A NASA mission will send twin spacecraft to Mars to learn what happened to the Red Planet's ancient, thick atmosphere.

ESCAPADE is overseen by the University of California Berkeley, who named the spacecraft’s onboard satellites Blue and Gold after the school’s colors. In addition to its primary objectives, the spacecraft will be the first to reach Mars using a new trajectory path.

When a meteoroid shook the edge of Apollinaris Mons on Mars, it triggered streaks that carved a hundred new scratches on the surface. The European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter captured these dust avalanches on the slopes the night before Christmas in 2023.

On Oct. 3, the comet came within about 18 million miles of the Red Planet. Both China's Tianwen-1 Mars Orbiter and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured it. But while NASA's images remain locked away due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, China has already shared its photos with the world.

“Dust, wind and sand dynamics appear to be the main seasonal drivers of slope streak formation,” Bickel said in a statement. “Meteoroid impacts and quakes seem to be locally distinct, yet globally relatively insignificant drivers.”

Tianwen 1 has spotted the solar system's latest interstellar intruder from Mars orbit. China's Tianwen 1 Mars orbiter has imaged the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS during its close pass by the Red Planet, aiding global efforts to study the rare interstellar interloper.

President Donald Trump’s NASA pick Jared Isaacman has proposed to launch an uncrewed mission to Mars as early as next year, echoing the administration’s vision. Privately, he has cited Elon Musk’s SpaceX as one company that could do the job,

The Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) "will provide NASA with a high-speed, low cost" communications relay network, according to Blue Origin. Credit: Blue Origin