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Exploration of Mars#Launch windows
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{{Short description|Overview of the exploration of Mars}}{{Distinguish|Colonization of Mars|Human mission to Mars}}File:Mars 2020 selfie containing both perseverance rover and ingenuity.gif|thumb|300x300px|{{longitem|Self-portrait of Perseverance rover and (Ingenuity helicopter|Ingenuity helicopter]] (to the left) located at Wright Brothers Field, the Ingenuity helicopter drop site (7 April 2021)|style=padding: 3px 0; line-height: 1.3em;}}){{Bar chart- the content below is remote from Wikipedia
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active|α}}| float = right| label_type = Year| data_type = Number of missions| data_max = 11| label1 = 1997| data1 = 2 | label2 = 1998| data2 = 1 | label3 = 1999| data3 = 1 | label4 = 2000| data4 = 1 | label5 = 2001| data5 = 2 | label6 = 2002| data6 = 2 | label7 = 2003| data7 = 3 | label8 = 2004| data8 = 5 | label9 = 2005| data9 = 5 | label10 = 2006| data10 = 6 | label11 = 2007| data11 = 5 | label12 = 2008| data12 = 6 | label13 = 2009| data13 = 5 | label14 = 2010| data14 = 5 | label15 = 2011| data15 = 4 | label16 = 2012| data16 = 5 | label17 = 2013| data17 = 5 | label18 = 2014| data18 = 7 | label19 = 2015| data19 = 7 | label20 = 2016| data20 = 8 | label21 = 2017| data21 = 8 | label22 = 2018| data22 = 9 | label23 = 2019| data23 = 8 | label24 = 2020| data24 = 8 | label25 = 2021| data25 = 11 | label26 = 2022| data26 = 11 | label27 = 2023| data27 = 10 }}The planet Mars has been explored remotely by spacecraft. Probes sent from Earth, beginning in the late 20th century, have yielded a large increase in knowledge about the Martian system, focused primarily on understanding its geology and habitability potential.JOURNAL, Grotzinger, John P., Introduction to Special Issue – Habitability, Taphonomy and the Search for Organic Carbon on Mars, Science (journal), Science, 24 January 2014, 343, 6169, 386–387, 10.1126/science.1249944, 2014Sci...343..386G, 24458635, free, JOURNAL, Changela, Hitesh G., Chatzitheodoridis, Elias, Antunes, Andre, Beaty, David, Bouw, Kristian, Bridges, John C., Capova, Klara Anna, Cockell, Charles S., Conley, Catharine A., Dadachova, Ekaterina, Dallas, Tiffany D., 1 December 2021, Mars: new insights and unresolved questions,weblink International Journal of Astrobiology, en, 20, 6, 394–426, 10.1017/S1473550421000276, 2112.00596, 2021IJAsB..20..394C, 244773061, 1473-5504, Engineering interplanetary journeys is complicated and the exploration of Mars has experienced a high failure rate, especially the early attempts. Roughly sixty percent of all spacecraft destined for Mars failed before completing their missions, with some failing before their observations could even begin. Some missions have been met with unexpected success, such as the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which operated for years beyond their specification.WEB,weblink Mars Exploration, Mars Rovers Information, Facts, News, Photos – National Geographic, Society, National Geographic, National Geographic, 2016-03-04, 2009-10-15, 2017-11-02,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171102020022weblink">weblink dead, {{toclimit|5}}Current statusFile:Schiaparelli 1889 versus Mars crop.jpg|thumb|A 19th-century hand-drawn map by Giovanni SchiaparelliGiovanni SchiaparelliThere are two functional rovers on the surface of Mars, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, both operated by the American space agency NASA. Perseverance was accompanied by the Ingenuity helicopter, which scouted sites for Perseverance to study before its mission ended in 2024.WEB, Loeffler, John, 2021-08-17, NASA's Mars helicopter is now scouting new sites for Perseverance rover to study,weblink 2021-10-01, TechRadar, en, 2021-10-01,weblink live, The Zhurong rover, part of the Tianwen-1 mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA)WEB, February 2021, Vicky Stein 08, Tianwen-1: China's first Mars mission,weblink 2021-02-24, Space.com, 8 February 2021, en, 2021-02-25,weblink live, NEWS, 2021-05-14, China lands its Zhurong rover on Mars, BBC,weblink 2021-05-14, 2021-05-15,weblink live, was active until 20 May 2022 when it went into hibernation due to approaching sandstorms and Martian winter; the rover was expected to awaken from hibernation in December 2022, but as of April 2023 it has not moved and is presumed to be permanently inactive.WEB, Stephanie Pappas, 2023-08-29, China finally admits its hibernating Mars rover may never wake up,weblink 27 April 2023, livescience.com, There are seven orbiters surveying the planet: Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, the Trace Gas Orbiter, the Hope Mars Mission, and the Tianwen-1 orbiter, which have contributed massive amounts of information about Mars. Thus there are 10 total vehicles currently exploring Mars: 2 rovers, 1 helicopter, and 7 orbiters.Various Mars sample return missions are being planned like NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return that will pick up the samples currently being collected by the Perseverance rover.WEB,weblink A Brief History of Mars Missions {{!, Mars Exploration|website=Space.com|access-date=2016-03-04|archive-date=2019-04-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411014840weblink|url-status=live}}The next missions expected to arrive at Mars are:
Martian systemMars has long been the subject of human interest. Early telescopic observations revealed color changes on the surface that were attributed to seasonal vegetation and apparent linear features were ascribed to intelligent design. Further telescopic observations found two moons, Phobos and Deimos, polar ice caps and the feature now known as Olympus Mons, the Solar System's tallest mountain. The 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.WEB, Sheehan, William,weblink The Planet Mars: A History of Observation and Discovery, The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1996, 2009-02-15, 2017-09-11,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170911172513weblink">weblink live, One way the surface of Mars has been categorized, is by thirty "quadrangles", with each quadrangle named for a prominent physiographic feature within that quadrangle.WEB,weblink Online Atlas of Mars, Ralphaeschliman.com, December 16, 2012, May 5, 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130505042300weblink">weblink live, {{clear}}{{Mars Quads - By Name}}{{clear}}Launch windows(File:Mars distance from Earth.svg|thumb|right|Spacecraft launches and Mars distance from Earth in millions of kilometers)The minimum-energy launch windows for a Martian expedition occur at intervals of approximately two years and two months (specifically 780 days, the planet's synodic period with respect to Earth).David S. F. Portree, Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning, 1950–2000, NASA Monographs in Aerospace History Series, Number 21, February 2001. Available as NASA SP-2001-4521 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714112149weblink |date=2019-07-14 }}. In addition, the lowest available transfer energy varies on a roughly 16-year cycle. For example, a minimum occurred in the 1969 and 1971 launch windows, rising to a peak in the late 1970s, and hitting another low in 1986 and 1988.{| class="wikitable" | |||
| | MAVEN, Mars Orbiter Mission | |||
| ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter>ExoMars TGO | |||
| | InSight | |||
