Essentially, it’s rust. That red-tinted iron oxide disintegrated into dust and spread across the planet on wind currents for billions of years—as it continues doing today. However, different ...

Together, orbiters and landers have provided scientists with data showing that Mars’ red color comes from rusted iron minerals within the dust that coats the planet. At some point, iron within ...

Most critically, there is an abundance of silica dust in addition to iron dust from basalt and nanophase iron, both of which are reactive to the lungs and can cause respiratory diseases.

A new study conducted using existing data on Mars points to ferrihydrite, a substance that forms in the presence of water, ...

The red coloration comes from iron minerals in Mars’ dust—no surprise there. But a team of ESA and NASA scientists now think that Mars rusted earlier in its ancient past than previously known ...

Scientists have a new theory on why Mars is red, and it may mean that water was more widespread on the planet than previously ...