Contents

List of missions to Mars: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:11, 28 March 2024

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This is a list of spacecraft missions (including unsuccessful ones) to the planet Mars, such as orbiters, landers, and rovers.

Summary

Missions

Mission Type Legend

  Mission to Mars

  Gravity assist, destination elsewhere

Mission	Spacecraft	Launch Date	Operator	Mission Type[1]	Outcome[2]	Remarks	Carrier rocket[3]
1M No.1	1M No.1	10 October 1960	OKB-1  Soviet Union	Flyby	Launch failure	Failed to achieve Earth orbit	Molniya
1M No.2	1M No.2	14 October 1960	OKB-1  Soviet Union	Flyby	Launch failure	Failed to achieve Earth orbit	Molniya
2MV-4 No.1	2MV-4 No.1	24 October 1962	Soviet Union	Flyby	Launch failure	Booster stage ("Block L") disintegrated in LEO	Molniya
Mars 1	Mars 1 (2MV-4 No.2)	1 November 1962	Soviet Union	Flyby	Spacecraft failure	Communications lost before first flyby	Molniya
2MV-3 No.1	2MV-3 No.1	4 November 1962	Soviet Union	Lander	Launch failure	Never left LEO	Molniya
Mariner 3	Mariner 3	5 November 1964	NASA  United States	Flyby	Launch failure	Payload fairing failed to separate	Atlas LV-3 Agena-D
Mariner 4	Mariner 4	28 November 1964	NASA  United States	Flyby	Successful	First successful flyby of Mars on 15 July 1965	Atlas LV-3 Agena-D
Zond 2	Zond 2 (3MV-4A No.2)	30 November 1964	Soviet Union	Flyby	Spacecraft failure	Communications lost before flyby	Molniya
Mariner 6	Mariner 6	25 February 1969	NASA  United States	Flyby	Successful		Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D
2M No.521	2M No.521 (1969A)[4]	27 March 1969	Soviet Union	Orbiter	Launch failure	Failed to achieve Earth orbit	Proton-K/D
Mariner 7	Mariner 7	27 March 1969	NASA  United States	Flyby	Successful		Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D
2M No.522	2M No.522 (1969B)[4]	2 April 1969	Soviet Union	Orbiter	Launch failure	Failed to achieve Earth orbit	Proton-K/D
Mariner 8	Mariner 8	9 May 1971	NASA  United States	Orbiter	Launch failure	Failed to achieve Earth orbit	Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D
Kosmos 419	Kosmos 419 (3MS No.170)	10 May 1971	Soviet Union	Orbiter	Launch failure	Never left LEO; booster stage burn timer set incorrectly	Proton-K/D
Mars 2	Mars 2 (4M No.171)	19 May 1971	Soviet Union	Orbiter	Successful	On November 27 it became in short sequence the second spacecraft to orbit another planet.[5] Operated for 362 orbits[6]	Proton-K/D
	Mars 2 lander (SA 4M No.171)			Lander	Spacecraft failure	First lander to impact Mars. Deployed from Mars 2, failed to land during attempt on 27 November 1971.[7]
	PrOP-M			Rover	Failure Lost with Mars 2	First rover launched to Mars. Lost when the Mars 2 lander crashed into the surface of Mars.
Mars 3	Mars 3 (4M No.172)	28 May 1971	Soviet Union	Orbiter	Successful	On December 2 it became in short sequence the third spacecraft to orbit another planet.[5] Operated for 20 orbits[8][9]	Proton-K/D
	Mars 3 lander (SA 4M No.172)			Lander	Partial success[10][11]	First lander to make a soft landing on Mars. Landed on 2 December 1971. First partial image (70 lines) transmitted showing "gray background with no details".[8] Contact lost 20 seconds after transmission started, 110 seconds after landing.[12][13]
	PrOP-M			Rover	Carrier vehicle failed before rover was deployed	First rover to make a soft landing on another planet. 4.5 kg (9.9 lb) rover connected to the Mars 3 lander by a tether. Deployment status unknown due to loss of communications with the Mars 3 lander.[12]
Mariner 9	Mariner 9	30 May 1971	NASA  United States	Orbiter	Successful[14]	First spacecraft to orbit another planet, two weeks ahead of Mars 2 on November 14.[5] Deactivated 516 days after entering orbit.	Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D
Mars 4	Mars 4 (3MS No.52S)	21 July 1973	Soviet Union	Orbiter	Partial success[15]	Failed to perform orbital insertion burn. Returned photographs of Mars during flyby.	Proton-K/D
