A brief history of all Missions to the Red Planet

The first attempts to reach Mars happened during the dawn of space exploration, at the height of
the Cold War, between the two Great Powers. Thus, much of the space explorations, including those
to Mars were aimed at controlling the extraterrestrial arena, as well. The end of the century soon
brought in new and promising players, thus ushering in an era of “cooperation” rather than
“competition” in the field.
Above: Map showing the global topography of Mars, overlain with locations of some Mars landers and
rovers. Colouring of the base map indicates relative elevations, based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser
Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Whites and browns indicate the highest elevations (+12 to +8
km); followed by pinks and reds (+8 to +3 km); yellow is 0 km; greens and blues are lower elevations (down
to −8 km). Axes are latitude and longitude; Polar regions are also noted.

   Rover •   Lander •   Future

There have been 56 Mars missions so far, of which 26 have been successful — a testament to the
difficulty in reaching the red planet. Given below are some notable missions.

1960s: Fly-by attempts

The launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik, in 1957, gave the country the distinction of putting the first
Artificial Satellite of the Moon into space and that too in its maiden attempt, thus commencing the
‘Era of Space Exploration’. Emboldened by the phenomenal success, the Soviet Space Program
looked to extend its reach to Mars. It made multiple attempts in the 1960s to reach the Red Planet,
and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States, soon followed
suit, with its Mariner 3 spacecraft. The first few missions failed to make it even close to Mars.

USSR:

On Oct. 10, 1960, the country’s Marsnik 1 (Mars 1M No.1) was launched for an intended Mars flyby.
The spacecraft however, exploded during the launch due to failure of the third stage of the launch
vehicle and thus failed to reach Earth orbit. Marsnik 2 (Mars 1M No. 2) on Oct. 14, 1960 met with a
similar fate.

On Oct. 24, 1962, Sputnik 22 was launched for an intended Mars flyby. The rocket that launched the
spacecraft had a fatal issue and the spacecraft was destroyed soon after it achieved Earth orbit, and
the debris reentered Earth's atmosphere. On Nov. 4, 1962, Sputnik 24 launched for another
intended Mars flyby. The spacecraft achieved Earth orbit but had a fatal issue when it changed its
trajectory toward Mars, during a burn to transfer the probe to a Mars trajectory, and its debris too
faced a similar fate. On Nov. 1, 1962: Sputnik 23 took off. The spacecraft made it to Earth orbit and
beyond. But almost five months later, on March 21, 1963, when the spacecraft was 65.9 million
miles (106 million kilometers) away from Earth, its radio failed and communication with the craft
permanently ceased. The spacecraft is now in a solar orbit.

The Mars 2 orbiter, launched May 19, 1971, arrived on Nov. 2, 1971. However, the Mars 2 lander
crashed on the Martian surface and was no longer operable. Mars 3, a lander and orbiter mission,
launched on May 28, 1971, and arrived on the planet on Dec. 3, 1971. The lander worked for only a
few seconds on the surface before failing, but the orbiter worked successfully.

USA:

NASA's Mariner 4 spacecraft launched on Nov. 28, 1964, and was the first one to successfully fly by
Mars on July 14, 1965. It sent 21 photos of the Red Planet back to Earth, passing within 9,844
kilometers (6,117 miles) of Mars. It took four days to transmit the data back to Earth. Mariner 4
imaged a large, ancient crater on Mars and confirmed the existence of a thin Martian atmosphere
composed largely of carbon dioxide. On October 1965, when the orientation of its antenna made
communication with Earth impossible, it ceased returning data. However, scientists were able to re-
establish contact with Mariner 4 in late1967 and received data until December 20, 1967, when the
mission was terminated. The spacecraft is now in a solar orbit.

Launched on February 24, 1969, Mariner 6 and 7 were identical spacecrafts arriving at Mars five days
apart, and flying by Mars on July 31, 1969. Mariner 6 flew by Mars at an altitude of 3,431 kilometers
(2,131 miles) and returned 75 images, while Mariner 7 at 3,430 kilometers (2,131 miles), returned 7
126 images. Data from the twin spacecraft helped establish the mass, radius, and shape of Mars and
revealed that its southern polar ice cap was composed of carbon dioxide. The spacecrafts are now in
solar orbits.

