NASA plans to send humans on a scientific round trip to Mars potentially as early as 2035. The trip will take about six to seven months each way and will cover up to 250 million miles (402 million kilometers) each way. The astronauts may spend as many as 500 days on the planet’s surface before returning to Earth.

New data captured by NASA's Curiosity rover could give us more insight into why Mars is so dead and hostile despite its ancient past.

Despite the Red Planet's appearance, scientists have wondered for decades about the possibility of microbial life inhabiting Mars in the distant past. Now a new study, based on da