What Mars missions mean for humanity

What Mars missions mean for humanity

On April 19, Nasa’s Ingenuity helicopter lifted off from the surface of Mars in a history-making first flight. The small, drone-like rotorcraft, which arrived on the Red Planet attached to the Perseverance rover, climbed three metres into the thin air, hovering for 30 seconds before touching back down in the Jezero crater. It was the first controlled flight by a powered aircraft on another planet. Another groundbreaking first for science followed a day after. A gold device about the size of a car battery on Perseverance, called Moxie, created oxygen out of that same thin atmosphere. Previous missions have focused mainly on answering long-held questions about our mysterious celestial neighbour. Has it ever supported life? Can we find liquid water there? But this new generation of experimental technology has begun to pave the way for the eventual human exploration - and even colonisation - of Mars. On this week's Beyond the Headlines host Arthur Scott-Geddes looks at the latest wave of pioneering science missions on Mars, which are helping to usher in a new era in the exploration of the solar system.

Episoder(476)

What’s stalling phase two of the Gaza ceasefire?

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One year since Assad’s fall: Where is Syria today?

A year has passed since Bashar Al Assad’s government fell in Syria, marking the end of a brutal civil war that lasted for almost 14 years. In the end, it took less than two weeks last December for an ...

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Is US pressure finally forcing Israel to address settler violence?

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a cabinet meeting this month to discuss settler violence, but this sudden interest stands in stark contrast to years of inaction by the state. Settler ...

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Israel has bombed Lebanon on an almost daily basis over the past year, despite a ceasefire being in place. Its army claims to be attacking Hezbollah, accusing the group of re-arming. But civilian infr...

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What will it take to end the civil war in Sudan?

When the Sudanese city of El Fasher fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in late October, the group gained control of the entire Darfur region and areas to the south-west. Their rivals, the S...

12 Nov 202519min

Why voters are snubbing Iraq’s election

Why voters are snubbing Iraq’s election

Iraqis are going back to polls this month for the sixth time since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein more than 20 years ago. It is expected to be one of the most contested elections yet....

7 Nov 202522min

Superpower rivalry and geopolitics in Trump 2.0

Superpower rivalry and geopolitics in Trump 2.0

How does the superpower rivalry between the US and China dictate international relations more broadly? And what does it mean for the future of trade, security and development? How does the superpower ...

3 Nov 202538min

What’s happening behind Israel’s yellow line in Gaza?

What’s happening behind Israel’s yellow line in Gaza?

Under US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, a yellow line has been traced along the inside of the enclave's land borders. It designates more than half of Gaza as territory controlled by Isr...

31 Okt 202520min

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