.mars
Is .mars a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.mars is contested: 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 7 October 2026. They are Name Space and Link Freedom Group. Aruba named .mars as a backup string for its .super application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
Who is applying, and what they run today
None of the two runs a TLD today.
Will names sell?
A fun space-themed novelty name for fans and side projects, unlikely to become the main address of serious companies in the next 5 years.
Last round the AI scored the 2012 strings blind to their fate. Strings it scored 60 or more hold a median 27,168 names today; those under 30, a median of 30. .mars’s closest 2012 strings hold .earth 42K, .space 635K and .star 3.
The nearest 2012 strings, and how many names each holds today
The closest 2012 string, .earth, held 41,706 names, June 2026. .space held 634,547; .star held 3. Chosen by AI from every string in the 2012 round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a planet-scale proper noun with no resident population or credentialed community behind it, so the registry is selling pure evocation and aspiration as identity to anyone who wants to sound bigger than a website, rather than serving an existing constituency.
Same frontier-imagination bet aimed at the same buyer (space-adjacent ventures plus everyone who just likes the word), but it is an open generic noun rather than a specific named place, so it carries none of the singular-referent baggage.
Shares the structural duality of a short celestial word that is simultaneously a major global trademark, forcing the applicant to choose between a closed brand namespace and an open evocative one, though as an ordinary common noun it is a much softer version of that collision.
Where they meet elsewhere
Aruba and Link Freedom Group face each other in 8 contests this round, .mars included.
- Link Freedom Group × Aruba
- Link Freedom Group × Name Space
- Aruba × Name Space
space enthusiasts, sci-fi and Mars-fandom communities, and hobby or fan projects, with occasional aerospace-adjacent startups wanting a thematic secondary domain
What a .mars domain is
.mars is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Culture category. 2 applications for it are on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .mars domain extension real yet?
.mars is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. It is a string applicants have put forward in the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, the process that decides whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .mars domain?
You can’t yet. A .mars name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .mars was .earth, delegated on 14 May 2015.
Is .mars a real TLD?
Not yet. .mars is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .mars is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Aruba · now deactivated backupICANN
- Aruba · now abandonedICANN
- 2 applicants · now confirmedICANN
- Aruba · first recordedDomain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann), quoting Aruba S.p.A.
- Name Space · first recordedDomain Name Wire
- Link Freedom Group · first recordedLink Freedom Group
“LFGL2683T-T17799 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-148 NSL2674T-T93231 · NAME SPACE LLC · primary · contention set 2026-148”ICANN
“APEC2611T-T91332 · Aruba PEC S.P.A. · replacement string of .super · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T17799 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-148 NSL2674T-T93231 · NAME SPACE LLC · primary · contention set 2026-148”ICANN
“Aruba S.p.A., which operates the .cloud top level domain, is expanding its domain portfolio. The company told Domain Name Wire that it applied for 39 top level domains in this year's new TLD round. That number includes replacement strings. [...] The company applied for the following strings as primary or replacement: aid, all, ask, beta, bit, bnb, cart, ciao, daily, demo, easy, fix, gaming, gen, genius, gym, happy, hello, hola, human, kit, lab, mars, max, moon, omg, pec, pop, rem, roma, sign, sito, super, tag, tex, vps, yes, zen, zzz”Domain Name Wire (Andrew Allemann), quoting Aruba S.p.A.
“We are thrilled by the opportunity to help expand the domain name space with innovative new alternatives.”Domain Name Wire
“.mars · Lifestyle · “Explore new worlds, boldly.””Link Freedom Group
- Band chosen: 10-29 (vanity/joke/narrow). The string is highly memorable and rides genuine cultural interest in Mars exploration, but its best-fit use over the next 5 years is expressive and thematic rather than primary-identity: a serious company adopting name.mars as its main address would need to explain the choice, and the pool of buyers for whom the TLD adds credibility is thin. It is not in the 30-49 band because sustained volume registration is doubtful once launch novelty fades; demand looks event-driven (mission milestones, fandom moments) rather than continuous, and the brand signal it sends is playful, not professional. It is not in the 1-9 band because a real, if small, market exists: space culture is a durable global fandom, and by analogy with other space-flavored strings (.space, .earth, .rocks), such TLDs have found ongoing registrant bases for personal sites, communities, and campaign pages, though largely on price and rarely as primary identities (analogy, outcomes qualitative; specific volumes unknown). A further drag, reasoned from general knowledge without asserting specifics: the string coincides with a well-known global consumer-goods brand name, which could either constrain marketing or produce contention, and cuts against clean category ownership. The applicant, Link Freedom Group, filed the string as part of a large multi-string portfolio under a 'Lifestyle' label, which is consistent with a broad-catalog play rather than a dedicated vertical push; that positioning informs adoption likelihood but is stated neutrally. Main market uncertainty: whether commercial space activity matures fast enough in the next 5 years to convert Mars from a fandom theme into a real industry vertical with companies wanting a Mars-branded primary identity.