Hello and welcome back to Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion. This  week, continuing our fortnight of Mars, we have a pair of special  guests, offering us a look at both the present, as well as the future, of Martian exploration. First, we welcome Martian geologist Dr. Kirsten Siebach back to the show. She will give us a first-person look at how the Perseverance rover will explore the landscape of Mars. We will also talk with Dr. Fatima Ebrahimi from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. We will discuss her work designing a new plasma engine capable of bringing spacecraft and people to Mars and beyond.But first, we take a look at the arrival of NASA's Perseverance rover at  Mars. This is the third mission to arrive at the Red Planet in the last two weeks. We also look at a new study showing microbes are able to  survive – and thrive – within Martian soil. Finally, we will journey out  to the TOI 451 star system, where three newly-discovered planets await our watchful gaze.Listen to the podcast version of this episode here, or watch the video version of this episode at: https://youtu.be/aLeeSmhW0UYAstronomy News with The Cosmic Companion has just been named the Best Astronomy Podcast in the World by the editors of Starlust.org! Thanks to all our listeners.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support Get full access to The Cosmic Companion at thecosmiccompanion.substack.com/subscribe