NASA plans to launch its first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft in 2028, a probe called Space Reactor-1 Freedom that will carry a fleet of tiny helicopters to Mars.
The ESA's Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft watched as a superstorm that ravaged Earth also struck the Red Planet.
Newly released Mars images offer a detailed look at one of the Red Planet's oldest, most heavily cratered regions, a landscape shaped by billions of years of impacts, volcanism and erosion.
By fertilizing inorganic regolith with organic human waste that has been processed through bioreactors, future astronauts living on Mars could be able to create their own organic soil.
Perchlorate, a toxic substance found in Mars dirt, could help the bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii strengthen bonds between particles of regolith.
"You need so much water that we think these could be evidence of an ancient warmer and wetter climate where there was rain falling for millions of years."
Even though the Red Planet's atmosphere is thin, wind is still one of Mars' most relentless sculptors.
Ancient shoreline features hint that water on Mars once formed a vast ocean.
MAVEN was built to last in orbit until 2030 — that's not looking likely anymore.
"Without Mars, Earth's orbit would be missing major climate cycles. What would humans and other animals even look like if Mars weren't there?"
