Rovers on Mars have drilled, hammered and dug into the surface of the red planet � but so far, none have been able to get very far.
That's may all change in September 2016, when Nasa's newest mission to the red planet, InSight, arrives on the alien world in the hope of digging deep beneath its surface.
Testing is now underway on the lander, which is about the size of a car and will be the first mission devoted to understanding the interior structure of the red planet.
Testing is now underway on the InSight lander, which will be the first mission devoted to understanding the interior structure of the red planet
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Testing is now underway on the InSight lander, which will be the first mission devoted to understanding the interior structure of the red planet
Examining the planet's deep interior could reveal clues about how all rocky planets, including Earth, formed and evolved.
The current testing will help make sure InSight can work in and survive deep space travel and the harsh conditions of the Martian surface.
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The spacecraft will lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and land on Mars about six months later.
The technical capabilities and knowledge gained from Insight, and other Mars missions, are crucial to Nasa's journey to Mars, which includes sending astronauts to the red planet in the 2030s.
The technical capabilities and knowledge gained from Insight, and other Mars missions, are crucial to Nasa's journey to Mars, which includes sending astronauts to the red planet in the 2030s
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The technical capabilities and knowledge gained from Insight, and other Mars missions, are crucial to Nasa's journey to Mars, which includes sending astronauts to the red planet in the 2030s
Engineers and technicians at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, run a test of deploying the solar arrays on the Insight lander, which is around the size of a family car
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Engineers and technicians at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, run a test of deploying the solar arrays on the Insight lander, which is around the size of a family car
This parachute testing for the InSight mission to Mars was conducted inside the world's largest wind tunnel
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This parachute testing for the InSight mission to Mars was conducted inside the world's largest wind tunnel
The three-legged InSight lander will go to a site near the Martian equator and provide information for a planned mission length of 720 days - about two years.
InSight adapts a design from the successful Nasa Phoenix Mars Lander, which examined ice and soil on far-northern Mars in 2008.
KEY MISSIONS TO MARS
The first spacecraft to successfully fly by Mars was Nasa's Mariner 4 in 1967, after several failed attempts by the Soviet Union.
But the Soviet Union's Mars 3 probe was the first to successfully land on the surface, on 2 December 1971.
Next, in the latter half of 1976, Nasa's Viking landers touched down on the surface and performed the first search for life on Mars - with results being inconclusive.
The first rover on Mars was Sojourner, carried by Mars Pathfinder, which landed on 27 September 1997.
This was followed by the hugely successful Spirit and Opportunity rovers in 2004, the latter of which is still operational today.
Nasa's Curiosity rover is also still currently hard at work on the surface.
Later this year two new orbiting spacecraft will arrive at Mars, India's Mangalyaan (their first mission to Mars) and Nasa's Maven.
After Insight in 2016, Esa will land a rover called ExoMars on the surface in 2018.
This will be followed by an as yet unnamed Nasa rover similar to Curiosity but with different instruments in 2020.
Guided by images of the surroundings taken by the lander, InSight's robotic arm will place a seismometer on the surface.
The arm will also put the heat-flow probe in position to hammer itself into the ground to a depth of 9 to 15 feet (2.7 to 4.5 metres).
Another experiment will use the radio link between InSight and Nasa's Deep Space Network antennas on Earth to precisely measure a wobble in Mars' rotation that could reveal whether it has a molten or solid core.
'Today, our robotic scientific explorers are paving the way, making great progress on the journey to Mars,' said Jim Green, director of Nasa's Planetary Science Division.
'Together, humans and robotics will pioneer Mars and the solar system.'
During the environmental testing phase at Lockheed Martin's Space Systems facility near Denver, the lander will be exposed to extr
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