1970-80s: Fly-by cum Landing Attempts on Mars and attempts to study its Moons

USA:

NASA's Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to go into orbit around another planet. The spacecraft,
which launched on May 30, 1971, arrived at Mars on November 1971 when the entire planet was
engulfed in a dust storm. The only surface features visible were the summit of Olympus Mons and
the three dormant volcanoes of Tharsis Ridge. Mariner 9 also discovered a huge rift across the
surface of Mars, later called Valles Marineris — after the spacecraft that discovered it. Mariner 9
spent nearly a year orbiting the Red Planet, and returned 7,329 photos and studied the atmospheric
and surface composition of the planet, the density and pressure of its atmosphere as well as the
planet's gravity and topography. The spacecraft also provided scientists with the first close-up views
of Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars.

NASA sent two pairs of orbiters and landers toward Mars in 1975. Viking 1 and Viking 2 both arrived
at the Red Planet on August 20 and 7, 1976 respectively and sent their landers to the surface while
the orbiters remained working above. The Viking program represented the first extended
exploration of Mars, as each spacecraft lasted years, the landers took extensive weather readings
and conducted experiments on soil samples collected with a scoop, and transmitted information
back to Earth. However, the probes could not definitively prove the existence of microbes on the
surface and the results remain controversial in proving any form of life on the planet. The Viking
missions also revealed that the composition of Mars was almost identical to certain meteorites
found on Earth. This suggested that some meteorites found on Earth were originally from Mars.

USSR:

The Mars 4 Launched on July 21, 1973 was a failed Mars orbiter attempt but successful as a flyby.
The microchip problem caused the failure of the Mars 4 orbiter to fire its orbit insertion rockets. It
flew by Mars on February 10, 1974 at a distance of 2,200 kilometers (1,370 miles), taking one set of
images and collecting limited data. It continued to function after the flyby, returning data from solar
orbit. The Mars 6 descent craft separated successfully from the main spacecraft and descended
through the atmosphere, transmitting 224 seconds of data before abruptly cutting off (either when
the retrorockets fired or when it slammed into the ground). Although this was the first data of its
kind (from within the Martian atmosphere), most of it was garbled and unusable due to the
microchip problem.

Phobos 1, launched on July 7, 1988, was designed to study the Sun and interplanetary space while
on its way to Mars. Once in orbit around Mars, it was going to study the Red Planet and take close-
up images of its moon Phobos. However, on September 2, 1988, controllers on the ground
accidentally uploaded software containing a command that deactivated the spacecraft's attitude
control thrusters, then turned its solar panels away from the Sun due to which it was unable to
recharge its batteries. Phobos 2, launched on July 12, 1988, was designed to orbit Mars and land a
Hopper and Lander on the surface of Phobos. The spacecraft successfully went into orbit and began
sending back preliminary data. On March 27, 1989, just before the spacecraft was to move within 50
meters of Phobos and deploy the two landers, the spacecraft's onboard computer malfunctioned.
Both the missions were lost.

1990s: Better, faster, cheaper Missions for successful landings

USA:

Launched on Sept. 25, 1992, NASA’s Mars Observer was designed to study the Red Planet from orbit.
On August 21, 1993, only three days away from Mars, all contact with the spacecraft was suddenly
lost. Scientists were unable to determine the cause of the failure. It is possible that Mars Observer
followed its onboard program and is in orbit around Mars. However, the results of failure
investigations suggest that a fuel line ruptured during tank pressurization, which would have caused
the spacecraft to spin uncontrollably and fail to enter orbit. Most of the science instruments that
were originally built for Mars Observer were eventually “re-flown” on subsequent orbit. The
exorbitant cost of the project, at an estimated $813 million, which was nearly four times the original
budget for the project, sparked a move to pioneer better, faster and cheaper missions that would
take advantage of advanced computer electronics and new team management techniques. Many of
the Mars Observer instruments were re-flown on the upcoming Mars Global Surveyor.

NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) left Earth on Nov. 7, 1996, and arrived at Mars on Sept. 12,
1997. It was the first completely successful Mars orbiter since Viking 1 shut down in 1980. Mars
Global Surveyor The start of Mars Global Surveyor’s science mission was delayed due to a problem
with one of its solar panels that caused its aerobraking period (which reduced its initial orbit from an
ellipse to a low-altitude, near circular one) to last for a year and a half. Its mission was extended
three times, making it the longest-lived spacecraft in Martian orbit at the time contact was lost on
November 5, 2006. Once science operations began in March 1999, MGS mapped the Red Planet
from pole to pole, revealing many ancient signs of water, such as gullies and hematite (a mineral
that forms in water). Data from MGS helped NASA decide where to land its future Mars rovers. MGS
also took pictures of public interest, including re-imaging the famous "face on Mars."

