Exploration of Mars
Encyclopedia
The exploration of Mars
has been an important part of the space exploration
programs of the Soviet Union
, the United States
, Europe
, and Japan
. Dozens of robotic spacecraft
, including orbiter
s, lander
s, and rover
s, have been launched toward Mars since the 1960s. These missions were aimed at gathering data about current conditions and answering questions about the history of Mars as well as a preparation for a possible human mission to Mars. The questions raised by the scientific community are expected to not only give a better appreciation of the red planet but also yield further insight into the past, and possible future, of Earth
.
The exploration of Mars has come at a considerable financial cost with roughly two-thirds of all spacecraft destined for Mars failing before completing their missions, with some failing before they even begin. Such a high failure rate can be attributed to the complexity and large number of variables involved in an interplanetary journey, and has led researchers to jokingly speak of The Great Galactic Ghoul which subsists on a diet of Mars probes. This phenomenon is also informally known as the Mars Curse. As of July 2011, there is one functioning piece of equipment on the surface of Mars beaming signals back to Earth: the Opportunity rover
.
In October 2009, an agreement was signed between United States' space agency, NASA, and Europe's space agency, ESA in order to increase cooperation and expand collective capabilities, resources and expertise to continue the exploration of Mars; this agreement is named the Mars Exploration Joint Initiative
(MEJI).
Mars has long been the subject of human fascination. Early telescopic observations revealed color changes on the surface which were originally attributed to seasonal vegetation as well as apparent linear features which were ascribed to intelligent design. These early and erroneous interpretations led to widespread public interest in Mars. Further telescopic observations found Mars' two moons - Phobos
and Deimos
, the polar ice caps and the feature now known as Olympus Mons
, the solar system's tallest mountain. These discoveries piqued further interest in the study and exploration of the red planet. Mars is a rocky planet, like Earth, that formed around the same time, yet with only half the diameter of Earth, and a far thinner atmosphere, it has a cold and desert-like surface. It is notable, however, that although the planet has only one quarter of the surface area of the Earth, it has about the same land area, since only one quarter of the surface area of the Earth is land.
s occur at intervals of approximately 2.135 years, i.e. 780 days (the planet's synodic period with respect to Earth).
In addition to these minimum-energy trajectories, which occur when the planets are aligned so that the Earth to Mars transfer trajectory goes halfway around the Sun, an alternate trajectory which has been proposed goes first inward toward Venus
orbit, and then outward, resulting in a longer trajectory which goes about 360 degrees around the Sun .
The Mars 1M program (sometimes dubbed Marsnik in Western media) was the first Soviet unmanned spacecraft interplanetary exploration program, which consisted of two flyby probes launched towards Mars in October 1960, Mars 1960A and Mars 1960B (also known as Korabl 4 and Korabl 5 respectively). After launch, the third stage pumps on both launchers were unable to develop enough thrust to commence ignition, so Earth parking orbit was not achieved. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 120 km before reentry.
Mars 1962A
was a Mars fly-by mission, launched on October 24, 1962 and Mars 1962B
a lander mission, launched in late December of the same year both failed from either breaking up as they were going into Earth orbit or having the upper stage explode in orbit during the burn to put the spacecraft into the Mars trajectory.
Mars 1
(1962 Beta Nu 1) an automatic interplanetary station launched to Mars on November 1, 1962 was the first probe of the Soviet Mars probe program
. Mars 1 was intended to fly by the planet at a distance of about 11,000 km and take images of the surface as well as send back data on cosmic radiation, micrometeoroid
impacts and Mars' magnetic field
, radiation environment, atmospheric structure, and possible organic compounds. Sixty-one radio transmissions were held, initially at two day intervals and later at 5 days in which a large amount of interplanetary data was collected. On 21 March 1963, when the spacecraft was at a distance of 106,760,000 km from Earth, on its way to Mars, communications ceased, due to failure of the spacecraft's antenna orientation system.
In 1964, both Soviet probe launches, of Zond 1964A
on June 4, and Zond 2
on November 30, (part of the Zond program
), resulted in failures. Zond 1964A had a failure at launch, while communication was lost with Zond 2 en route to Mars after a mid-course maneuver, in early May 1965.
The USSR intended to have the first artificial satellite of Mars beating the planned American Mariner 8
and Mariner 9
martian orbiters. But on May 5, 1971 Cosmos 419 (Mars 1971C)
, a heavy probe of the Soviet Mars program M-71, failed on launch. This spacecraft was designed as an orbiter only, while the second and third probes of project M-71, Mars 2
and Mars 3
, were multi-aimed combinations of orbiter and lander.
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In 1964, NASA
's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
made two attempts at reaching Mars. Mariner 3
and Mariner 4
were identical spacecraft designed to carry out the first flybys of Mars. Mariner 3 was launched on November 5, 1964, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft atop its rocket failed to open properly, and it failed to reach Mars. Three weeks later, on November 28, 1964, Mariner 4 was launched successfully on a 7½-month voyage to the red planet.
Mariner 4 flew past Mars on July 14, 1965, providing the first close-up photographs of another planet. The pictures, gradually played back to Earth from a small tape recorder on the probe, showed lunar-type impact craters.
NASA continued the Mariner program with another pair of Mars flyby probes, Mariner 6 and 7
, at the next launch window. These probes reached the planet in 1969. During the following launch window the Mariner program again suffered the loss of one of a pair of probes. Mariner 9
successfully entered orbit about Mars, the first spacecraft ever to do so, after the launch time failure of its sister ship, Mariner 8
. When Mariner 9 reached Mars, it and two Soviet orbiters (Mars 2
and Mars 3
, see Mars probe program below) found that a planet-wide dust storm was in progress. The mission controllers used the time spent waiting for the storm to clear to have the probe rendezvous with, and photograph, Phobos
. When the storm cleared sufficiently for Mars' surface to be photographed by Mariner 9, the pictures returned represented a substantial advance over previous missions. These pictures were the first to offer evidence that liquid water might at one time have flowed on the planetary surface.
