Okay, consider this a public service announcement. Really, it’s just a reminder, though. Maybe you’ve forgotten. Look, here’s the deal:
RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE, ON ANOTHER PLANET IN OUR VERY OWN SOLAR SYSTEM, TWO REMOTE-CONTROLLED ROVERS ARE CONTINUING THEIR MISSIONS, DRIVING ALL OVER THE SURFACE OF AN ALIEN WORLD SEARCHING FOR ALIEN LIFE ON A DAILY BASIS.
Perhaps most astonishingly of all, they are BEAMING BACK PHOTOS FROM THE SURFACE OF OUR CLOSEST INTERPLANETARY NEIGHBOR, MARS, the RED PLANET! (Sorry for yelling, but I thought that might help.)
Talk about astonishing feats of human engineering!!
To date, there have been six rovers which have landed and operated successfully on the Martian surface: five from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and one from China. As of July 2025, there are still two active rovers looking for evidence of life on Mars:
The other four, including the Chinese-developed vehicle, are no longer operational.
Both Curiosity and Perseverance are car-sized rovers with similar features and goals, including:
As of this writing, Curiosity has been operating for over 4,700 Earth days (more than 12 years), and Perseverance for over 1,500 Earth days (more than 4 years).
Maybe, though, we’ve all just really forgotten how to be amazed anymore. Well, take a look at these photos taken ON THE PLANET MARS to help remind us again. (Yeah, still yelling.)