Planetary Analogs: News & Features
Similar environments on different worlds are called planetary analogs.
Browse stories about how Earth helps us understand our whole solar system and prepares us to explore:
Go behind the scenes of a Goddard Instrument Field Team expedition and see how scientists study Earth to learn about the Moon, Mars, and ocean worlds.
In summer 2025, these scientists trekked deep into Iceland’s landscapes in search of geothermal activity that could help unlock secrets about Mars.
These scientists' sights are are set on the Earth version of a curious Martian mystery: pure sulfur, uncombined with any other elements.
Follow Goddard Instrument Field team scientists to the rugged slopes of Fagradsfjall, where fresh volcanic vents and lava flows tell a planetary science story.
Lake Kleifarvatn's volcanic and mineral compositions are strikingly similar to Martian terrains including Gale & Jezero craters. These scientists are diving in.
In Southwest Iceland, the Goddard Instrument Field team studies how carbon might travel through potentially habitable zones on ocean worlds beyond Earth.
In September 2022, researchers from the NASA Goddard Instrument Field Team (GIFT) were guests on the Island of Hawaii, studying volcanoes and caves.
With several hundred blows of a 10-pound (4.5-kilogram) sledgehammer, researchers tested a method to find subsurface caves that could serve as safe underground habitats and research facilities on the Moon and Mars. The team, which includes NASA scientists, conducted their…