The images below, some of the best from the Viking Orbiters, are mosaics of many small, high resolution images. Click on the images for more detail. Some of the pictures are labeled with place names.
The Soviet Union
intended to beat the USA by sending landers first in the Mars probe program
M-69 in 1969, but both probes of the new heavy 5-ton design, Mars 1969A
and Mars 1969B
, failed at launch.
The first probes to impact and land on Mars were the Soviet Union's Mars 2
and Mars 3
, as part of the Mars probe program M-71 in 1971. Each carried a lander. The Mars 2 lander crashed; Mars 3 was the first successful lander but stopped transmitting data and images from the surface after 15 seconds of operation.
Mars 6 and Mars 7 landers on the next Soviet Mars probe program M-73 failed their missions in 1974; the first impacted on the surface, while the second missed the planet.
The first landers to successfully accomplish their missions were the American Viking 1
and Viking 2
in 1976.
.
Of 38 launches from Earth in an attempt to reach the planet, only 19 have succeeded , a success rate of 50%. Twelve of the missions included attempts to land on the surface, but only seven transmitted data after landing.
The majority of the failed missions occurred in the early years of space exploration and were part of the Soviet and later Russian Mars probe program
that suffered several technical difficulties, other than the largely successful Venera
program for the exploration of Venus
.
Modern missions have an improved success rate; however, the challenge, complexity and length of the missions make it inevitable that failures will occur.
The U.S. NASA Mars exploration program has had a somewhat better record of success in Mars exploration, achieving success in 13 out of 20 missions launched (a 65% success rate), and succeeding in six out of seven (an 86% success rate) lander missions.
is one of the main proponents of such missions. Some critics contend, however, that robots can perform better than humans at a fraction of the expense. If life exists on Mars, a manned mission could contaminate it by introducing earthly microbes, so robotic exploration would be preferable. A list of hypothetical or proposed manned Mars missions is located at manned mission to Mars
.
'Red Dragon' Mars Mission
, NASA Ames Research Center is developing a concept for a low-cost Mars mission that would utilize a SpaceX
Falcon Heavy
as the launch vehicle and trans-Martian injection vehicle, and the Dragon capsule
to enter the Martian atmosphere. The concept would be proposed for funding in 2012/2013 as a NASA Discovery mission
, for launch in 2018 and arrival at Mars several months later. The science objectives of the mission would be to look for evidence of life — detecting "molecules that are proof of life, like DNA
or perchlorate reductase
... proof of life through biomolecules. ... Red Dragon would drill 3.3 feet (1 m) or so underground, in an effort to sample reservoirs of water ice known to lurk under the red dirt." The mission cost is projected to be less than , not including the launch cost.
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
has been an important part of the space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
programs of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Dozens of robotic spacecraft
Robotic spacecraft
A robotic spacecraft is a spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to...
, including orbiter
Orbiter
An orbiter is a space probe that orbits a planet.-Asteroids:*NEAR Shoemaker...
s, lander
Lander (spacecraft)
A lander is a spacecraft which descends toward and comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body. For bodies with atmospheres, the landing is called atmospheric reentry and the lander descends as a re-entry vehicle...
s, and rover
Rover (space exploration)
A rover is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of a planet or other astronomical body. Some rovers have been designed to transport members of a human spaceflight crew; others have been partially or fully autonomous robots...
s, have been launched toward Mars since the 1960s. These missions were aimed at gathering data about current conditions and answering questions about the history of Mars as well as a preparation for a possible human mission to Mars. The questions raised by the scientific community are expected to not only give a better appreciation of the red planet but also yield further insight into the past, and possible future, of Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
The exploration of Mars has come at a considerable financial cost with roughly two-thirds of all spacecraft destined for Mars failing before completing their missions, with some failing before they even begin. Such a high failure rate can be attributed to the complexity and large number of variables involved in an interplanetary journey, and has led researchers to jokingly speak of The Great Galactic Ghoul which subsists on a diet of Mars probes. This phenomenon is also informally known as the Mars Curse. As of July 2011, there is one functioning piece of equipment on the surface of Mars beaming signals back to Earth: the Opportunity rover
Opportunity rover
Opportunity, MER-B , is a robotic rover on the planet Mars, active since 2004. It is the remaining rover in NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission...
.
In October 2009, an agreement was signed between United States' space agency, NASA, and Europe's space agency, ESA in order to increase cooperation and expand collective capabilities, resources and expertise to continue the exploration of Mars; this agreement is named the Mars Exploration Joint Initiative
Mars Exploration Joint Initiative
The Mars Exploration Joint Initiative is an agreement signed between United states' space agency, NASA, and Europe's space agency, ESA to join resources and expertise in order to continue the exploration of the planet Mars. The agreement was signed in Washington D.C...
(MEJI).
The planet Mars
Mars has long been the subject of human fascination. Early telescopic observations revealed color changes on the surface which were originally attributed to seasonal vegetation as well as apparent linear features which were ascribed to intelligent design. These early and erroneous interpretations led to widespread public interest in Mars. Further telescopic observations found Mars' two moons - Phobos
Phobos (moon)
Phobos is the larger and closer of the two natural satellites of Mars. Both moons were discovered in 1877. With a mean radius of , Phobos is 7.24 times as massive as Deimos...
and Deimos
Deimos (moon)
Deimos is the smaller and outer of Mars's two moons . It is named after Deimos, a figure representing dread in Greek Mythology. Its systematic designation is '.-Discovery:Deimos was discovered by Asaph Hall, Sr...
, the polar ice caps and the feature now known as Olympus Mons
Olympus Mons
Olympus Mons is a large volcanic mountain on the planet Mars. At a height of almost , it is one of the tallest mountains in the Solar System, three times as tall as Mount Everest and more than twice the height of Mauna Kea the tallest mountain on Earth. Olympus Mons is the youngest of the large...
