Mars exploration began in the 1960s with flyby missions from the Soviet Union and the United States. The Mariner 4 spacecraft conducted the first successful flyby in 1965, sending back 22 images of the Martian surface. Subsequent missions, like Viking 1 and 2 in the 1970s, landed on Mars and conducted experiments that sought signs of life. The 1990s saw the arrival of the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Pathfinder, which enhanced our understanding of the planet. More recently, NASA’s Curiosity ...