| Mars Hope orbiter,(2) Tianwen-1 orbiter, deployable and remote camera, lander and Zhurong (rover)>Zhurong rover(3) Mars 2020 Perseverance (rover) | Perseverance rover and Ingenuity (helicopter)>Ingenuity helicopter | ||
| | none | |||
| |(1) EscaPADE | |||
| Martian Moons eXploration (MMX)FOUST | DATE=2024-01-11 | URL=HTTPS://SPACENEWS.COM/JAPANESE-MARS-MISSION-LAUNCH-DELAYED-TO-2026/ | WEBSITE=SPACENEWS, en-US, Impulse/Relativity Mars landerWEB, Foust, Jeff, 2023-05-24, Impulse and Relativity target 2026 for launch of first Mars lander mission,weblink 2024-01-31, SpaceNews, en-US, |
| Rosalind Franklin (rover)>Rosalind Franklin (2) Mars Orbiter Mission 2 |
Past missions
{{too long|date=July 2022|section|small=left}}{{Bar graph| title = Launches to Mars| float = right| bar_width = 20| width_units = em| data_max = 13| label_type = Decade| data_type = #| label1 = 1960s| data1 = 13| label2 = 1970s| data2 = 11| label3 = 1980s| data3 = 2| label4 = 1990s| data4 = 8| label5 = 2000s| data5 = 8 | label6 = 2010s| data6 = 6| label7 = 2020s| data7 = 3 }}Starting in 1960, the Soviets launched a series of probes to Mars including the first intended flybys and hard (impact) landing (Mars 1962B). The first successful flyby of Mars was on 14–15 July 1965, by NASA's Mariner 4.WEB,weblink Mariner 4, NSSDC Master Catalog, NASA, 2009-02-11, 2018-09-04,weblink live, On November 14, 1971, Mariner 9 became the first space probe to orbit another planet when it entered into orbit around Mars.WEB,weblink Mariner 9: Overview, NASA, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120731101459weblink">weblink 2012-07-31, The amount of data returned by probes increased dramatically as technology improved.NASA PROGRAM & MISSIONS Historical Log {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120110449weblink |date=2011-11-20 }}. Mars.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved on 2012-08-14.The first to contact the surface were two Soviet probes: Mars 2 lander on November 27 and Mars 3 lander on December 2, 1971{{mdash}}Mars 2 failed during descent and Mars 3 about twenty seconds after the first Martian soft landing.Mars 2 Lander – NASA {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615142210weblink |date=2020-06-15 }}. Nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved on 2012-05-10. Mars 6 failed during descent but did return some corrupted atmospheric data in 1974.Mars 6 – NASA {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227064416weblink |date=2017-02-27 }}. Nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved on 2012-05-10. The 1975 NASA launches of the Viking program consisted of two orbiters, each with a lander that successfully soft landed in 1976. Viking 1 remained operational for six years, Viking 2 for three. The Viking landers relayed the first color panoramas of Mars.WEB,weblink Other Mars Missions, Journey through the galaxy, 2006-06-13, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060920021900weblink">weblink 2006-09-20, The Soviet probes Phobos 1 and 2 were sent to Mars in 1988 to study Mars and its two moons, with a focus on Phobos. Phobos 1 lost contact on the way to Mars. Phobos 2, while successfully photographing Mars and Phobos, failed before it was set to release two landers to the surface of Phobos.JOURNAL, Sagdeev, R. Z., Zakharov, A. V., Brief history of the Phobos mission, Nature, 341, 6243, 581–585, October 19, 1989, 10.1038/341581a0, 1989Natur.341..581S, 41464654, Mars has a reputation as a difficult space exploration target; just 25 of 55 missions through 2019, or 45.5%, have been fully successful, with a further three partially successful and partially failures.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} However, of the sixteen missions since 2001, twelve have been successful and eight of these are still operational.Missions that ended prematurely after Phobos 1 and 2 (1988) include (see Probe difficulties section for more details):- Mars Observer (launched in 1992)
- Mars 96 (1996)
- Mars Climate Orbiter (1999)
- Mars Polar Lander with Deep Space 2 (1999)
- Nozomi (2003)
- Beagle 2 (2003)
- Fobos-Grunt with Yinghuo-1 (2011)
- Schiaparelli lander (2016)
Overview of missions
The following entails a brief overview of previous missions to Mars, oriented towards orbiters and flybys; see also Mars landing and Mars rover.Early Soviet missions
1960s
File:Mars 1M.jpg|thumb|Mars 1MMars 1MBetween 1960 and 1969, the Soviet Union launched nine probes intended to reach Mars. They all failed: three at launch; three failed to reach near-Earth orbit; one during the burn to put the spacecraft into trans-Mars trajectory; and two during the interplanetary orbit.The Mars 1M programs (sometimes dubbed Marsnik in Western media) was the first Soviet uncrewed 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 pressure 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 flyby mission, launched on October 24, 1962, and Mars 1962B an intended first Mars lander mission, launched in late December of the same year (1962). 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 trans-Mars trajectory.The first success
{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center; font-size:88%; float:right; margin-left:1em"|+ Selected Soviet Mars probes! Spacecraft !! Orbiter or flyby outcome !! Lander outcome1970s
The USSR intended to have the first artificial satellite of Mars beating the planned American Mariner 8 and Mariner 9 Mars orbiters. In May 1971, one day after Mariner 8 malfunctioned at launch and failed to reach orbit, Cosmos 419 (Mars 1971C), a heavy probe of the Soviet Mars program M-71, also failed to launch. This spacecraft was designed as an orbiter only, while the next two probes of project M-71, Mars 2 and Mars 3, were multipurpose combinations of an orbiter and a lander with small skis-walking rovers, PrOP-M, that would be the first planet rovers outside the Moon. They were successfully launched in mid-May 1971 and reached Mars about seven months later. On November 27, 1971, the lander of Mars 2 crash-landed due to an on-board computer malfunction and became the first man-made object to reach the surface of Mars. On 2 December 1971, the Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing, but its transmission was interrupted after 14.5 seconds.BOOK, Perminov, V.G., The Difficult Road to Mars – A Brief History of Mars Exploration in the Soviet Union, July 1999, NASA Headquarters History Division, 978-0-16-058859-4, 58,weblink The Mars 2 and 3 orbiters sent back a relatively large volume of data covering the period from December 1971 to March 1972, although transmissions continued through to August. By 22 August 1972, after sending back data and a total of 60 pictures, Mars 2 and 3 concluded their missions. The images and data enabled creation of surface relief maps, and gave information on the Martian gravity and magnetic fields.WEB,weblink NASA (NSSDC) Master Catalog Display Mars 3, 2007-03-28, 2019-05-14,weblink live, In 1973, the Soviet Union sent four more probes to Mars: the Mars 4 and Mars 5 orbiters and the Mars 6 and Mars 7 flyby/lander combinations. All missions except Mars 7 sent back data, with Mars 5 being most successful. Mars 5 transmitted just 60 images before a loss of pressurization in the transmitter housing ended the mission. Mars 6 lander transmitted data during descent, but failed upon impact. Mars 4 flew by the planet at a range of 2200 km returning one swath of pictures and radio occultation data, which constituted the first detection of the nightside ionosphere on Mars.WEB,weblink NASA (NSSDC) Master Catalog Display Mars 4, 2007-03-28, 2017-02-27,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170227005406weblink">weblink live, Mars 7 probe separated prematurely from the carrying vehicle due to a problem in the operation of one of the onboard systems (attitude control or retro-rockets) and missed the planet by {{convert|1300|km|au}}.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}Mariner program