, the solar system's tallest mountain. These discoveries piqued further interest in the study and exploration of the red planet. Mars is a rocky planet, like Earth, that formed around the same time, yet with only half the diameter of Earth, and a far thinner atmosphere, it has a cold and desert-like surface. It is notable, however, that although the planet has only one quarter of the surface area of the Earth, it has about the same land area, since only one quarter of the surface area of the Earth is land.
Launch windows
In order to understand the history of the robotic exploration of Mars it is important to note that minimum-energy launch windowLaunch window
Launch window is a term used in spaceflight to describe a time period in which a particular launch vehicle must be launched. If the rocket does not launch within the "window", it has to wait for the next window....
s occur at intervals of approximately 2.135 years, i.e. 780 days (the planet's synodic period with respect to Earth).
In addition to these minimum-energy trajectories, which occur when the planets are aligned so that the Earth to Mars transfer trajectory goes halfway around the Sun, an alternate trajectory which has been proposed goes first inward toward Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
orbit, and then outward, resulting in a longer trajectory which goes about 360 degrees around the Sun .
Early Soviet missions
Mars 1962A
Sputnik 22
Mars 2MV-4 No.1 also known as Sputnik 22 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft, which was launched in 1962 as part of the Mars programme, and was intended to make a flyby of Mars, and transmit images of the planet back to Earth. Due to a problem with the rocket which launched it, it was destroyed in...
was a Mars fly-by mission, launched on October 24, 1962 and Mars 1962B
Sputnik 24
Mars 2MV-3 No.1 also known as Sputnik 24 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft, which was launched in 1962 as part of the Mars programme, and was intended to land on the surface of Mars. Due to a problem with the rocket which launched it, it did not depart low Earth orbit, and it decayed several...
a lander mission, launched in late December of the same year both failed from either breaking up as they were going into Earth orbit or having the upper stage explode in orbit during the burn to put the spacecraft into the Mars trajectory.
Mars 1
Mars 1
Mars 1, also known as 1962 Beta Nu 1, Mars 2MV-4 and Sputnik 23, was an automatic interplanetary station launched in the direction of Mars on November 1, 1962, the first of the Soviet Mars probe program, with the intent of flying by the planet at a distance of about 11,000 km...
(1962 Beta Nu 1) an automatic interplanetary station launched to Mars on November 1, 1962 was the first probe of the Soviet Mars probe program
Mars probe program
The Mars program was a series of unmanned spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1973. The spacecraft were intended to explore Mars, and included flyby probes, landers and orbiters....
. Mars 1 was intended to fly by the planet at a distance of about 11,000 km and take images of the surface as well as send back data on cosmic radiation, micrometeoroid
Micrometeoroid
A micrometeoroid is a tiny meteoroid; a small particle of rock in space, usually weighing less than a gram. A micrometeor or micrometeorite is such a particle that enters the Earth's atmosphere or falls to Earth.-Scientific interest:...
impacts and Mars' magnetic field
Magnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
, radiation environment, atmospheric structure, and possible organic compounds. Sixty-one radio transmissions were held, initially at two day intervals and later at 5 days in which a large amount of interplanetary data was collected. On 21 March 1963, when the spacecraft was at a distance of 106,760,000 km from Earth, on its way to Mars, communications ceased, due to failure of the spacecraft's antenna orientation system.
In 1964, both Soviet probe launches, of Zond 1964A
Zond 1964A
Molniya-1 No.2, was the first Soviet communications satellite to be launched. It was a Molniya-1 spacecraft, however it failed to achieve orbit due to a malfunction of the rocket which was carrying it...
on June 4, and Zond 2
Zond 2
Zond 2, a member of the Soviet Zond program, was the fifth Soviet spacecraft to attempt a flyby of Mars. Zond-2 carried a phototelevision camera of the same type later used to photograph the Moon on Zond 3. The camera system also included two ultraviolet spectrometers...
on November 30, (part of the Zond program
Zond program
Zond was the name given to two distinct series of Soviet unmanned space program undertaken from 1964 to 1970. The first series based on 3MV planetary probe was intended to gather information about nearby planets...
), resulted in failures. Zond 1964A had a failure at launch, while communication was lost with Zond 2 en route to Mars after a mid-course maneuver, in early May 1965.
The USSR intended to have the first artificial satellite of Mars beating the planned American Mariner 8
Mariner 8
Mariner-H, also commonly known as Mariner 8, was part of the Mariner Mars 71 project. It was intended to go into Mars orbit and return images and data.-Mission description:...
and Mariner 9
Mariner 9
Mariner 9 was a NASA space orbiter that helped in the exploration of Mars and was part of the Mariner program. Mariner 9 was launched toward Mars on May 30, 1971 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and reached the planet on November 13 of the same year, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit...
martian orbiters. But on May 5, 1971 Cosmos 419 (Mars 1971C)
Cosmos 419
Kosmos 419 was launched by the Soviet Union on May 10, 1971. Mars was at its closest to Earth since 1956 and, in May that year, both the Soviet Union and the United States made new attempts to reach the Red Planet. The payload however failed to separate from the fourth stage of the launch vehicle,...
, a heavy probe of the Soviet Mars program M-71, failed on launch. This spacecraft was designed as an orbiter only, while the second and third probes of project M-71, Mars 2
Mars 2
The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s.The Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions consisted of identical spacecraft, each with an orbiter and an attached lander; they were the first human artifacts to impact the surface of Mars...
and Mars 3
Mars 3
The Mars 3 was an unmanned space probe of the Mars program, a series of unmanned Mars landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s....
, were multi-aimed combinations of orbiter and lander.
