitting quietly in laboratories on Earth seemed to be influenced by activities inside the sun, 93 million miles away. Is this possible? Researchers from Stanford and Purdue University believe it is. But their explanation of how it happens opens the door to yet another mystery. There is even an outside chance that this unexpected effect is brought about by a previously unknown particle emitted by the sun. "That would be truly remarkable," said Peter Sturrock, Stanford professor emeritus of applied physics and an expert on the inner workings of the sun.

Self-cleaning technology developed for lunar and Mars missions could be used to keep terrestrial solar panels dust free Dust deposits can reduce the efficiency of electricity generating solar panels by as much as 80%. The self cleaning technology can repel dust when sensors detect concentrations on the panel's surface have reached a critical level. The research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society. Large scale solar installations are usually in sunny, dry desert areas where winds can deposit layers of dust over the solar panels. Solar panels in the Mojave desert cover many kilometres. In one month, dust fall can reach as much as 17kg per square kilometre. The dust reduces the amount of light that enters the panels and so the electricity they can generate.

There are six men currently living in cramped isolation in Moscow, enjoying and suffering 520 days of isolation as the Russian Space Federation simulates the loneliness of a manned flight to Mars. Good thing these guys have a Wii. Can they make it through 520 days? And what will happen to them in the process? The Russians are testing and you can read all about it at the fascinating Mars 500 site. The site has lots of photos of the three Russians, the Italian, French and Chinese men who went into isolation in April and get out in October 2011.

If you thought working out on Earth was tough, try it on Mars. Turns out astronauts on a Mars mission might lose about 40 percent of their muscle strength during the long voyage, leaving them as weak as 80-year-olds, according to a study published in the Journal of Physiology. That could make it hard to perform even simple tasks, let alone move around on the Martian surface in bulky spacesuits, MSNBC reports. And forget about palates or spin class. Returning to Earth could be even more perilous, as the astronauts might be too weak to evacuate their spacecraft in the event of an emergency. "Muscle wasting is a real concern," study author Robert Fitts of Marquette University in Milwaukee, told USA Today. "Mars is a three-year trip."

Astronaut muscles waste away on long space flights and their ability to do physical work is reduced by more than 40% according to research by Marquette University professor Robert Fitts. This is the equivalent of a 30- to 50-year-old crew member’s muscles deteriorating to that of an 80-year-old. The destructive effects of extended weightlessness to skeletal muscle – despite in-flight exercise – pose a significant safety risk for future manned missions to Mars and elsewhere in the Universe. The study was recently published online by The Journal of Physiology and will be in the September printed issue. It comes at a time of renewed interest in Mars and increased evidence of early life on the planet. NASA currently estimates it would take a crew 10 months to reach Mars, with a 1 year stay, or a total mission of approximately 3 years.

Slamming into the Martian atmosphere at 13,000 mph and enduring temperatures of up to 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit, a peak deceleration of up to 15 Gs, and the jerk of a supersonic braking parachute--that's just the opening act. For NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, the real fun will start 50 seconds before touchdown when the one-ton nuclear-powered rover falls free of its parachute for a nail-biting rocket-powered final descent to the surface. (For the main story in this package, see "On Mars, satisfaction awaits Curiosity.") Unlike past Mars missions, the Curiosity rover will not set down atop a legged lander or bounce to the surface surrounded by shock-absorbing airbags. Instead, it will be lowered to the ground and set on its wheels by a slowly descending "sky crane" designed to unreel the lander like a lure on a fishing line.

Thrust from a Titan 3/Centaur rocket launched NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft on a 505-million-mile journey to Mars on Aug. 20, 1975. Viking 2 followed three weeks later. Each mission included both an orbiter and a lander, and all four components accomplished successes. On July 20, 1976, the Viking 1 lander returned the first photograph taken on the surface of Mars. That lander in a region called Chryse Planitia operated until Nov. 13, 1982. The Viking 2 lander operated in the Utopia Planitia region from Sept. 3, 1976 to April 11, 1980. The orbiters sent home images of the entire planet at resolutions of 300 meters or less per pixel.