(File:Mars (Mariner 4).jpg|thumb|150px|The first close-up images taken of Mars in 1965 from Mariner 4 show an area about 330 km across by 1200 km from limb to bottom of frame.)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, dooming the mission. Three weeks later, on November 28, 1964, Mariner 4 was launched successfully on a 7{{frac|1|2}}-month voyage to Mars.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}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 impact craters. It provided radically more accurate data about the planet; a surface atmospheric pressure of about 1% of Earth's and daytime temperatures of −100 °C (−148 °F) were estimated. No magnetic fieldJOURNAL, Search for Trapped Electrons and a Magnetic Moment at Mars by Mariner IV, O'Gallagher, J.J., Simpson, J.A., Science, New Series, 149, 3689, September 10, 1965, 1233–1239, 10.1126/science.149.3689.1233, 17747452, 1965Sci...149.1233O, 21249845, JOURNAL, Magnetic Field Measurements Near Mars, Smith, Edward J., Davis, L., Coleman, Paul, Jones, Douglas, Science, New Series, 149, 3689, September 10, 1965, 1241–1242, 10.1126/science.149.3689.1241, 17747454, 1965Sci...149.1241S, 43466009, or Martian radiation beltsJOURNAL, Absence of Martian Radiation Belts and Implications Thereof, Van Allen, J.A., Frank, L.A., Krimigis, S.M., Hills, H.K., Science, New Series, 149, 3689, September 10, 1965, 1228–1233, 10.1126/science.149.3689.1228, 17747451, 1965Sci...149.1228V, 2060/19650024318, 29117648, free, were detected. The new data meant redesigns for then planned Martian landers, and showed life would have a more difficult time surviving there than previously anticipated.JOURNAL, Mariner IV Photography of Mars: Initial Results, Leighton, Robert B., Murray, Bruce C., Sharp, Robert P., Allen, J. Denton, Sloan, Richard K., Science, New Series, 149, 3684, August 6, 1965, 627–630, 10.1126/science.149.3684.627, 17747569, 1965Sci...149..627L, 43407530, JOURNAL, Occultation Experiment: Results of the First Direct Measurement of Mars's Atmosphere and Ionosphere, Kliore, Arvydas, Cain, Dan L., Levy, Gerald S., Eshleman, Von R., Fjeldbo, Gunnar, Drake, Frank D., Science, New Series, 149, 3689, September 10, 1965, 1243–1248, 10.1126/science.149.3689.1243, 17747455, 1965Sci...149.1243K, 34369864, JOURNAL, Martian Biology, Salisbury, Frank B., April 6, 1962, Science, New Series, 136, 3510, 17–26, 10.1126/science.136.3510.17, 17779780, 1962Sci...136...17S, 39512870, JOURNAL, A Search for Life on Earth at Kilometer Resolution, Kilston, Steven D., Drummond, Robert R., Sagan, Carl, 1966, Icarus, 5, 1–6, 79–98, 10.1016/0019-1035(66)90010-8, 1966Icar....5...79K, File:Mars m04 11e.jpg|thumb|150px|Mariner Crater, as seen by Mariner 4. The location is Phaethontis quadranglePhaethontis quadrangleNASA continued the Mariner program with another pair of Mars flyby probes, Mariner 6 and 7. They were sent at the next launch window, and 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 in 1971, it and two Soviet orbiters (Mars 2 and Mars 3) 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 more detailed evidence that liquid water might at one time have flowed on the planetary surface. They also finally discerned the true nature of many Martian albedo features. For example, Nix Olympica was one of only a few features that could be seen during the planetary duststorm, revealing it to be the highest mountain (volcano, to be exact) on any planet in the entire Solar System, and leading to its reclassification as Olympus Mons.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}Viking program
The Viking program launched Viking 1 and Viking 2 spacecraft to Mars in 1975; The program consisted of two orbiters and two landers – these were the second and third spacecraft to successfully land on Mars.{|
{{multiple image| align = left
| width1 = 97| width2 = 110| width3 = 122| width4 = 123| width5 = 100| width6 = 196| image2 = PIA00563-Viking1-FirstColorImage-19760721.jpg| caption2 = Viking 1 lander site (1st color, July 21, 1976)| image3 = First Color Image of the Viking Lander 2 Site.jpg| caption3 = Viking 2 lander site (1st color, September 5, 1976)| image4 = Vl2 22g144-MarsViking2-19770925.gif| caption4 = Viking 2 lander site (September 25, 1977)| image5 = Mars Viking 21i093.png| caption5 = (False color image) Frost at Viking 2 site (May 18, 1979)| image6 = Mars Viking 12a240.png| caption6 = Martian sunset over Chryse Planitia at Viking 1 site (August 20, 1976)| image1 =
}}| width1 = 97| width2 = 110| width3 = 122| width4 = 123| width5 = 100| width6 = 196| image2 = PIA00563-Viking1-FirstColorImage-19760721.jpg| caption2 = Viking 1 lander site (1st color, July 21, 1976)| image3 = First Color Image of the Viking Lander 2 Site.jpg| caption3 = Viking 2 lander site (1st color, September 5, 1976)| image4 = Vl2 22g144-MarsViking2-19770925.gif| caption4 = Viking 2 lander site (September 25, 1977)| image5 = Mars Viking 21i093.png| caption5 = (False color image) Frost at Viking 2 site (May 18, 1979)| image6 = Mars Viking 12a240.png| caption6 = Martian sunset over Chryse Planitia at Viking 1 site (August 20, 1976)| image1 =
{{multiple image| align = left
| width1 = 90| width2 = 125| width3 = 105| width4 = 117| image1 = Detail_of_Maja_Valles_Flow.jpgDromore (crater)>Dromore crater| image2 = Viking Teardrop Islands.jpg
Oxia Palus quadrangle>Oxia Palus| image3 = Streamlined Islands in Maja Valles.jpg Lunae Palus quadrangle>Lunae Palus| image4 = Chryse Planitia Scour Patterns.jpg| caption4 = Scour patterns located in Lunae Palus}}
| width1 = 90| width2 = 125| width3 = 105| width4 = 117| image1 = Detail_of_Maja_Valles_Flow.jpg
Mars Pathfinder, Sojourner rover
File:Pathfinder01.jpg|thumb|300px|Sojourner takes Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer measurements of the Yogi RockYogi RockMars Pathfinder was a U.S. spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars on July 4, 1997. It consisted of a lander and a small {{convert|10.6|kg|lb|adj=on}} wheeled robotic rover named Sojourner, which was the first rover to operate on the surface of Mars.WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110605111822weblink">weblink 2011-06-05, The First Rover on Mars – The Soviets Did It in 1971, 2012-04-05, Charlene, Anderson, August 1990, The Planetary Report, December 4, 1996 – First successful Mars Rover – Sojourner – was launched {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224120045weblink |date=December 24, 2013 }}. Todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com (2007-12-04). Retrieved on 2012-08-14. In addition to scientific objectives, the Mars Pathfinder mission was also a "proof-of-concept" for various technologies, such as an airbag landing system and automated obstacle avoidance, both later exploited by the Mars Exploration Rovers.Mars Global Surveyor
