Extraordinary images reveal the mysteries of Mars

From H. G. Wells’s alien invaders in The War of the Worlds to The Martian‘s abandoned astronaut, we have long been inspired by the idea that life could reside on Mars – human or otherwise. Flybys, orbiters and landers, including NASA’s Perseverance rover and its aerial sidekick, Ingenuity, have made Mars one of the best understood planets in our solar system. Now, more than ever, we are closer to answering the question: could life exist there?

A new book, Mars: Photographs from the NASA archive, celebrates the missions that have enriched our understanding of Mars and looks to a future where humans explore the Red Planet.

Pictured from top, main picture: the Dingo gap in Gale crater, which NASA’s Curiosity rover crossed; an impact crater at Meridiani Planum, shot by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera; Mars’s surface temperature, from cold blue to warm red, captured by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft’s Thermal Emission Imaging System; Perseverance photographs the parachute used to slow its landing; a rocket-powered stage lowers Perseverance onto Mars in a “sky crane” manoeuvre.