Part of the ancient lake delta in Jezero Crater on Mars.
JPL-Caltech
Microbial life might survive today underground, in caves or under ice sheets.
Scientists absorb data on monitors in mission control for NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.
NASA/Bill Ingalls
A planetary scientist walks through the sensors and systems that went into the recent detection of potential biosignatures.
NASA’s Perseverance rover explores Mars’ Jezero Crater.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Unique, spotted rocks in Mars’ Jezero Crater could indicate that the planet once hosted life.
The rock known as Cheyava Falls has features that could have formed in the presence of microbial life.
Nasa JPL-Caltech
The rock is peppered with spots that could have been formed by microbes four billion years ago.
NASA’s Viking landers were the first spacecraft to successfully touch down on the surface of Mars.
NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP
The Viking missions paved the way for future Mars missions and helped researchers understand the red planet’s climate and geology.
A panorama created from images taken by the rover Curiosity while it was working at a site called ‘Rocknest’ in 2012.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
NASA’s Curiosity rover has spotted carbon-containing minerals that can tell scientists more about what ancient Mars’ atmosphere may have looked like.
Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Scientists will have to check whether the samples contain living microbes before they can be safely studied.
A view of the Utopia Planitia region on Mars which is believed to be the site of an ancient ocean.
ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
The discovery indicates water may have remained stable on Mars for much longer than scientists thought.
Helicobacter pylori .
Peddalanka Ramesh Babu/Shutterstock
‘Extremophile’ bacteria can survive extreme cold, heat, acidity and pressure.
The equipment planned to help bring samples back from Mars.
NASA/JPL
It’s not easy to collect rocks on a budget when the rocks are 140 million miles away.
The surface of Mars is cold, dry and rocky.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Determining whether or not life exists on another planet is an extraordinarily complicated – and expensive – scientific endeavor.
The entrance to For All Mankind’s Happy Valley.
Apple
In sci-fi depictions, extraterrestrial habitats have evolved tandem with scientific understanding of conditions on planets
An artist’s concept of an astronaut walking on Mars. But what would happen if the astronaut weren’t wearing a space helmet?
cokada/E+ via Getty Images
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and one of our closest neighbors in space. But it’s not a very welcoming place for an Earthling to visit.
NASA
NASA’s successful Mars landing will reveal yet more secrets from the red planet. But there is much we already know from Martian fragments that found their way to Earth.
Perseverance in action.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Methane gas in the atmosphere is a tantalising hint suggesting that life could exists on Mars.
Landing on Mars is extremely difficult.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Scientists preparing to land the Rosalind Franklin rover in a few years are nervously awaiting the landing of Nasa’s Perseverance rover.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/Arizona State University
Of the three probes to reach Mars this month, only two will land. But they will add to our growing knowledge of the red planet, and the search for evidence of life.
NASA
We’ve already sent probes to land on Mars. The challenge now is to get people there and bring them home again.
There seems to be a network of underground bodies of liquid water at Mars’ south pole.
NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
New findings boost chances of finding life on Mars, but there are better candidates in the solar system.
The Perseverance Rover (Mars 2020) installed within the upper stage of the United Launch Alliance rocket that will send it to Mars from Florida this week.
Australian scientists have been working on NASA’s latest Mars mission for years.