(File:Mars gullies.800px.jpg|thumb|left|alt=This image from Mars Global Surveyor spans a region about 1500 meters across. Gullies, similar to those formed on Earth, are visible from Newton Basin in Sirenum Terra.|Gullies, similar to those formed on Earth, are visible on this image from Mars Global Surveyor.)After the 1992 failure of NASA's Mars Observer orbiter, NASA retooled and launched Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). Mars Global Surveyor launched on November 7, 1996, and entered orbit on September 12, 1997. After a year and a half trimming its orbit from a looping ellipse to a circular track around the planet, the spacecraft began its primary mapping mission in March 1999. It observed the planet from a low-altitude, nearly polar orbit over the course of one complete Martian year, the equivalent of nearly two Earth years. Mars Global Surveyor completed its primary mission on January 31, 2001, and completed several extended mission phases until communication was lost in 2007.WEB,weblink Mar Global Surveyor - Science Summary, 6 October 2013, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, The mission studied the entire Martian surface, atmosphere, and interior, and returned more data about the red planet than all previous Mars missions combined. The data has been archived and remains available publicly.WEB,weblink PDS Geosciences Node Data and Services: MGS, 2006-08-27, 2006-09-11,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060911005935weblink">weblink live, File:Kasei Valles topolabled.JPG|thumb|alt=This color-coded elevation map was produced from data collected by Mars Global Surveyor. It shows an area around Northern Kasei Valles, showing relationships among Kasei Valles, Bahram Vallis, Vedra Vallis, Maumee Vallis, and Maja Valles. Map location is in Lunae Palus quadrangle and includes parts of Lunae Planum and A color-coded elevation map produced from data collected by Mars Global Surveyor indicating the result of floods on MarsAmong key scientific findings, Global Surveyor took pictures of gullies and debris flow features that suggest there may be current sources of liquid water, similar to an aquifer, at or near the surface of the planet. Similar channels on Earth are formed by flowing water, but on Mars the temperature is normally too cold and the atmosphere too thin to sustain liquid water. Nevertheless, many scientists hypothesize that liquid groundwater can sometimes surface on Mars, erode gullies and channels, and pool at the bottom before freezing and evaporating.NEWS,weblink The Case of the Missing Mars Water, NASA, 4 January 2001, 15 April 2022, 29 September 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120929154034weblink">weblink dead, Magnetometer readings showed that the planet's magnetic field is not globally generated in the planet's core, but is localized in particular areas of the crust. New temperature data and closeup images of the Martian moon Phobos showed that its surface is composed of powdery material at least 1 metre (3 feet) thick, caused by millions of years of meteoroid impacts. Data from the spacecraft's laser altimeter gave scientists their first 3-D views of Mars' north polar ice cap in January 1999.NEWS,weblink Laser Provides First 3-D View of Mars' North Pole, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, 1999-01-07, Faulty software uploaded to the vehicle in June 2006 caused the spacecraft to orient its solar panels incorrectly several months later, resulting in battery overheating and subsequent failure.WEB,weblink Human Error Caused Mars Global Surveyor Failure, Minkel, JR, Scientific American, 2018-11-27, 2018-11-29,weblink live, On November 5, 2006, MGS lost contact with Earth.WEB,weblink Mars Global Surveyor Remains Silent, Feared Lost, David, Leonard, Space.com, 21 November 2006, 2007-04-01, 2006-11-24,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061124232646weblink">weblink live, NASA ended efforts to restore communication on January 28, 2007.WEB,weblink Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Spacecraft Loss of Contact, Mars Global Surveyor Operations Review Board, 2012-02-15, 2011-10-26,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20111026083725weblink">weblink live,Mars Odyssey and Mars Express
File:Animation of 2001 Mars Odyssey trajectory around Mars.gif |thumb |right |Animation of 2001 Mars Odyssey{{'s}} trajectory around Mars from 24 October 2001 to 24 October 2002{{legend2|magenta| 2001 Mars Odyssey}}{{·}}{{legend2| Lime|MarsMarsFile:Animation of Mars Express trajectory around Mars.gif |thumb |right |Animation of Mars Express{{'s}} trajectory around Mars from 25 December 2003 to 1 January 2010{{legend2|magenta| Mars Express}}{{·}}{{legend2| Lime|MarsMarsIn 2001, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter arrived at Mars. Its mission is to use spectrometers and imagers to hunt for evidence of past or present water and volcanic activity on Mars. In 2002, it was announced that the probe's gamma-ray spectrometer and neutron spectrometer had detected large amounts of hydrogen, indicating that there are vast deposits of water ice in the upper three meters of Mars' soil within 60° latitude of the south pole.{{Citation needed|date=August 2012}}On June 2, 2003, the European Space Agency's Mars Express set off from Baikonur Cosmodrome to Mars. The Mars Express craft consists of the Mars Express Orbiter and the stationary lander Beagle 2. The lander carried a digging device and the smallest mass spectrometer created to date, as well as a range of other devices, on a robotic arm in order to accurately analyze soil beneath the dusty surface to look for biosignatures and biomolecules.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}The orbiter entered Mars orbit on December 25, 2003, and Beagle 2 entered Mars' atmosphere the same day. However, attempts to contact the lander failed. Communications attempts continued throughout January, but Beagle 2 was declared lost in mid-February, and a joint inquiry was launched by the UK and ESA. The Mars Express Orbiter confirmed the presence of water ice and carbon dioxide ice at the planet's south pole, while NASA had previously confirmed their presence at the north pole of Mars.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}The lander's fate remained a mystery until it was located intact on the surface of Mars in a series of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.WEB, Webster, Guy, 'Lost' 2003 Mars Lander Found by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,weblink 16 January 2015, NASA, 16 January 2015, 24 February 2017,weblink live, NEWS, Associated Press, Mars Orbiter Spots Beagle 2, European Lander Missing Since 2003,weblink 16 January 2015, The New York Times, 2015-01-17, 2018-10-24,weblink live, The images suggest that two of the spacecraft's four solar panels failed to deploy, blocking the spacecraft's communications antenna. Beagle 2 is the first British and first European probe to achieve a soft landing on Mars.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}MER, Opportunity rover, Spirit rover, Phoenix lander
{{See also|Mars landing}}(File:Mars from Phoenix.jpg|thumb|Polar surface as seen by the Phoenix lander)NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER), started in 2003, was a robotic space mission involving two rovers, Spirit (MER-A) and Opportunity, (MER-B) that explored the Martian surface geology. The mission's scientific objective was to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars. The mission was part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, which includes three previous successful landers: the two Viking program landers in 1976; and Mars Pathfinder probe in 1997.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}Rosetta and Dawn swingbys