Mars 5	Mars 5 (3MS No.53S)	25 July 1973	Soviet Union	Orbiter	Successful	Contact lost after 9 days in Mars orbit. Returned 180 frames	Proton-K/D
Mars 6	Mars 6 (3MP No.50P)	5 August 1973	Soviet Union	Flyby	Successful	Flyby bus collected data.[16]	Proton-K/D
	Mars 6 lander			Lander	Spacecraft failure	Contact lost upon landing, atmospheric data mostly unusable.
Mars 7	Mars 7 (3MP No.51P)	9 August 1973	Soviet Union	Flyby	Successful	Flyby bus collected data.	Proton-K/D
	Mars 7 lander			Lander	Spacecraft failure	Separated from coast stage prematurely, failed to enter Martian atmosphere.
Viking 1	Viking 1 orbiter	20 August 1975	NASA  United States	Orbiter	Successful	Operated for 1385 orbits. Entered Mars orbit on 19 June 1976.	Titan IIIE Centaur-D1T
	Viking 1 lander			Lander	Successful	First successful Mars lander. Deployed from Viking 1 orbiter. Landed on Mars on 20 July 1976. Operated for 2245 sols.
Viking 2	Viking 2 orbiter	9 September 1975	NASA  United States	Orbiter	Successful	Operated for 700 orbits. Entered Mars orbit on 7 August 1976.	Titan IIIE Centaur-D1T
	Viking 2 lander			Lander	Successful	Deployed from Viking 2 orbiter. Landed on Mars on September 1976. Operated for 1281 sols (11 April 1980).
Phobos 1	Phobos 1 (1F No.101)	7 July 1988	Soviet Union	Orbiter	Spacecraft failure	Communications lost before reaching Mars; failed to enter orbit	Proton-K/D-2
	DAS			Phobos lander	Failure Lost with Phobos 1	To have been deployed by Phobos 1
Phobos 2	Phobos 2 (1F No.102)	12 July 1988	Soviet Union	Orbiter	Mostly successful	Orbital observations successful, communications lost before lander deployment.	Proton-K/D-2
	Prop-F			Phobos rover	Failure Lost with Phobos 2	To have been deployed by Phobos 2
	DAS			Phobos lander	Failure Lost with Phobos 2	To have been deployed by Phobos 2
Mars Observer	Mars Observer	25 September 1992	NASA  United States	Orbiter	Spacecraft failure	Lost communications before orbital insertion	Commercial Titan III
Mars Global Surveyor	Mars Global Surveyor	7 November 1996	NASA  United States	Orbiter	Successful	Operated for ten years	Delta II 7925
Mars 96	Mars 96 (M1 No.520) (Mars-8)[4]	16 November 1996	Rosaviakosmos  Russia	Orbiter Penetrators	Launch failure	Never left LEO	Proton-K/D-2
	Mars 96 lander			Lander	Launch failure Lost with Mars 96	Two Mars landers to have been deployed by Mars 96.
	Mars 96 lander			Lander	Launch failure Lost with Mars 96
	Mars 96 penetrator			Penetrator	Launch failure Lost with Mars 96	Two Mars Penetrators to have been deployed by Mars 96.
	Mars 96 penetrator			Penetrator	Launch failure Lost with Mars 96
Mars Pathfinder	Mars Pathfinder	4 December 1996	NASA  United States	Lander	Successful	Landed at 19.13°N 33.22°W on 4 July 1997,[17] Last contact on 27 September 1997	Delta II 7925
	Sojourner			Rover	Successful	First rover to operate on another planet. Operated for 84 days[18]
Nozomi	Nozomi (PLANET-B)	3 July 1998	ISAS  Japan	Orbiter	Spacecraft failure	Performed a Mars flyby. Later contact lost due to loss of fuel. However provided crucial information about the deep space environment.[19]	M-V
Mars Climate Orbiter	Mars Climate Orbiter	11 December 1998	NASA  United States	Orbiter	Spacecraft failure	Approached Mars too closely during orbit insertion attempt due to a software interface bug involving different units for impulse and either burned up in the atmosphere or entered solar orbit	Delta II 7425
Mars Polar Lander / Deep Space 2	Mars Polar Lander	3 January 1999	NASA  United States	Lander	Spacecraft failure	Failed to function after landing	Delta II 7425
	Deep Space 2			Penetrator	Spacecraft failure	No data transmitted after deployment from MPL.
	Deep Space 2			Penetrator	Spacecraft failure
Mars Odyssey	Mars Odyssey	7 April 2001	NASA  United States	Orbiter	Operational	Expected to remain operational until 2025.	Delta II 7925
Mars Express	Mars Express	2 June 2003	ESA	Orbiter	Operational	Enough fuel to remain operational until 2035	Soyuz-FG / Fregat
