Before humans go, robots are mapping the way. NASA's Perseverance rover is collecting rock samples in Jezero Crater for future return to Earth. Its helicopter companion Ingenuity achieved the first powered flight on another planet. China's Zhurong rover explored Utopia Planitia. ESA's ExoMars rover, Rosalind Franklin — now in partnership with NASA and targeting a 2028 launch — aims to drill below the Martian surface.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter maps the surface in extraordinary detail, identifying potential landing sites, water ice deposits, and hazards. MAVEN studies the upper atmosphere to understand how Mars lost its air over billions of years.