Planetary sciences are currently among the fastest growing fields of science and technology. They respond to one of humanity’s greatest dreams – space exploration. After decades of intensive research on the Moon, Mars has become the next major target for scientific missions. Not only because it is our closest planetary neighbor, but also because of the possibility that it once had – or still has – conditions conducive to life. What’s more, the Red Planet could play a key role as a stopover in future exploration of deeper areas of the Solar System.

One of the biggest challenges facing Mars researchers is understanding its geological past – especially the volcanic processes that have had a decisive influence on the shaping of the planet’s surface. Although it is widely accepted that the geological evolution of Mars was largely controlled by magmatic activity, the details of this process remain poorly understood. This is a serious gap in our knowledge, especially in the context of planning future manned and robotic missions.

Thanks to the influx of new data – including very high-resolution images and spectral analyses – it is now possible to image the surface of Mars much more accurately. This not only allows for the identification of previously unnoticed volcanic features, but also for the study of their origin and evolution. There is growing evidence that at least some of these features were formed as a result of explosive eruptions, which sheds new light on the final stages of volcanic activity on Mars.

Despite growing technical capabilities, the current state of knowledge still suffers from a lack of an interdisciplinary approach and limited comparisons with well-studied geological structures on Earth. In order to understand Martian volcanism, it is necessary to combine data from space missions with the results of research conducted in Earth analog environments – i.e. where geological conditions resemble those of the Red Planet.

In response to this need, the MARIVEL research project was created – ‘MARIVEL: Modern Advances in high-Resolution Imaging of Volcanic Eruptive Landforms – unrevealing concealed Martian volcanic evolution by studying terrestrial analogues’ (2025–2029), funded by the National Science Centre of Poland. The aim of the project is to significantly expand our knowledge of young volcanism on Mars by identifying and analyzing small-scale volcanic features that have so far remained undocumented or uninterpreted. The research will focus on the youngest volcanic provinces of Mars, and the results will be compared with data obtained from analogous volcanic areas on Earth.

Advances in imaging techniques – both satellite and ground-based – are now opening up new possibilities for reconstructing volcanic processes with unprecedented precision. Using modern methods of spatial analysis and spectroscopy, the MARIVEL project will bridge the gap between planetary research and Earth geology, integrating knowledge from various fields of science and creating a new approach to the exploration of rocky planets.