Prize: NASA could offer a prize—say $3 billion to the first company and $1 billion to a second company—for delivering something like 1 kg of Mars rocks and soil back to Earth. NASA has used prizes very sparingly in the past, but this option could appeal to the Trump administration as it would require very little funding up front.

Mars is known for its barren desert landscape and dry climate. But two recent studies in the journals Nature and Science go beneath the surface, exploring the interior of the red planet using seismic data from NASA’s InSight mission.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover collected a rock sample that NASA leaders say offers the best signs yet that ancient Mars harbored some form of life.