	Beagle 2			Lander	Lander failure	No communications received after release from Mars Express. Orbital images of landing site suggest a successful landing, but two solar panels failed to deploy, obstructing its communications.
Spirit	Spirit (MER-A)	10 June 2003	NASA  United States	Rover	Successful	Landed on 4 January 2004. Operated for 2208 sols[20]	Delta II 7925
Opportunity	Opportunity (MER-B)	8 July 2003	NASA  United States	Rover	Successful	Landed on 25 January 2004. Operated for 5351 sols	Delta II 7925H
Rosetta	Rosetta	2 March 2004	ESA	Flyby (Gravity assist)	Successful	Flyby in February 2007 en route to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko[21]	Ariane 5G+
	Philae			Flyby (Gravity assist)	Successful
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter	Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter	12 August 2005	NASA  United States	Orbiter	Operational	Entered orbit on 10 March 2006	Atlas V 401
Phoenix	Phoenix	4 August 2007	NASA  United States	Lander	Successful	Landed on 25 May 2008. End of mission 2 November 2008	Delta II 7925
Dawn	Dawn	27 September 2007	NASA  United States	Flyby (Gravity assist)	Successful	Flyby in February 2009 en route to 4 Vesta and Ceres	Delta II 7925H
Fobos-Grunt / Yinghuo-1	Fobos-Grunt	8 November 2011	Roscosmos  Russia	Orbiter Phobos sample return	Launch failure	Never left LEO (intended to depart under own power)	Zenit-2M
	Yinghuo-1		CNSA  China	Orbiter	Precluded Lost with Fobos-Grunt	To have been deployed by Fobos-Grunt
Mars Science Laboratory	Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)	26 November 2011	NASA  United States	Rover	Operational	Landed on 6 August 2012	Atlas V 541
Mars Orbiter Mission	Mars Orbiter Mission	5 November 2013	ISRO  India	Orbiter	Successful	Entered orbit on 24 September 2014. Mission extended to 2022, where the mission concluded on September 27, 2022 after contact was lost.[22]	PSLV-XL
MAVEN	MAVEN	18 November 2013	NASA  United States	Orbiter	Operational	Orbit insertion on 22 September 2014[23]	Atlas V 401
ExoMars 2016	ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter	14 March 2016	ESA/Roscosmos ESA/ Russia	Orbiter	Operational	Entered orbit on 19 October 2016	Proton-M / Briz-M
	Schiaparelli EDM lander		ESA	Lander	Spacecraft failure	Carried by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Although the lander crashed,[24][25] engineering data on the first five minutes of entry was successfully retrieved.[26][27]
InSight	InSight	5 May 2018[28][29]	NASA  United States	Lander	Successful	Landed on 26 November 2018. Last contact 15 December 2022.[30]	Atlas V 401
	MarCO A			Flyby	Successful	Flyby 26 November 2018. Last contact 29 December 2018.
	MarCO B			Flyby	Successful	Flyby 26 November 2018. Last contact 4 January 2019.
Emirates Mars Mission	Hope	19 July 2020[31]	MBRSC  United Arab Emirates	Orbiter	Operational	Entered orbit on 9 February 2021.[32][33][34]	H-IIA
Tianwen-1	Tianwen-1 orbiter	23 July 2020[35][36]	CNSA  China	Orbiter	Operational	Entered orbit on 10 February 2021	Long March 5
	Tianwen-1 lander			Lander	Successful	Landed on 14 May 2021
	Zhurong rover			Rover	Successful	Landed on 14 May 2021[37] Deployed by the Tianwen-1 lander on 22 May 2021. Became inactive on 20 May 2022.
	Tianwen-1 Remote Camera			Lander	Successful	Landed on 14 May 2021 Deployed by the Zhurong rover on 1 June 2021.[38]
	Tianwen-1 Deployable Camera 2[39]			Orbiter	Successful	Entered orbit on 10 February 2021, deployed 31 December 2021
Mars 2020	Perseverance	30 July 2020[40]	NASA  United States	Rover	Operational	Landed on 18 February 2021[41]	Atlas V 541
	Ingenuity			Helicopter	Successful	First aerodynamic flight on another planet. Landed with Perseverance rover on 18 February 2021.[42] Deployed from rover on 3 April 2021. First flight achieved on April 19, 2021.[43] Retired on 25 January 2024 due to sustained rotor blade damage.
Psyche	Psyche	13 October 2023	NASA  United States	Flyby (Gravity assist)	Enroute	Gravity assist en route to 16 Psyche in May 2026[44]	Falcon Heavy