Mariner program
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
made two attempts at reaching Mars. Mariner 3
Mariner 3
Mariner 3 and 4 were identical spacecraft of the Mariner program designed to carry out the first flybys of Mars and obtain photographs of the planet's surface. Mariner 3 was launched on November 5, 1964 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 13, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft...
and Mariner 4
Mariner 4
Mariner 4 was the fourth in a series of spacecraft, launched on November 28, 1964, intended for planetary exploration in a flyby mode and performed the first successful flyby of the planet Mars, returning the first pictures of the Martian surface...
were identical spacecraft designed to carry out the first flybys of Mars. Mariner 3 was launched on November 5, 1964, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft atop its rocket failed to open properly, and it failed to reach Mars. Three weeks later, on November 28, 1964, Mariner 4 was launched successfully on a 7½-month voyage to the red planet.
Mariner 4 flew past Mars on July 14, 1965, providing the first close-up photographs of another planet. The pictures, gradually played back to Earth from a small tape recorder on the probe, showed lunar-type impact craters.
NASA continued the Mariner program with another pair of Mars flyby probes, Mariner 6 and 7
Mariner 6 and 7
As part of NASA's wider Mariner program, Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 completed the first dual mission to Mars in 1969. Mariner 6 was launched from Launch Complex 36B at Cape Kennedy and Mariner 7 from Launch Complex 36A at Cape Kennedy...
, at the next launch window. These probes reached the planet in 1969. During the following launch window the Mariner program again suffered the loss of one of a pair of probes. Mariner 9
Mariner 9
Mariner 9 was a NASA space orbiter that helped in the exploration of Mars and was part of the Mariner program. Mariner 9 was launched toward Mars on May 30, 1971 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and reached the planet on November 13 of the same year, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit...
successfully entered orbit about Mars, the first spacecraft ever to do so, after the launch time failure of its sister ship, Mariner 8
Mariner 8
Mariner-H, also commonly known as Mariner 8, was part of the Mariner Mars 71 project. It was intended to go into Mars orbit and return images and data.-Mission description:...
. When Mariner 9 reached Mars, it and two Soviet orbiters (Mars 2
Mars 2
The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s.The Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions consisted of identical spacecraft, each with an orbiter and an attached lander; they were the first human artifacts to impact the surface of Mars...
and Mars 3
Mars 3
The Mars 3 was an unmanned space probe of the Mars program, a series of unmanned Mars landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s....
, see Mars probe program below) found that a planet-wide dust storm was in progress. The mission controllers used the time spent waiting for the storm to clear to have the probe rendezvous with, and photograph, Phobos
Phobos (moon)
Phobos is the larger and closer of the two natural satellites of Mars. Both moons were discovered in 1877. With a mean radius of , Phobos is 7.24 times as massive as Deimos...
. When the storm cleared sufficiently for Mars' surface to be photographed by Mariner 9, the pictures returned represented a substantial advance over previous missions. These pictures were the first to offer evidence that liquid water might at one time have flowed on the planetary surface.
Viking program
The Viking Orbiters caused a revolution in our ideas about water on Mars. Huge river valleys were found in many areas. They showed that floods of water carved deep valleys, eroded grooves into bedrock, and traveled thousands of kilometers. Areas of branched streams, in the southern hemisphere, suggested that rain once fell.The images below, some of the best from the Viking Orbiters, are mosaics of many small, high resolution images. Click on the images for more detail. Some of the pictures are labeled with place names.
Surface missions
The following is a map of landings on Mars.Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
intended to beat the USA by sending landers first in the Mars probe program
Mars probe program
The Mars program was a series of unmanned spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1973. The spacecraft were intended to explore Mars, and included flyby probes, landers and orbiters....
M-69 in 1969, but both probes of the new heavy 5-ton design, Mars 1969A
Mars 1969A
Mars 2M No.521, also known as Mars M-69 No.521 and sometimes identified by NASA as Mars 1969A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1969. It consisted of an orbiter and a lander. The spacecraft was intended to image the surface of Mars using three cameras, with images being...
and Mars 1969B
Mars 1969B
Mars 2M No.522, also known as Mars M-69 No.522 and sometimes identified by NASA as Mars 1969B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1969. It consisted of an orbiter and a lander. The spacecraft was intended to image the surface of Mars using three cameras, with images being...
, failed at launch.
The first probes to impact and land on Mars were the Soviet Union's Mars 2
Mars 2
The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s.The Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions consisted of identical spacecraft, each with an orbiter and an attached lander; they were the first human artifacts to impact the surface of Mars...
and Mars 3
Mars 3
The Mars 3 was an unmanned space probe of the Mars program, a series of unmanned Mars landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s....
, as part of the Mars probe program M-71 in 1971. Each carried a lander. The Mars 2 lander crashed; Mars 3 was the first successful lander but stopped transmitting data and images from the surface after 15 seconds of operation.
Mars 6 and Mars 7 landers on the next Soviet Mars probe program M-73 failed their missions in 1974; the first impacted on the surface, while the second missed the planet.
The first landers to successfully accomplish their missions were the American Viking 1
Viking 1
Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. It was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission, and until May 19, 2010 held the record for the second longest Mars surface mission of 6 years and 116 days .- Mission :Following...
and Viking 2
Viking 2
The Viking 2 mission was part of the American Viking program to Mars, and consisted of an orbiter and a lander essentially identical to that of the Viking 1 mission. The Viking 2 lander operated on the surface for 1,281 Mars days and was turned off on 11 April 1980 when its batteries failed...
in 1976.
Mars Curse
The high failure rate of missions launched from Earth attempting to explore Mars has become informally known as the "Mars Curse" or "Martian Curse". The "Galactic Ghoul" or "Great Galactic Ghoul" is a fictional space monster jokingly said to consume Mars probes, a term coined in 1997 by Time Magazine journalist Donald NeffDonald Neff
Donald Neff is an American journalist. He spent 16 years in service for Time Magazine, and is a former Time Magazine Bureau Chief in Israel. He also worked for the Washington Star....
.
Of 38 launches from Earth in an attempt to reach the planet, only 19 have succeeded , a success rate of 50%. Twelve of the missions included attempts to land on the surface, but only seven transmitted data after landing.