Launched on December 4, 1996, Mars Pathfinder’s successful airbag-assisted landing was the first
successful mission to the Martian surface since Viking, 20 years earlier. The landing site was near the
mouth of Ares Vallis, at 19.33°N, 33.55°W. On July 6, 1997, the six-wheeled rover, named Sojourner
in a Planetary Society-run contest, rolled off a ramp and onto the Martian surface. The lander was
the first to use a set of airbags to cushion the landing, and Sojourner was the first rover to trundle
around on Mars. The lander, now named the Sagan Memorial Station for The Planetary Society's co-
founder Carl Sagan, returned many images as well as weather data. The original mission was
scheduled to last for 30 days, but the lander and Sojourner continued to transmit data until
September 27, 1997 when contact with the lander was lost.

Mars Climate Orbiter was lost on September 23, 1999, when a mathematical conversion error placed
the spacecraft too close to Mars at the time of orbital insertion. Mars Climate Orbiter carried a few
re-flown instruments from Mars Observer, marking the second failures for those experiments.

NASA's Mars Polar Lander and two space probes with it (called Deep Space 2) were launched on Jan.
3, 1999, would have studied a region near Mars' south pole. It malfunctioned and crash-landed,
carrying The Planetary Society’s Mars Microphone, the first crowdfunded science instrument to fly
to another planet.

USSR:

Mars 96 was launched on November 16, 1996 by Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency (successor
to the Soviet Space Agency). The rocket carrying the spacecraft launched successfully, but its fourth
stage ignited prematurely and sent the spacecraft crashing into the ocean. The orbiter, two landers
and two penetrators were lost after the rocket failed. Several of the science instruments originally
built for Mars 96 were later flown on ESA (European Space Agency)’s Mars Express.

Japan:

Nozomi (Planet-B) launched on July 3, 1998, marked the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(JAXA)’s venture into Mars Exploration. Originally scheduled to arrive at Mars in October 1999,
Nozomi failed to gain enough speed during an Earth flyby on December 21, 1998. The spacecraft also
used much more fuel than predicted. A looping trajectory was developed, including two more Earth
flybys, to return Nozomi to Mars for orbit insertion in December 2003. But on April 21, 2002, a
powerful solar flare damaged Nozomi’s computer. As a result, Nozomi’s hydrazine fuel froze during
the long interplanetary trek and mission controllers were unable to place it into orbit in December
2003. Nozomi flew by Mars at a distance of 1,000 kilometers (600 miles), and is now in a 2-year orbit
around the Sun

2000s- Present: New entrants to the field

USA:

NASA's Mars Odyssey launched March 7, 2001 and arrived at the Red Planet on Oct. 24, 2001. The
orbiter is still conducting its extended science mission. It broke the record for the longest-serving
spacecraft at Mars on Dec. 15, 2010. The spacecraft has returned about 350,000 images, mapped
global distributions of several elements, and relayed more than 95 percent of all data from the Spirit
and Opportunity rovers. Its goals are to search for signs of water, make detailed maps of the planet’s
surface materials, and determine radiation levels for human explorers.

NASA's two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, were sent to the surface of Mars in 2004. Each
discovered ample evidence that water once flowed on the Red Planet. Spirit died in a sand dune in
March 2010, while Opportunity continued work for nearly another decade. Opportunity fell silent
during a sandstorm in summer 2018 and NASA declared the mission over in early 2019.

On Aug. 4, 2007, NASA launched a stationary lander called Mars Phoenix, which arrived at Mars on
May 25, 2008, and found water ice beneath the surface. Phoenix's solar panels suffered severe
damage from the harsh Martian winter, and communication with the $475 million lander was lost in
November 2008. After repeated attempts to re-establish contact, NASA declared Phoenix broken
and dead in May 2010. The damage was confirmed in orbital photos taken at the Red Planet.

NASA's more powerful rover, called Curiosity, arrived at Gale Crater in 2012 to search for signs of
ancient habitable environments. Its major findings include finding previously water-soaked areas,
detecting methane on the surface and finding organic compounds. Opportunity's design has inspired
another rover, temporarily called Mars 2020, which will continue with more advanced investigations
when it arrives on the Red Planet.

NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN), launched in November 2013, achieved
orbit on Sept. 21, 2014, and continues to observe changes in the Martian atmosphere, to address
key questions about Mars climate and habitability and improve understanding of dynamic processes
in the upper Martian atmosphere and ionosphere, and to understand better why it thinned over
billions of years.

NASA sent the Mars InSight to the Red Planet in 2018, and the spacecraft safely landed that
November. As of early 2019, the lander is setting up its instruments to examine the interior of Mars.

