Places

Fifteen places to start with

A short list for first visits. The search box knows all 2,052 named features in the IAU Gazetteer.

Landing sites

• Crater, 48 kmJezeroNASA's Perseverance rover landed here in February 2021. The crater once held a lake, and a river delta still fans out on its western side.
• Crater, 154 kmGaleCuriosity landed here in August 2012 and has been climbing the layered mountain in the middle, Aeolis Mons, ever since.
• Crater, 158 kmGusevThe Spirit rover landed in this crater in January 2004 and explored the Columbia Hills inside it.
• Crater, 22 kmEndeavourThe Opportunity rover reached this crater's rim in 2011 and explored it until its last contact in 2018.
• Planitia, 3,560 kmUtopia PlanitiaA vast northern plain. Viking 2 landed on it in 1976, and China's Zhurong rover in 2021.
• Planitia, 1,542 kmChryse PlanitiaViking 1 landed on this plain in July 1976 and kept working there for more than six years.

Volcanoes

• Mons, 610 kmOlympus MonsThe largest volcano in the solar system, about 600 km across. The search covers its summit calderas.
• Mons, 470 kmArsia MonsThe southernmost of the three great Tharsis volcanoes, with a summit caldera over 100 km wide.

Canyons and basins

• Vallis, 3,761 kmValles MarinerisA canyon system nearly 4,000 km long. The search covers a stretch near its center.
• Planitia, 2,299 kmHellas PlanitiaThe floor of one of the largest impact basins in the solar system, about 2,300 km across and the lowest ground on Mars.

Water and ice

• Crater, 62 kmEberswaldeHome to one of the clearest ancient river deltas on Mars, with meandering channels preserved in the rock.
• Crater, 153 kmHoldenA crater with layered lake sediments. It was one of the final four landing sites considered for Curiosity.
• Vallis, 635 kmMawrth VallisAn old outflow channel cut through layers rich in clay minerals, which form in water.
• Fossa, 728 kmNili FossaeA set of long troughs where orbiters have mapped clays and carbonates, some of the most varied minerals seen on Mars.
• Crater, 81 kmKorolevAn 81 km crater near the north pole that stays filled with water ice all year.