The majority of the failed missions occurred in the early years of space exploration and were part of the Soviet and later Russian Mars probe program
Mars probe program
The Mars program was a series of unmanned spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1973. The spacecraft were intended to explore Mars, and included flyby probes, landers and orbiters....
that suffered several technical difficulties, other than the largely successful Venera
Venera
The Venera series probes were developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather data from Venus, Venera being the Russian name for Venus...
program for the exploration of Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
.
Modern missions have an improved success rate; however, the challenge, complexity and length of the missions make it inevitable that failures will occur.
The U.S. NASA Mars exploration program has had a somewhat better record of success in Mars exploration, achieving success in 13 out of 20 missions launched (a 65% success rate), and succeeding in six out of seven (an 86% success rate) lander missions.
Manned missions
Many people have long advocated a manned mission to Mars as the next logical step for a manned space program after lunar exploration. Aside from the prestige such a mission would bring, advocates argue that humans would easily be able to outperform robotic explorers, justifying the expense. Aerospace engineer Bob ZubrinRobert Zubrin
Robert Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of the manned exploration of Mars. He was the driving force behind Mars Direct—a proposal intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission...
is one of the main proponents of such missions. Some critics contend, however, that robots can perform better than humans at a fraction of the expense. If life exists on Mars, a manned mission could contaminate it by introducing earthly microbes, so robotic exploration would be preferable. A list of hypothetical or proposed manned Mars missions is located at manned mission to Mars
Manned mission to Mars
A manned mission to Mars has been the subject of science fiction, engineering, and scientific proposals throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century...
.
Timeline of Mars exploration
Source: international Mars mission logTotals
| mission type | success rate | success | partial success | launch failure | failed in route | failed to orbit/land |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| flyby | 45% | 5 | 4 | 2 | ||
| orbiter | 50% | 9 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| lander | 30% | 3 | 3 | 4 | ||
| rover | 80% | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
| sample return | 0% | 1 | ||||
| total | 47% | 20 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
Timeline
| Mission (1960–1969) | Launch | Arrival at Mars | Termination | Elements | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mars 1960A |
10 October 1960 | 10 October 1960 | Flyby | Launch failure | |
| Mars 1960B |
14 October 1960 | 14 October 1960 | Flyby | Launch failure | |
| Sputnik 22 Sputnik 22 Mars 2MV-4 No.1 also known as Sputnik 22 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft, which was launched in 1962 as part of the Mars programme, and was intended to make a flyby of Mars, and transmit images of the planet back to Earth. Due to a problem with the rocket which launched it, it was destroyed in... (Mars 1962A) |
24 October 1962 | 24 October 1962 | Flyby | Broke up shortly after launch | |
| Mars 1 Mars 1 Mars 1, also known as 1962 Beta Nu 1, Mars 2MV-4 and Sputnik 23, was an automatic interplanetary station launched in the direction of Mars on November 1, 1962, the first of the Soviet Mars probe program, with the intent of flying by the planet at a distance of about 11,000 km... |
1 November 1962 | 21 March 1963 | Flyby | Some data collected, but lost contact before reaching Mars, flyby at approx. 193,000 km | |
| Sputnik 24 Sputnik 24 Mars 2MV-3 No.1 also known as Sputnik 24 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft, which was launched in 1962 as part of the Mars programme, and was intended to land on the surface of Mars. Due to a problem with the rocket which launched it, it did not depart low Earth orbit, and it decayed several... (Mars 1962B) |
4 November 1962 | 19 January 1963 | Lander | Failed to leave Earth's orbit | |
 Mariner 3Mariner 3 Mariner 3 and 4 were identical spacecraft of the Mariner program designed to carry out the first flybys of Mars and obtain photographs of the planet's surface. Mariner 3 was launched on November 5, 1964 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 13, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft... |
5 November 1964 | 5 November 1964 | Flyby | Failure during launch ruined trajectory | |
| Mariner 4 Mariner 4 Mariner 4 was the fourth in a series of spacecraft, launched on November 28, 1964, intended for planetary exploration in a flyby mode and performed the first successful flyby of the planet Mars, returning the first pictures of the Martian surface... |
28 November 1964 | 14 July 1965 | 21 December 1967 | Flyby | Success (first successful flyby) |
| Zond 2 Zond 2 Zond 2, a member of the Soviet Zond program, was the fifth Soviet spacecraft to attempt a flyby of Mars. Zond-2 carried a phototelevision camera of the same type later used to photograph the Moon on Zond 3. The camera system also included two ultraviolet spectrometers... |
30 November 1964 | May 1965 | Flyby | Communication lost three months before reaching Mars | |
| Mariner 6 |
25 February 1969 | 31 July 1969 | August 1969 | Flyby | Success |
| Mariner 7 |
27 March 1969 | 5 August 1969 | August 1969 | Flyby | Success |
| Mars 1969A Mars 1969A Mars 2M No.521, also known as Mars M-69 No.521 and sometimes identified by NASA as Mars 1969A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1969. It consisted of an orbiter and a lander. The spacecraft was intended to image the surface of Mars using three cameras, with images being... |
27 March 1969 | 27 March 1969 | Orbiter | Launch failure | |
| Mars 1969B Mars 1969B Mars 2M No.522, also known as Mars M-69 No.522 and sometimes identified by NASA as Mars 1969B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1969. It consisted of an orbiter and a lander. The spacecraft was intended to image the surface of Mars using three cameras, with images being... |
2 April 1969 | 2 April 1969 | Orbiter | Launch failure | |
| Mission (1970–1989) | Launch | Arrival at Mars | Termination | Elements | Result |
| Mariner 8 Mariner 8 Mariner-H, also commonly known as Mariner 8, was part of the Mariner Mars 71 project. It was intended to go into Mars orbit and return images and data.-Mission description:... |