The ESA Rosetta space probe mission to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko flew within 250 km of Mars on February 25, 2007, in a gravitational slingshot designed to slow and redirect the spacecraft.WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070225091756weblink">weblink 2007-02-25, 2007-02-23, Europe set for billion-euro gamble with comet-chasing probe, PhysOrg.com, The NASA Dawn spacecraft used the gravity of Mars in 2009 to change direction and velocity on its way to Vesta, and tested out Dawn{{'s}} cameras and other instruments on Mars.WEB,weblink Asteroid-Bound Probe Zooms Past Mars, Space.com, Tariq, Malik, February 18, 2009, 2015-08-20, 2010-03-27,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100327123433weblink">weblink live,Fobos-Grunt
On November 8, 2011, Russia's Roscosmos launched an ambitious mission called Fobos-Grunt. It consisted of a lander aimed to retrieve a sample back to Earth from Mars' moon Phobos, and place the Chinese Yinghuo-1 probe in Mars' orbit. The Fobos-Grunt mission suffered a complete control and communications failure shortly after launch and was left stranded in low Earth orbit, later falling back to Earth."Russia's failed Phobos-Grunt space probe heads to Earth" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517231321weblink |date=2018-05-17 }}, BBC News (2012-01-14). The Yinghuo-1 satellite and Fobos-Grunt underwent destructive re-entry on January 15, 2012, finally disintegrating over the Pacific Ocean."Phobos-Grunt: Failed Russian Mars Probe Falls to Earth" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701185022weblink |date=2020-07-01 }}. ABC News, January 15, 2012."Phobos-Grunt: Failed probe likely to return late Sunday" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517231321weblink |date=2018-05-17 }}. BBC News (2012-01-15).Morris Jones (2011-11-17). "Yinghuo Was Worth It" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131126140654weblink |date=2013-11-26 }}. Space Daily. Retrieved 19 November 2011.Mars Orbiter Mission
The Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan, was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).WEB,weblink Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission – MAVEN, NASA, 12 June 2015, 2015-02-24, 2019-02-26,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20190226073617weblink">weblink live, It was successfully inserted into Martian orbit on 24 September 2014. The mission is a technology demonstrator, and as secondary objective, it will also study the Martian atmosphere. This is India's first mission to Mars, and with it, ISRO became the fourth space agency to successfully reach Mars after the Soviet Union, NASA (USA) and ESA (Europe). It was completed in a record low budget of $71 million,NEWS,weblink India Successfully Launches First Mission to Mars; PM Congratulates ISRO Team, International Business Times, 5 November 2013, 13 October 2014, 4 March 2020,weblink live, NEWS,weblink India's 450-crore mission to Mars to begin today: 10 facts, NDTV, Abhinav, Bhatt, 5 November 2013, 13 October 2014, 20 October 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20141020040954weblink">weblink live, making it the least-expensive Mars mission to date.NEWS,weblink India's Mars mission: worth the cost?, The Christian Science Monitor, Shivam, Vij, 5 November 2013, 13 October 2014, 5 July 2017,weblink live, The mission concluded on September 27, 2022, after contact was lost.InSight and MarCO
In August 2012, NASA selected InSight, a $425 million lander mission with a heat flow probe and seismometer, to determine the deep interior structure of Mars.NASA will send robot drill to Mars in 2016 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619214132weblink |date=2018-06-19 }}, Washington Post, By Brian Vastag, Monday, August 20Concepts and Approaches for Mars Exploration – LPI – USRA (2012) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811065633weblink |date=2012-08-11 }}. Lpi.usra.edu. Retrieved on 2012-05-10.WEB, InSight: Mission,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120111014040weblink">weblink dead, 11 January 2012, Mission Website, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 7 December 2011, InSight landed successfully on Mars on 26 November 2018.NEWS, Chang, Kenneth, Mars InSight Landing: Follow NASA's Return to the Red Planet - The NASA spacecraft will arrive at the red planet today and attempt to reach its surface in one piece.,weblink 26 November 2018, The New York Times, 26 November 2018, 21 May 2019,weblink live, Valuable data on the atmosphere,JOURNAL, Banfield, Don, Spiga, Aymeric, Newman, Claire, Forget, François, Lemmon, Mark, Lorenz, Ralph, Murdoch, Naomi, Viudez-Moreiras, Daniel, Pla-Garcia, Jorge, Garcia, Raphaël F., Lognonné, Philippe, Karatekin, Özgür, Perrin, Clément, Martire, Léo, Teanby, Nicholas, The atmosphere of Mars as observed by InSight,weblink Nature Geoscience, 2020-02-24, en, 13, 3, 190–198, 10.1038/s41561-020-0534-0, 2020NatGe..13..190B, 211265854, 1752-0908, surfaceJOURNAL, Garcia, Raphael F., Daubar, Ingrid J., Beucler, Éric, Posiolova, Liliya V., Collins, Gareth S., Lognonné, Philippe, Rolland, Lucie, Xu, Zongbo, Wójcicka, Natalia, Spiga, Aymeric, Fernando, Benjamin, Speth, Gunnar, Martire, Léo, Rajšić, Andrea, Miljković, Katarina, Newly formed craters on Mars located using seismic and acoustic wave data from InSight,weblink Nature Geoscience, 2022-09-19, en, 15, 10, 774–780, 10.1038/s41561-022-01014-0, 2022NatGe..15..774G, 10044/1/98460, 252396844, 1752-0908, free, and the planet's interiorJOURNAL, Huang, Quancheng, Schmerr, Nicholas C., King, Scott D., Kim, Doyeon, Rivoldini, Attilio, Plesa, Ana-Catalina, Samuel, Henri, Maguire, Ross R., Karakostas, Foivos, Lekić, Vedran, Charalambous, Constantinos, Collinet, Max, Myhill, Robert, Antonangeli, Daniele, Drilleau, Mélanie, 2022-10-18, Seismic detection of a deep mantle discontinuity within Mars by InSight, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, en, 119, 42, e2204474119, 10.1073/pnas.2204474119, free, 0027-8424, 9586319, 36215469, 2022PNAS..11904474H, were gathered by Insight. Insight's mission was declared as ended on 21 December 2022.Two flyby CubeSats called MarCO were launched with InSight on 5 May 2018NEWS, Chang, Kenneth, NASA's Mars InSight Mission Launches for Six-Month Journey,weblink 7 May 2018, The New York Times, 5 May 2018, 19 May 2019,weblink live, to provide real-time telemetry during the entry and landing of InSight. The CubeSats separated from the Atlas V booster 1.5 hours after launch and traveled their own trajectories to Mars.WEB, NASA Prepares for First Interplanetary CubeSat Mission,weblink 2015-06-12, 2015-06-12, 2015-06-15,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150615003203weblink">weblink live, WEB, The CubeSat Era in Space, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,weblink 2015-08-20, 2015-08-12,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150812043850weblink">weblink live, WEB, InSight,weblink 2015-06-12, 2015-02-23, 2015-06-13,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150613223152weblink">weblink live,Current missions