Russia and China:

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, made another attempt to reach Phobos with the Phobos-
Grunt mission, which launched in 2011 and crashed Jan. 15, 2012, after failing to leave Earth orbit.
Phobos-Grunt was also carrying China's first attempt at a Mars orbiter, along with an experiment run
by the U.S.-based Planetary Society designed to study how a long journey through deep space
affects microorganisms. China’s orbiter also did not succeed in its mission.

European Union and Russia:

The European Space Agency launched its lander-orbiter 96on June 2, 2003 called Mars
Express/Beagle 2, built using several of the science instruments originally built for Russia’s former
Mars. The lander was lost on arrival on Dec. 25, 2003, but the orbiter completed its prime mission in
November 2005 and is currently on an extended mission. It has detected surprising concentrations
of methane and evidence for recent volcanism on Mars. Its radar sounder, MARSIS, was deployed
late in the mission due to spacecraft safety concerns, but is functioning well.

The ExoMars program, which is a collaboration of the European Space Agency with Russia, launched
an orbiter called the Trace Gas Orbit (TGO), which would search for evidence of methane and other
trace atmospheric gases that could be signatures of active biological or geological processes, along
with a demonstration lander called Schiaparelli in 2016. Although Schiaparelli crashed on the
Martian surface, TGO is still operational. The next tranche of ExoMars is the Rosalind Franklin rover
and its companion lander, which are scheduled to leave Earth in 2020.

India:

India became the latest nation to successfully arrive at Mars in 2014, when MOM (Mars Orbiter
Mission), nicknamed Mangalyaan, successfully arrived in orbit. It is primarily a technology
demonstration mission that carries a small, 15-kilogram payload of 5 science instruments. The
spacecraft is far enough from Mars to image the entire planet, and it has already transmitted many
stunning full-globe pictures of Mars back to Earth. The launch was India's first Mars mission and it
made India the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit and the first nation in the world to do so on
its maiden attempt. It is also the cheapest Mars mission to date, costing only $73 million U.S.

Future Scheduled Missions:

United Arab Emirates:

Hope Mars Mission, would be UAE’s and any Arab country’s maiden Mars exploration. It aims to
discover why the planet has lost its atmosphere. The findings are also expected to help scientists
better model our own atmosphere going back some 1 million years. The UAE is currently targeting a
July or August 2020 launch, to arrive at Mars in 2021, around the time of the UAE’s 50th
Anniversary.

USA:

Perseverance Rover is an upcoming NASA mission that aims to study Martian astrobiology in an
attempt to understand what environmental conditions may have been like on Mars in the past via a
Martian sample return. The objective would be to have the rover collect samples of rocks, minerals,
and other materials on Mars and return them to Earth in a later mission. Launch is currently
scheduled for between July 17 and August 5, 2020, and it is expected to touch down in Jezero crater
on Mars on February 18, 2021.

China:

China’s National Space Science Center is preparing an interplanetary mission to Mars, the Tianwen-
1, that will launch in July 2020. The mission’s planned payload includes an orbiter, a lander, and a
rover. The mission will serve as a technological demonstration of the resources and tech required for
a Mars sample return mission, proposed to occur in the 2030s.

European Union and Russia:

The Rosalind Franklin rover comprises another part of the joint ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars mission,
which aims to search for evidence of past or present life on Mars over the course of its seven-month
operation. ESA will provide the rover, while Roscosmos will supply the lander. The launch window
was moved from 2018 to July 2020 due to production delays, and then delayed again due to
coronavirus in March 2020. The launch is currently set for 2022.

Japan:

The Mars Terahertz Explorer (TEREX) Microsatellite is a joint venture of Japan’s National Institute of
Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and the University of Tokyo Intelligent Space
Systems Laboratory (ISSL) to send an orbiter and lander carrying a terahertz sensor to Mars. The
terahertz sensor will be sent to the surface to measure oxygen isotope ratios in the atmosphere to
better understand the chemical reactions that resupply the Martian atmosphere with carbon
dioxide. The lander (TEREX-1) was originally intended to be launched as a piggyback payload with
another Mars-bound mission during the July to August 2020 launch window, but has since been
delayed to 2022. The orbiter (TEREX-2) is planned for launch in 2024.

Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) is Japan’s planned mission to send a probe to Mars’ largest moon
Phobos in 2025. It will land on Phobos, collect samples, and also observe the smaller moon Deimos
and Mars’ climate during flybys of both. The probe will then send the samples back to Earth. they are
expected to arrive in July 2029.

India:

Mangalyaan-2 (Mars Orbitter Mission-2) is the Indian Space Research Organization’s follow-up to its
initial interplanetary mission to Mars. An orbiter has been announced as the main component of the
mission thus far, with a lander and rover as potential additions. There has been no official
announcement of the launch date, but it is expected to be around 2024.