Mars is the most explored planet beyond Earth. Orbiters, landers and rovers have mapped ancient river valleys and lake beds and found evidence that liquid water once flowed on its surface.
54.6–401M kmDistance from Earth over its orbit
3–22 minOne-way signal delay
687 daysLength of a Martian year
African links to Mars
Mars has a direct physical connection with Africa. Many of the Martian meteorites in the world's collections were found in the Sahara. They are among the only samples of Mars available for laboratory study on Earth. African desert landscapes are also used as analogues for Martian terrain in research and instrument testing.
Participation pathways
- Open data science. Public Mars mission datasets are available to African researchers and students.
- Instrument and software contributions. Data processing, AI analysis and instrument components.
- Analogue research. Field studies in African deserts that support mission planning.
- Ground support. Deep-space communications require tracking stations distributed across longitudes.
TAG's role
We connect African universities and enterprises with the international teams that design, operate and analyse Mars missions, and we look for spin-off applications in robotics, autonomy and remote sensing with commercial value at home.