“NASA's Mars rover Opportunity just celebrated its ninth anniversary on Mars – a mission that was originally meant to last just 90 days...” – The Atlantic. Photo: NASA's rover Opportunity visits Victoria Crater, viewed from orbit by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in october of 2006. Opportunity is a small dot on the crater's lip, at top right. Opportunity first reached the crater's rim on September 27, 2006. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona via The Atlantic)

This artist's scoreboard displays a fictional game between Mars and Earth, with Mars in the lead. It refers to the success rate of sending missions to Mars, both as orbiters and landers. Of the previous 39 missions targeted for Mars from around the world, 15 have been successes and 24 failures. For baseball fans, that's a batting average of .385. The United States has had 13 successes out of 18 attempts, or a “batting average” of .722. NASA's Curiosity rover, set to land on the Red Planet the evening of Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT), will mark the United States' 19th attempt to tackle the challenge of Mars, and the world's 40th attempt. (Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech)

This February 7, 2018, photo shows João Lousada, a flight controller for the International Space Station, wearing an experimental space suit during a simulation of a future Mars mission in the Dhofar desert of southern Oman. The desolate desert in southern Oman resembles Mars so much that more than 200 scientists from 25 nations organized by the Austrian Space Forum are using it for the next four weeks to field-test technology for a manned mission to Mars. (Photo by Sam McNeil/AP Photo)

One of only three active female blimp pilots in the world, Kristen Arambula guides her passengers towards the Goodyear blimp “Spirit of America” in Carson, California August 5, 2015. Christened in 2002, the air ship is being retired after 8,000 flights and replaced with a newer more modern version named the “Spirit of Innovation” in September. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

This photo provided by NASA shows a full moon rising behind the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft onboard at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41, Sunday, November 17, 2013, Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA's next Mars-bound spacecraft, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/AP Photo/NASA)

A Thai traffic security guard wears a Santa Claus costume as he directs the traffic on a street during Christmas celebrations outside a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, 22 December 2015. The campaign of a shopping mall is held to celebrate the upcoming Christmas season and to attract shoppers. (Photo by Narong Sangnak/EPA)

Carlos Boozer #5 of the Chicago Bulls grabs a rebound next to David West #30 of the New Orleans Hornets at the United Center on March 7, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. The Bulls defeated the Hornets 85-77.

“The Curiosity Mars rover has imaged a small metallic-looking protuberance on a rock. Visible (in the image below the green lines point to it), the protuberance appears to have a high albedo and even projects a shadow on the rock below...”