(File:PIA24838-NASA-MarsMissions-20210928.jpg|thumb|upright=2|NASA missions to Mars (28 September 2021)(Perseverance rover; Ingenuity Mars helicopter; InSight lander; Odyssey orbiter; MAVEN orbiter; Curiosity rover; Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter))On 10 March 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) probe arrived in orbit to conduct a two-year science survey. The orbiter began mapping the Martian terrain and weather to find suitable landing sites for upcoming lander missions. The MRO captured the first image of a series of active avalanches near the planet's north pole in 2008.NEWS,weblink Photo shows avalanche on Mars, CNN, 2008-03-04,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080419070652weblink">weblink April 19, 2008, dead, The Mars Science Laboratory mission was launched on November 26, 2011, and delivered the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on August 6, 2012 UTC. It is larger and more advanced than the Mars Exploration Rovers, with a velocity of up to 90 meters per hour (295 feet per hour).WEB,weblink Mars Science Laboratory — Homepage, NASA, 2012-08-25,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090730122143weblink">weblink 2009-07-30, dead, Experiments include a laser chemical sampler that can deduce the composition of rocks at a distance of 7 meters.WEB,weblink Chemistry and Cam (ChemCam), NASA, 2012-08-25, 2021-08-26,weblink live, MAVEN orbiter was launched on 18 November 2013, and on 22 September 2014, it was injected into an areocentric elliptic orbit 6,200 km (3,900 mi) by 150 km (93 mi) above the planet's surface to study its atmosphere. Mission goals include determining how the planet's atmosphere and water, presumed to have once been substantial, were lost over time.WEB, Brown, Dwayne, Neal-Jones, Nancy, Zubritsky, Elizabeth, NASA's Newest Mars Mission Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Red Planet,weblink September 21, 2014, NASA, September 22, 2014, January 20, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170120141427weblink">weblink live, The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter arrived at Mars in 2016 and deployed the Schiaparelli EDM lander, a test lander. Schiaparelli crashed on surface, but it transmitted key data during its parachute descent, so the test was declared a partial success.NEWS,weblink ExoMars TGO reaches Mars orbit while EDM situation under assessment, ESA press release, 19 October 2016, 19 October 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20161020105758weblink">weblink 20 October 2016, dead,Overview of missions
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
(File:PIA22240slopstreaks.jpg|thumb|left|Slope streaks as seen by HiRISEWEB,weblink Catalog Page for PIA22240, 2018-02-09, 2020-07-29,weblink live, )The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. The US$720 million spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin under the supervision of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, launched August 12, 2005, and entered Mars orbit on March 10, 2006.WEB,weblink "Spaceflight Now" MRO Mission Status Center, 23 October 2016, 11 June 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160611101921weblink">weblink live, The MRO contains a host of scientific instruments such as the HiRISE camera, CTX camera, CRISM, and SHARAD. The HiRISE camera is used to analyze Martian landforms, whereas CRISM and SHARAD can detect water, ice, and minerals on and below the surface. Additionally, MRO is paving the way for upcoming generations of spacecraft through daily monitoring of Martian weather and surface conditions, searching for future landing sites, and testing a new telecommunications system that enable it to send and receive information at an unprecedented bitrate, compared to previous Mars spacecraft. Data transfer to and from the spacecraft occurs faster than all previous interplanetary missions combined and allows it to serve as an important relay satellite for other missions.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}Curiosity rover
File:Curiosity Self-Portrait at 'Big Sky' Drilling Site.jpg|thumb|upright|A self-portrait of the Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in 2012]]The NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission with its rover named Curiosity, was launched on November 26, 2011,WEB, 26 November 2011,weblink Mars Science Laboratory Launch, 2011-11-26, 2017-05-20,weblink live, NEWS, Associated Press, NASA Launches Super-Size Rover to Mars: 'Go, Go!',weblink The New York Times, 26 November 2011, 2011-11-26, and landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater. The rover carries instruments designed to look for past or present conditions relevant to the past or present habitability of Mars.WEB, USGS, Three New Names Approved for Features on Mars,weblink 16 May 2012, USGS, 28 May 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120728141903weblink">weblink 28 July 2012, dead, WEB, 'Mount Sharp' on Mars Compared to Three Big Mountains on Earth,weblink 27 March 2012, NASA, 31 March 2012, 7 May 2017,weblink live, WEB, Agle, D. C., 'Mount Sharp' On Mars Links Geology's Past and Future,weblink 28 March 2012, NASA, 31 March 2012, 6 March 2017,weblink live, WEB, NASA's New Mars Rover Will Explore Towering 'Mount Sharp',weblink 29 March 2012, Space.com, 30 March 2012, 23 August 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160823211409weblink">weblink live,MAVEN
NASA's MAVEN is an orbiter mission to study the upper atmosphere of Mars.WEB,weblink NASA Selects 'MAVEN' Mission to Study Mars Atmosphere, Nasa, 2009-09-20, 2009-06-19,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090619181039weblink">weblink live, It also serves as a communications relay satellite for robotic landers and rovers on the surface of Mars. MAVEN was launched 18 November 2013 and reached Mars on 22 September 2014.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}Trace Gas Orbiter and EDM
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is an atmospheric research orbiter built in collaboration between ESA and Roscosmos. It was injected into Mars orbit on 19 October 2016 to gain a better understanding of methane ({{chem|C|H|4}}) and other trace gases present in the Martian atmosphere that could be evidence for possible biological or geological activity. The Schiaparelli EDM lander was destroyed when trying to land on the surface of Mars.NEWS, Chang, Kenneth, ExoMars Mission to Join Crowd of Spacecraft at Mars,weblink 19 October 2016, The New York Times, 19 October 2016, 19 October 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20161019174031weblink">weblink live,Hope
The United Arab Emirates launched the Hope Mars Mission, in July 2020 on the Japanese H-IIA booster.WEB, Gray, Tyler, 26 April 2020, UAE-built Mars orbiter arrives at launch site ahead of July liftoff,weblink 26 April 2020, NASASpaceFlight, 28 April 2020,weblink live, It was successfully placed into orbit on 9 February 2021. It is studying the Martian atmosphere and weather.Tianwen-1 and Zhurong rover
Tianwen-1 was a Chinese mission launched on 23 July 2020 which included an orbiter, a lander, and a {{convert|240|kg|adj=on}} rover along with a package of deployable and remote cameras.NEWS, Jones, Andrew, 24 April 2020, China's Mars mission named Tianwen-1, appears on track for July launch, SpaceNews,weblink 2 May 2020, Tianwen-1 entered orbit on 10 February 2021 and the Zhurong rover successfully landed on 14 May 2021 and deployed on 22 May 2021. Zhurong had been in operation for 347 Martian days and traveled 1,921 meters across Mars.WEB, Andrew Jones published, 2022-05-11, China's Mars rover Zhurong is hunkering down for its 1st Red Planet winter,weblink 2023-03-07, Space.com, en,Mars 2020, Perseverance rover, Ingenuity helicopter