8 May 1971 | 8 May 1971 | Orbiter | Launch failure | |
| Cosmos 419 Cosmos 419 Kosmos 419 was launched by the Soviet Union on May 10, 1971. Mars was at its closest to Earth since 1956 and, in May that year, both the Soviet Union and the United States made new attempts to reach the Red Planet. The payload however failed to separate from the fourth stage of the launch vehicle,... (Mars 1971C) |
10 May 1971 | 12 May 1971 | Orbiter | Launch failure | |
| Mariner 9 Mariner 9 Mariner 9 was a NASA space orbiter that helped in the exploration of Mars and was part of the Mariner program. Mariner 9 was launched toward Mars on May 30, 1971 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and reached the planet on November 13 of the same year, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit... |
30 May 1971 | 13 November 1971 | 27 October 1972 | Orbiter | Success (first successful orbit) |
| Mars 2 Mars 2 The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s.The Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions consisted of identical spacecraft, each with an orbiter and an attached lander; they were the first human artifacts to impact the surface of Mars... |
19 May 1971 | 27 November 1971 | 22 August 1972 | Orbiter | Success |
| 27 November 1971 | Lander, rover"The First Rover on Mars - The Soviets Did It in 1971" The Planetary Report July/August 1990 issue. URL accessed March 30, 2006. | Crashed on surface of Mars | |||
| Mars 3 Mars 3 The Mars 3 was an unmanned space probe of the Mars program, a series of unmanned Mars landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s.... |
28 May 1971 | 2 December 1971 | 22 August 1972 | Orbiter | Success |
| 2 December 1971 | Lander, rover | Partial success. First successful landing; landed softly but ceased transmission within 15 seconds | |||
| Mars 4 |
21 July 1973 | 10 February 1974 | 10 February 1974 | Orbiter | Could not enter orbit, made a close flyby |
| Mars 5 |
25 July 1973 | 2 February 1974 | 21 February 1974 | Orbiter | Partial success. Entered orbit and returned data, but failed within 9 days |
| Mars 6 |
5 August 1973 | 12 March 1974 | 12 March 1974 | Lander | Partial success. Data returned during descent but not after landing on Mars |
| Mars 7 |
9 August 1973 | 9 March 1974 | 9 March 1974 | Lander | Landing probe separated prematurely; entered heliocentric orbit |
| Viking 1 Viking 1 Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. It was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission, and until May 19, 2010 held the record for the second longest Mars surface mission of 6 years and 116 days .- Mission :Following... |
20 August 1975 | 20 July 1976 | 17 August 1980 | Orbiter | Success |
| 13 November 1982 | Lander | Success | |||
| Viking 2 Viking 2 The Viking 2 mission was part of the American Viking program to Mars, and consisted of an orbiter and a lander essentially identical to that of the Viking 1 mission. The Viking 2 lander operated on the surface for 1,281 Mars days and was turned off on 11 April 1980 when its batteries failed... |
9 September 1975 | 3 September 1976 | 25 July 1978 | Orbiter | Success |
| 11 April 1980 | Lander | Success | |||
| Phobos 1 Phobos program The Phobos program was an unmanned space mission consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. Phobos 2 became a Mars orbiter and returned 38 images with a resolution of up to 40 meters... |
7 July 1988 | 2 September 1988 | Orbiter | Contact lost while on route to Mars | |
| Lander | Not deployed | ||||
| Phobos 2 Phobos program The Phobos program was an unmanned space mission consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. Phobos 2 became a Mars orbiter and returned 38 images with a resolution of up to 40 meters... |
12 July 1988 | 29 January 1989 | 27 March 1989 | Orbiter | Partial success: entered orbit and returned some data. Contact lost just before deployment of landers |
| Landers | Not deployed | ||||
| Mission (1990–1999) | Launch | Arrival at Mars | Termination | Elements | Result |
| Mars Observer Mars Observer The Mars Observer spacecraft, also known as the Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter, was a 1,018-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on September 25, 1992 to study the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate and magnetic field... |
25 September 1992 | 24 August 1993 | 21 August 1993 | Orbiter | Lost contact just before arrival |
| Mars Global Surveyor Mars Global Surveyor The Mars Global Surveyor was a US spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2... |
7 November 1996 | 11 September 1997 | 5 November 2006 | Orbiter | Success |
 Mars 96Mars 96 Mars 96 was a failed Mars mission launched in 1996 to investigate Mars by the Russian Space Forces and not directly related to the Soviet Mars probe program of the same name. After failure of the second fourth-stage burn, the probe assembly re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, breaking up over a... |
16 November 1996 | 17 November 1996 | Orbiter, lander, penetrator | Launch failure | |
| Mars Pathfinder Mars Pathfinder Mars Pathfinder was an American spacecraft that landed a base station with roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a lightweight wheeled robotic rover named Sojourner.Launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II booster a... |
4 December 1996 | 4 July 1997 | 27 September 1997 | Lander, rover | Success |
 Nozomi (Planet-B) |
3 July 1998 | 9 December 2003 | Orbiter | Complications while on route; Never entered orbit | |
| Mars Climate Orbiter Mars Climate Orbiter The Mars Climate Orbiter was a 338 kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on December 11, 1998 to study the Martian climate, atmosphere, surface changes and to act as the communications relay in the Mars Surveyor '98 program, for Mars Polar Lander... |
11 December 1998 | 23 September 1999 | 23 September 1999 | Orbiter | Crashed on surface due to metric-imperial mix-up |
| Mars Polar Lander Mars Polar Lander The Mars Polar Lander, also referred to as the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander, was a 290-kilogram robotic spacecraft lander, launched by NASA on January 3, 1999, to study the soil and climate of Planum Australe, a region near the south pole on Mars, as part of the Mars Surveyor '98 mission... |
3 January 1999 | 3 December 1999 | 3 December 1999 | Lander | Crash-landed on surface due to improper hardware testing |
| Deep Space 2 Deep Space 2 Deep Space 2 was a NASA probe which was part of the New Millennium Program. It included two highly advanced miniature space probes which were sent to Mars aboard the Mars Polar Lander in January 1999. The probes were named "Scott" and "Amundsen", in honor of Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen,... (DS2) |