In "Packing for Mars," author Mary Roach details the strange science of putting humans in space. In this exclusive excerpt she details how we're practicing for driving on Mars in a remote and barren wasteland here on Earth. — Ed. Once upon a time, astronauts tooled around the moon in an open two-seat electric buggy. It was the sort of thing one might see on a golf course or at one of those big Miami delis whose elderly patrons appreciate a lift to and from the parking lot. It gave lunar exploration in the seventies a relaxed, retirement-community feel. That's gone now. NASA's new rover prototypes more resemble a futuristic camper van. The entire cab is pressurized, which is good, because that means the astronauts can take off their bulky, uncomfortable white bubble-head EVA suits. The NASA shorthand for a pressurized interior is "a shirtsleeve environment," which makes me picture astronauts in polo shirts and no pants. If NASA ever builds an outpost on the moon,* astronauts will be undertaking rover traverses of unprecedented length and complexity. Teams of explorers will head out in two vehicles that rendezvous daily, finally returning to the base after two weeks on the roll. The new rovers sleep two and are equipped with a food warmer, a toilet with "privacy curtain," and cup holders (two).

The first joint U.S.-European mission to Mars now has a plan for its toolkit. Scheduled for launch in 2016, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will study the chemical composition of Mars' atmosphere with a suite of instruments specially suited to the task. These instruments are expected to take measurements 1,000 times more sensitive than those by previous Mars orbiters. "To fully explore Mars, we want to marshal all the talents we can on Earth," said European Space Agency scientist David Southwood. Traveling around Mars in a circular path, the ExoMars spacecraft will record spectra of the sun as its telescope picks up the light that reaches it through orbital sunrise and sunset. Depending on the composition of gas in the atmosphere, sunlight will pass through it differently. "If you take the spectra fast," said NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher Geoffrey Toon, "you can measure the gas abundance at many different heights above the planet — 70 measurements as the sun rises, and 70 as it sets."

A lake in Argentina's remote, inhospitable northwest may offer clues on how life got started on Earth and how it could survive on other planets, scientists say. Researchers have found millions of "super" bacteria thriving inside the oxygen-starved Lake Diamante, in the center of a giant volcanic crater located over 15,400 feet above sea level. The bacteria's habitat is similar to primitive earth, before living and breathing organisms began wrapping a protective atmosphere of oxygen around the planet. The conditions -- which include high arsenic and alkaline levels -- could also shed light on life beyond Earth.

One hundred years ago the first movie about Mars awed audiences. Produced in 1910 by Thomas Edison, A Trip To Mars was a 4 minute sojourn to the red planet. It involved a scientist, magic powders and a giant. Hey, it was 1910. One hundred years later our fascination with Mars remains, although interest in films about the planet waxes and wanes. Much like the moon. But not so frequently.

In conducting research into the physiology of astronauts in space, Mary Roach found out that one man on a Space Shuttle flight wore a sound monitor on his belly for the duration of his voyage. It is Ms. Roach’s style to be less interested in the belly-noise findings than in the freaky-deaky part of the story. “Don’t feel bad for him,” she writes in “Packing for Mars” about that awkwardly wired astronaut. “Feel bad for the Air Force security guy assigned to listen to two weeks of bowel sounds to be sure no conversations including classified information had been inadvertently recorded.” Ms. Roach has already written zealously nosy books about corpses (“Stiff”), copulation (“Bonk”) and charlatans (“Spook”). Each time, what has interested her most is the fringe material: exotic footnotes, smart one-liners, bizarre quasi-scientific phenomena. Yet her fluffily lightweight style is at its most substantial — and most hilarious — in the zero-gravity realm that “Packing for Mars” explores. Here’s why: The topic of astronauts’ bodily functions provides as good an excuse to ask rude questions as you’ll find on this planet or any other.

John Carter of Mars is scheduled to hit theaters on June 8, 2012, one full month after The Avengers arrives courtesy of Paramount, Marvel Studios and, by extension, Disney itself. The first live-action Pixar movie faces some stiff competition in the form of Men in Black 3 at the end of May and the Star Trek sequel later in June.