(File:Mars Sample return mission's rock samples collected by 2020 Perseverance Rover Traverse Path.png|thumb|Mapping Perseverance{{'s}} samples collected to date)The Mars 2020 mission by NASA was launched on 30 July 2020 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral. It is based on the Mars Science Laboratory design. The scientific payload is focused on astrobiology.NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore the Red Planet as Never Before {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401132556weblink |date=2019-04-01 }}. July 31, 2014. It includes the Perseverance rover and the retired Ingenuity helicopter. Unlike older rovers that relied on solar power, Perseverance is nuclear powered, to survive longer than its predecessors in this harsh, dusty environment. The car-size rover weighs about 1 ton, with a robotic arm that reaches about {{convert|7|ft}}, zoom cameras, a chemical analyzer and a rock drill.WEB,weblink Perseverance rover, usatoday.com, 20 Feb 2021, 19 February 2021,weblink live, WEB,weblink NASA lands Perseverance rover on the Mars surface, 18 February 2021, cnbc.com, 20 Feb 2021, 19 February 2021,weblink live, After traveling 293 million miles (471 million km) to reach Mars over the course of more than six months, Perseverance successfully landed on February 18, 2021. Its initial mission is set for at least one Martian year, or 687 Earth days. It will search for signs of ancient life and explore the red planet's surface.WEB,weblink TNASA's Perseverance rover lands on Mars, 18 February 2021, foxnews.com, 18 Feb 2021, 18 February 2021,weblink live, WEB,weblink The most advanced robot ever sent to Mars has landed successfully, 18 February 2021, Space.com, 18 Feb 2021, 18 February 2021,weblink live, As of October 19, 2021, Perseverance had captured the first sounds from Mars. Recordings consisted of five hours of Martian wind gusts, rover wheels crunching over gravel, and motors whirring as the spacecraft moves its arm. The sounds give researchers clues about the atmosphere, such as how far sound travels on the planet.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}Future missions
{{See also|Mars sample return mission}}- As part of the ExoMars program, ESA and the Roscosmos planned to send the Rosalind Franklin rover in 2022 to search for evidence of past or present microscopic life on Mars.NEWS,weblink Money Troubles May Delay Europe-Russia Mars Mission, Agence France-Presse, Industry Week, 15 January 2016, 2016-01-16, 2020-02-01,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20200201184900weblink">weblink live, The lander that was planned to deliver the rover is called Kazachok, and it would have performed scientific studies for about 2 years. This mission has been delayed indefinitely as a result of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.WEB, Delay of ExoMars rover launch,weblink Space.com, 17 March 2022, 1 April 2022, The mission received additional funding and is now planned for launch in 2028.WEB, Foust, Jeff, 2024-04-10, ESA awards contract to Thales Alenia Space to restart ExoMars,weblink 2024-04-29, SpaceNews, en-US,
- EscaPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) by the University of California, Berkeley, is a planned twin-spacecraft NASA Mars orbiter mission to study the structure, composition, variability and dynamics of Mars' magnetosphere and atmospheric escape processes.NEWS,weblink EscaPADE A, B (SIMPLEx 4)n, Agence France-Presse, Guntr's Space Page, 2021-04-07, 2021-03-03,weblink live, The EscaPADE orbiters were originally to be launched in 2022 as secondary payloads on a Falcon Heavy together with the Psyche and Janus missions, but will now be launched on a New Glenn.WEB, Foust, Jeff, 2023-04-13, ESCAPADE confident in planned 2024 New Glenn launch,weblink 2023-11-09, SpaceNews, en-US, The mission is scheduled to launch in Q4 for 2024.
- India's ISRO plans to send a follow-up mission to its Mars Orbiter Mission in 2031;WEB,weblink Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2955, Jatiya, Satyanarayan, 18 July 2019, 30 August 2019, it is called Mars Orbiter Mission 2 (MOM-2) and it will consist of an orbiter.WEB,weblink India eyes a return to Mars and a first run at Venus, Science, 17 February 2017, 1 May 2017, 23 March 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170323233921weblink">weblink live,
- The NASA Psyche space probe mission to the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche will undertake a flyby of Mars in May 2026, in a gravitational slingshot designed to slow and redirect the spacecraft.WEB,weblink NASA launches a spacecraft to visit Psyche, an unseen metal world, October 13, 2023,
Proposals
- The Finnish-Russian Mars MetNet concept would use multiple small meteorological stations on Mars to establish a widespread observation network to investigate the planet's atmospheric structure, physics and meteorology.JOURNAL, Future Plans for MetNet Lander Mars Missions, Geophysical Research Abstracts, 2012, A. M., Harri, W., Schmidt, Guerrero, H., L., Vasquez, 14, EGU2012–8224, 8224,weblink 18 February 2014, 2012EGUGA..14.8224H, 6 August 2020,weblink live, The MetNet precursor or demonstrator was considered for a piggyback launch on Fobos-Grunt,WEB,weblink The MetNet Mars Precursor Mission, Finnish Meteorological Institute, 2008-08-28, 2012-03-22,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120322072243weblink">weblink live, and on the two proposed to fly on the 2016 and 2020 ExoMars spacecraft.
- Tianwen-3 is a Chinese mission to return samples of Martian soil to Earth.WEB, Andrew Jones published, 2022-05-18, China to launch Tianwen 2 asteroid-sampling mission in 2025,weblink 2022-05-20, Space.com, en, The mission would launch in late 2028, with a lander and ascent vehicle and an orbiter and return module launched separately on two rockets. The samples would be returned to Earth by July 2031.WEB, Jones, Andrew, 2022-06-20, China aims to bring Mars samples to Earth 2 years before NASA, ESA mission,weblink 2022-06-21, SpaceNews, en-US,
- NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return is a three-launch architecture concept for a sample return mission, which uses a rover to cache small samples, a Mars ascent stage to send it into orbit, and an orbiter to rendezvous with it above Mars and take it to Earth.Planetary Science Decadal Survey Mission & Technology Studies {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171218140247weblink |date=2017-12-18 }}. Sites.nationalacademies.org. Retrieved on 2012-05-10. Solar-electric propulsion could allow a one launch sample return instead of three.Oh, David Y. et al. (2009) (iarchive:singlelauncharchitecture|Single Launch Architecture for Potential Mars Sample Return Mission Using Electric Propulsion). JPL/Caltech.
- The Mars-Grunt is a Russian mission concept to bring a sample of Martian soil to Earth.WEB, Day, Dwayne A., 2011-11-28, Red Planet blues,weblink live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120419061222weblink">weblink 2012-04-19, 2012-01-16, The Space Review,
- The Mars Scout Program's SCIM would involve a probe grazing the upper atmosphere of Mars to collect dust and air for return to Earth.Jones, S.M. et al. Mars Sample Return at 6 Kilometers per Second: Practical, Low Cost, Low Risk, and Ready {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531110911weblink |date=2012-05-31 }}. Ground Truth from Mars: Science Payoff from a Sample Return Mission, held April 21–23, 2008, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. LPI Contribution No. 1401, pp. 39–40.