Hard landers | ||||
| Mission (2000–2011+) | Launch | Arrival at Mars | Termination | Elements | Result |
| 2001 Mars Odyssey 2001 Mars Odyssey 2001 Mars Odyssey is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectrometers and electronic imagers to hunt for evidence of past or... |
7 April 2001 | 24 October 2001 | Currently operational | Orbiter | Success |
 Mars Express Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency . The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was... |
2 June 2003 | 25 December 2003 | Currently operational | Orbiter | Success |
| Beagle 2 Beagle 2 Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. All contact with it was lost upon its separation from the Mars Express six days before its scheduled entry into the atmosphere... |
6 February 2004 | Lander | Lost contact in December 2003 after separation from Mars Express. Fate unknown. | ||
| MER-A Spirit Spirit rover Spirit, MER-A , is a robotic rover on Mars, active from 2004 to 2010. It was one of two rovers of NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission. It landed successfully on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin, Opportunity , landed on the other side of the planet... |
10 June 2003 | 4 January 2004 | last contact March 2010, stuck. Contact lost. | Rover | Success |
| MER-B Opportunity Opportunity rover Opportunity, MER-B , is a robotic rover on the planet Mars, active since 2004. It is the remaining rover in NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission... |
7 July 2003 | 25 January 2004 | Currently operational | Rover | Success |
| Rosetta (spacecraft) Rosetta is a robotic spacecraft of the European Space Agency on a mission to study the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Rosetta consists of two main elements: the Rosetta space probe and the Philae lander. The spacecraft was launched on 2 March 2004 on an Ariane 5 rocket and will reach the comet by... |
2 March 2004 | February 25, 2007 | Currently operational | Gravity assist enroute to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko, officially designated 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, is a comet with a current orbital period of 6.6 years. It is the destination of the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft mission, launched on March 2, 2004.... |
Success |
| Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a NASA multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and Exploration of Mars from orbit... |
12 August 2005 | 10 March 2006 | Currently operational | Orbiter | Success |
| Phoenix |
4 August 2007 | 25 May 2008 | 10 November 2008 | Lander | Success |
| Dawn |
27 September 2007 | 17 February 2009 | Currently operational | Gravity assist to Vesta 4 Vesta Vesta, formally designated 4 Vesta, is one of the largest asteroids, with a mean diameter of about . It was discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on March 29, 1807, and is named after the Roman virgin goddess of home and hearth, Vesta.... |
Success |
| Fobos-Grunt |
8 November 2011 | September 2012 | Currently operational | Lander, sample return | Launch complications Failure to depart Earth orbit. |
 Yinghuo-1 |
October 2012 | Orbiter | |||
| MSL Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory The Mars Science Laboratory is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration mission with the aim to land and operate a rover named Curiosity on the surface of Mars. The MSL was launched November 26, 2011, at 10:02 EST and is scheduled to land on Mars at Gale Crater between August 6 and 20, 2012... |
26 November 2011 | 5 August 2012 | Currently operational | Rover | Successful launch |
Future missions
| Name | Estimated launch | Elements | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MAVEN MAVEN (spacecraft) Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN is a planned space exploration mission to send a space probe to orbit Mars. Scientists conducting the mission will study the atmosphere of Mars... |
2013 | Orbiter | Will study Mars' upper atmosphere |
 MetNetMetNet MetNet is an atmospheric science mission to Mars, initiated and defined by the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The mission includes sending several tens of MetNet landers on the Martian surface. The objective is to establish a widespread surface observation network on Mars to investigate the... |
2014–2019 | Multi-lander network | Simultaneous meteorological measurements at multiple locations. |
| ExoMars ExoMars ExoMars is a European-led robotic mission to Mars currently under development by the European Space Agency with collaboration by NASA... |
2016 | Orbiter, static lander | The Trace Gas Orbiter will deliver the ExoMars static lander. |
| 2018 | Rover | ExoMars ExoMars ExoMars is a European-led robotic mission to Mars currently under development by the European Space Agency with collaboration by NASA... rover |
|
 Mars mission |
2013-2015 | Orbiter | In the conceptual phase |
| Mars sample return mission Mars Sample Return Mission A Mars sample return mission would be a spaceflight mission to collect rock and dust samples from Mars and to return them to Earth for analysis... |
2020s | Orbiter, lander, rover, sample return | Under study; not yet funded or scheduled |
Concept missions
There are a number of conceptual missions for the exploration of Mars, but the missions are not yet fully funded nor under development.'Red Dragon' Mars Mission
, NASA Ames Research Center is developing a concept for a low-cost Mars mission that would utilize a SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...
Falcon Heavy
Falcon Heavy
Falcon Heavy, previously known as the Falcon 9 Heavy, is a spaceflight launch system that uses rocket engines currently being designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of the two-stage-to-orbit vehicles use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...
as the launch vehicle and trans-Martian injection vehicle, and the Dragon capsule
Dragon (spacecraft)
The Dragon is a reusable spacecraft developed by SpaceX, a private space transportation company based in Hawthorne, California. During its unmanned maiden flight in December 2010, it became the first commercially-built and -operated spacecraft to ever be successfully recovered from orbit.The Dragon...
to enter the Martian atmosphere. The concept would be proposed for funding in 2012/2013 as a NASA Discovery mission
Discovery Program
NASA's Discovery Program is a series of lower-cost, highly-focused American scientific space missions that are exploring the Solar System. It was founded in 1992 to implement then-NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin's vision of "faster, better, cheaper" planetary missions...
