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)

Santa, a dog abandoned two days before Christmas, is looked after by Charlene Gunner at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home on December 27, 2012 in London, England. The home was founded 150 years ago and has rescued, reunited and rehomed over three million dogs and cats. The average stay for a dog is just 28 days although some stay much longer. Around 550 dogs and 200 cats are provided refuge by Battersea at any given time. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid)

In this June 29, 2016 file photo, boats docked at Central Marine in Stuart, Fla., are surrounded by blue green algae. The 153-mile-long Indian River Lagoon has been plagued by harmful algae blooms. Water quality testing data analyzed by the AP showed the average phosphorous level – a byproduct of fertilizers and human waste that algae thrive on, rose nearly 75 percent between 2000 and 2016. (Photo by Greg Lovett/The Palm Beach Post via AP Photo)

A five meters high sculpture “Pentateuque” created by Contemporary French artist Fabien Merelle, is displayed in Central, business district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The artwork brings to real life the fantastical and seemingly impossible act of an average man balancing a gigantic elephant. The elephant and the man are modeled on one at the Singapore Zoo and on the artist himself. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

An Iranian man sells colorful ropes at the Tehrans old Bazaar, the place where the main economy trades take place, in Tehran, Iran, 25 January 2016. Reports state that Iranian officials expected the Iranian economy to grow on an average of eight percent over the coming five years following the lifting of sanctions against Iran. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA)

Revelers celebrate New Years Eve in socially distanced pods at Times Square on December 31, 2020, in New York City. On average, about one million revelers are drawn to the Crossroads of the World to watch performances and celebrate the New Year. This year a limited live audience of about 40 first responders and essential workers will be allowed to watch the New Years' ball drop from a secure area in Times Square. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

Specialist Dilip Patel, left, works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, March 9, 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 7.8%, its steepest drop since the financial crisis of 2008, as a free-fall in oil prices and worsening fears of fallout from the spreading coronavirus outbreak seize markets. (Photo by Richard Drew/AP Photo)

Hundreds of people from a range of NGOs and campaign groups protest to demand the immediate restoration of nature at DEFRA – Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs on September 28, 2023 in London, England. The 2023 State of Nature Report revealed that approximately one in six species in Great Britain, including turtle doves and hazel dormice, are at risk of extinction, citing climate change, intensive farming, and pollution as major threats, with a 19% average decline in monitored plant and animal populations since 1970. (Photo by Guy Smallman/Getty Images)