Our mission, as it's planned, is to fly over some of the oldest terrain on Mars, very highly magnetized crustal material that dates back to the beginning of Mars, 4.6 billion years ago.

NPR: Revisiting the Viking Missions to Mars

We believe that in its early history - remember, Earth and Mars, the solar system, 4.6 billion years old. 4.6 billion years old the age of Earth and Mars and the solar system.

NPR: Revisiting the Viking Missions to Mars

Mars said it receives a 4-to-1 return on investment for its Nascar sponsorship.

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Perhaps the most impressive statistic produced by NASCAR (and measured by Mars, Inc. tracking data) is that Mars, Inc. receives an impressive 4-to-1 return on investment from their sponsorship in NASCAR.

FORBES: NASCAR Sponsor Mars, Inc. Thrilled With Partnership; Boasts 4-to-1 Return On Investment

But they experienced renewed hopes last week after Stanford scientists reported that a review of data revealed what might have been an extremely weak signal from Mars during tests on December 18 and January 4.

CNN: Technology - Will quiet Mars lander talk to Dutch radar dishes?

So it was to everybody's disappointment that Mariner 4, the first space probe to fly past Mars (in 1965), revealed a place with a surface that appeared to have been static for billions of years.

ECONOMIST: Martian chronicles

Many have impacted the Earth over its 4.5 billion-year history --as they have hit the moon, Mars and other planets -- leaving craters behind.

CNN: A meteor and asteroid: 1 in 100 million odds