, for launch in 2018 and arrival at Mars several months later. The science objectives of the mission would be to look for evidence of life — detecting "molecules that are proof of life, like DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
or perchlorate reductase
Perchlorate
Perchlorates are the salts derived from perchloric acid . They occur both naturally and through manufacturing. They have been used as a medicine for more than 50 years to treat thyroid gland disorders. They are used extensively within the pyrotechnics industry, and ammonium perchlorate is also a...
... proof of life through biomolecules. ... Red Dragon would drill 3.3 feet (1 m) or so underground, in an effort to sample reservoirs of water ice known to lurk under the red dirt." The mission cost is projected to be less than , not including the launch cost.
Cancelled missions
- Mars 4NM and Mars 5NM - projects intended by the Soviet Union for heavy Marsokhod (in 1973 according to initial plan of 1970) and Mars sample return (planned for 1975) missions by launching on N1 rocketN1 rocketN-1 was a heavy lift rocket intended to deliver payloads beyond low Earth orbit, acting as the Soviet counterpart to the NASA Saturn V rocket. This heavy lift booster had the capability of lifting very heavy loads into orbit, designed with manned extra-orbital travel in mind...
that has never flown successfully. - VoyagerVoyager program (Mars)The Voyager Mars Program was a planned series of unmanned NASA probes to the planet Mars. The missions were planned, as part of the Apollo Applications Program, between 1966 and 1968 and were scheduled for launch in 1974–75...
- USA, 1970s - Two orbiters and two landers, launched by a single Saturn VSaturn VThe Saturn V was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload...
rocket. - Mars Aerostat - Russian/French balloon mission, originally planned for the 1992 launch window, postponed to 1994 and then to 1996 before being cancelled.
- Mars Environmental Survey - set of 16 landers planned for 1999–2009
- Mars-98 - Russian mission including an orbiter, lander, and rover, planned for 1998 launch opportunity
- Mars Surveyor 2001 LanderMars Surveyor 2001 LanderThe NASA Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander was a planned Mars probe which was canceled in May 2000 in the wake of the failures of the Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander missions in late 1999...
- October 2001 - Mars lander - Beagle 3 - 2009 British lander mission meant to search for life, past or present.
- NetLanderNetLanderFor late 2007 CNES and ESA had planned to send to Mars a remote sensing orbiter and four small Netlanders. The Netlanders were to have landed in four different Mars locations....
- 2007 or 2009 - Mars netlanders - Mars Telecommunications OrbiterMars Telecommunications OrbiterThe Mars Telecommunications Orbiter was a cancelled Mars mission that was originally intended to launch in 2009 and would have established an Interplanetary Internet between Earth and Mars...
- September 2009 - Mars orbiter for telecommunications - Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher - 2018 rover
- Kitty Hawk - Mars airplane micromission, proposed for December 17, 2003, the centennial of the Wright brother's first flight. Its funding was eventually given to the 2003 Mars Network project.
See also
- Atmospheric reentryAtmospheric reentryAtmospheric entry is the movement of human-made or natural objects as they enter the atmosphere of a celestial body from outer space—in the case of Earth from an altitude above the Kármán Line,...
- Life on MarsLife on MarsScientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars owing to the planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. Fictional Martians have been a recurring feature of popular entertainment of the 20th and 21st centuries, but it remains an open question whether life currently exists on...
- List of artificial objects on Mars
- Mars Exploration Joint InitiativeMars Exploration Joint InitiativeThe Mars Exploration Joint Initiative is an agreement signed between United states' space agency, NASA, and Europe's space agency, ESA to join resources and expertise in order to continue the exploration of the planet Mars. The agreement was signed in Washington D.C...
- Mars Scout ProgramMars Scout ProgramThe Mars Scout Program was a NASA initiative to send a series of small, low-cost robotic missions to Mars, competitively selected from innovative proposals by the scientific community. The program would have had an array of missions destined to reach Mars, and study it at low costs. Each Scout...
- Mars to StayMars to StayMars to Stay missions propose astronauts sent to Mars for the first time should stay there indefinitely, both to reduce cost and to ensure permanent settlement of Mars. Among many notable Mars to Stay advocates, former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin has been particularly outspoken, suggesting in...
- New Frontiers ProgramNew Frontiers programThe New Frontiers program is a series of space exploration missions being conducted by NASA with the purpose of researching several of the Sun's planets including Jupiter, Venus, and the dwarf planet Pluto...
- Space colonizationSpace colonizationSpace colonization is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth. Although hypothetical at the present time, there are many proposals and speculations about the first space colony...
- Space explorationSpace explorationSpace exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
- Space weatherSpace weatherSpace weather is the concept of changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space or thespace from the Sun's atmosphere to the Earth's atmosphere. It is distinct from the concept ofweather within the Earth's planetary atmosphere...
- Timeline of Solar System explorationTimeline of solar system explorationThis is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordered by date of spacecraft launch. It includes:*All spacecraft that have left Earth orbit for the purposes of Solar System exploration , including lunar probes....
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory Science DivisionJet Propulsion Laboratory Science DivisionThe Jet Propulsion Laboratory Science Division investigates physical and chemical processes on the Earth, in the solar system, and throughout the universe. Explorations of space and terrestrial processes lead to understanding of the universe...
Further reading
- Mars - A Warmer, Wetter Planet by Jeffrey S. Kargel (published July 2004; ISBN 978-1-85233-568-7)
- The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System by Ronald Greeley and Raymond Batson (published January 2002; ISBN 0-5218-0633-X)
- Mars: The NASA Mission Reports / edited by Robert Godwin (2000) ISBN 1896522629
External links
- Mars Program by the American JPL
- Mars Rovers' newsroom
- Next on Mars (Bruce Moomaw, Space Daily, 9 March 2005): An extensive overview of NASA's Mars exploration plans
- Catalog of Soviet Mars images Collection of Russian Mars probes' images.
- Mars balloon
- NASA History Series Publications (many of which are on-line)
- Simplified study of orbits to land on Mars and return to Earth High School level.