- JAXA is working on a mission concept called MELOS rover that would look for biosignatures of extant life on Mars.CONFERENCE, Current plan of the MELOS, a proposed Japanese Mars mission,weblink MEPAG meeting 2015, Miyamoto, Hirdy, 2016-03-28, 2016-03-06,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160306100318weblink">weblink live,
- Indian Space Research Organisation has proposed a Mangalyaan-3 mission that will include a lander and rover on Mars.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}
- Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent Explorer (MAGGIE) - is a proposed compact fixed wing electric aircraft powered by solar energy to fly in the Martian atmosphere with vertical take-off/landing (VTOL) capability.WEB,weblink Mars Aerial and Ground Global Intelligent Explorer (MAGGIE) - NASA, January 4, 2024,
Human mission proposals
(File:Mars-manned-mission-NASA-V5.jpg|thumb|400px|Concept for NASA Design Reference Mission Architecture 5.0 (2009))The human exploration of Mars has been an aspiration since the earliest days of modern rocketry; Robert H. Goddard credits the idea of reaching Mars as his own inspiration to study the physics and engineering of space flight.WEB, Stern, David, Robert Goddard and His Rockets,weblink NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 21 November 2019, 17 March 2020,weblink live, Proposals for human exploration of Mars have been made throughout the history of space exploration; currently there are multiple active plans and programs to put humans on Mars within the next ten to thirty years, both governmental and private, some of which are listed below.NASA
(File:Descend on Mars.jpg|thumb|Artistic simulated photo looking out a portal spacecraft coming for a Mars landing)Human exploration by the United States was identified as a long-term goal in the Vision for Space Exploration announced in 2004 by then US President George W. Bush. The planned Orion spacecraft would be used to send a human expedition to Earth's moon by 2020 as a stepping stone to a Mars expedition. On September 28, 2007, NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin stated that NASA aims to put a person on Mars by 2037.On December 2, 2014, NASA's Advanced Human Exploration Systems and Operations Mission Director Jason Crusan and Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs James Reuthner announced tentative support for the Boeing "Affordable Mars Mission Design" including radiation shielding, centrifugal artificial gravity, in-transit consumable resupply, and a lander which can return.K.Klaus, M. L. Raftery and K. E. Post (2014) "An Affordable Mars Mission Design" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507235406weblink |date=2015-05-07 }} (Houston, Texas: Boeing Co.)REPORT, M. L., Raftery, May 14, 2014,weblink Mission to Mars in Six (not so easy) Pieces, February 11, 2023, Boeing Co., Reuthner suggested that if adequate funding was forthcoming, the proposed mission would be expected in the early 2030s.NASA (December 2, 2014) "NASA's Journey to Mars News Briefing" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150517215929weblink |date=2015-05-17 }} NASA TVOn October 8, 2015, NASA published its official plan for human exploration and colonization of Mars. They called it "Journey to Mars". The plan operates through three distinct phases leading up to fully sustained colonization.WEB, NASA Releases Plan Outlining Next Steps in the Journey to Mars,weblink NASA, 2015-10-12, Erin, Mahoney, 2015-09-24, 2015-10-12,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20151012080355weblink">weblink live,- The first stage, already underway, is the "Earth Reliant" phase. This phase continues utilizing the International Space Station until 2024; validating deep space technologies and studying the effects of long-duration space missions on the human body.
- The second stage, "Proving Ground," moves away from Earth reliance and ventures into cislunar space for most of its tasks. This is when NASA plans to capture an asteroid, test deep space habitation facilities, and validate the capabilities required for human exploration of Mars. Finally, phase three is the transition to independence from Earth resources.
- The last stage, the "Earth Independent" phase, includes long-term missions on the lunar surface which leverage surface habitats that only require routine maintenance, and the harvesting of Martian resources for fuel, water, and building materials. NASA is still aiming for human missions to Mars in the 2030s, though Earth independence could take decades longer.WEB,weblink NASA's Journey To Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration, October 8, 2015, October 10, 2015, www.nasa.gov, NASA, October 11, 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20151011075743weblink">weblink live,
SpaceX
The long-term goal of the private corporation SpaceX is the establishment of routine flights to Mars to enable colonization.WEB, Kenneth Chang, Elon Musk's Plan: Get Humans to Mars, and Beyond,weblink September 27, 2016, The New York Times, September 18, 2019, March 12, 2018,weblink live, WEB,weblink Making Life Multi-planetary - RELAYTO/, 2018, RELAYTO/, en, 2019-09-18, 2018-04-05,weblink live, WEB,weblink Elon Musk Decided To Put Life On Mars Because NASA Wasn't Serious Enough, Alyson, Shontell, Business Insider, September 18, 2019, April 1, 2019,weblink live, To this end, the company is developing Starship, a spacecraft capable of crew transportation to Mars and other celestial bodies, along with its booster Super Heavy. In 2017 SpaceX announced plans to send two uncrewed Starships to Mars by 2022, followed by two more uncrewed flights and two crewed flights in 2024. Starship is planned to have a payload of at least 100 tonnes.Elon Musk on Twitter: Aiming for 150 tons useful load in fully reusable configuration, but should be at least 100 tons, allowing for mass growth {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617074843weblink |date=17 June 2019 }} Starship is designed to use a combination of aerobraking and propulsive descent, utilizing fuel produced from a Mars (in situ resource utilization) facility. As of 2024, the Starship development program has seen multiple integrated test flights and is progressing towards full reusability. SpaceX’s plans involve the mass manufacturing of Starship and initially sustained by resupply from Earth, and in situ resource utilization on Mars, until the Mars colony reaches full self sustainability. Any future human mission to Mars will likely take place within the optimal Mars launch window, which occurs every 26 months.WEB, Chris Bergin, Starship SN15 conducts smooth test flight and nails landing,weblink May 5, 2021, NasaSpaceflight.com, May 7, 2021, May 7, 2021,weblink live, WEB, Berger, Eric, 2024-04-08, Elon Musk just gave another Mars speech—this time the vision seems tangible,weblink 2024-04-10, Ars Technica, en-us,Zubrin
Mars Direct, a low-cost human mission proposed by Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society, would use heavy-lift Saturn V class rockets, such as the Ares V, to skip orbital construction, LEO rendezvous, and lunar fuel depots. A modified proposal, called "Mars to Stay", involves not returning the first immigrant explorers immediately, if ever (see Colonization of Mars).WEB, Robert, Britt,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20060209192146weblink">weblink 2006-02-09, When do we get to Mars?, Space.com FAQ: Bush's New Space Vision, 19 September 2005, 2006-06-13, NEWS,weblink AFP, NASA aims to put man on Mars by 2037, 2012-08-12, 2012-03-12,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120312141624weblink">weblink live, WEB,weblink The Mars Homestead Project—Arrive, Survive, & Thrive!, Marshome.org, 2009-09-20, 2012-03-01,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120301104324weblink">weblink live, WEB, October 11, 2002,weblink Liftoff for Aurora: Europe's first steps to Mars, the Moon and beyond, 2007-03-03, 2010-10-02,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20101002175305weblink">weblink live,{{anchor|Mars Curse}}Probe difficulties
(File:Ds2.jpg|thumb|left|Deep Space 2 technology){| class=wikitable style="text-align:center; float:right; font-size:88%; margin-left:1em;"|+ Mars Spacecraft 1988–1999! Spacecraft !! OutcomeSee also
- Mars
- Colonization of Mars
- Human mission to Mars
- Life on Mars
- List of artificial objects on Mars
- List of missions to Mars
- Mars landing
- Mars race
- Mars rover
- Mars Scout Program
- Mars Society
- General
- Observations and explorations of Venus
- Space colonization
- Space exploration
- Space weather
- Timeline of Solar System exploration
- Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog
Notes
{{note|active|α}} The diagram includes missions that are active on the surface, such as operational rovers and landers, as well as probes in Mars orbit. The diagram does not include missions that are en route to Mars, or probes that performed a fly-by of Mars and moved on.
References
{{Reflist|30em}}Bibliography
- 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|0-521-80633-X}})
- Mars: The NASA Mission Reports / edited by Robert Godwin (2000) {{ISBN|1-896522-62-9}}
External links
{{Commons category|Mars exploration}}- NASA Mars exploration website
- Mars Exploration Scientific American Maps and Articles
- 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.
- Simplified study of orbits to land on Mars and return to Earth (High School level)
- Planetary Society Mars page
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