Landing locations

Clickable image: Clicking on the labels will open a new article.

(   Active •   Inactive •   Planned)

(See also: Mars map; Mars Memorials list)

Beagle 2

Curiosity

Deep Space 2

InSight

Mars 2

Mars 3

Mars 6

Mars Polar Lander ↓

Opportunity

Perseverance

Phoenix

Rosalind Franklin

Schiaparelli EDM

Sojourner

Spirit

Zhurong

Viking 1

Viking 2

In 1999, Mars Climate Orbiter accidentally entered Mars' atmosphere and either burnt up or left Mars' orbit on an unknown trajectory.^{[citation needed]}

There are a number of derelict spacecraft orbiting Mars whose location is not known precisely. There is a proposal to use the Optical Navigation Camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to search for small moons, dust rings and old orbiters.^[45] As of 2016, there were believed to be eight derelict spacecraft in orbit around Mars (barring unforeseen event).^[46] The Viking 1 orbiter was not expected to decay until at least 2019.^[47] Mariner 9, which entered Mars orbit in 1971, was expected to remain in orbit until approximately 2022, when it was projected to enter the Martian atmosphere and either burn up, or crash into the planet's surface.^[48]

Timeline

Missions to the moons of Mars

There have also have been proposed missions dedicated to explore the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. Many missions to Mars have also included dedicated observations of the moons, while this section is about missions focused solely on them. There have been three unsuccessful dedicated missions and many proposals. Because of the proximity of the Mars moons to Mars, any mission to them may also be considered a mission to Mars from some perspectives.

There have been at least three proposals in the United States Discovery Program, including PADME, PANDORA, and MERLIN.^[50] The ESA has also considered a sample return mission, one of the latest known as Martian Moon Sample Return or MMSR, and it may use heritage from an asteroid sample return mission.^[51]

In Japan, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) is developing a sample return mission to Phobos.^[68][69] This mission is called Martian Moons eXploration (MMX)^[70] and is a flagship Strategic Large Mission.^[71] MMX will build on the expertise the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) would gain through the Hayabusa2 and SLIM missions.^[72] As of December 2023, MMX is scheduled to launch in 2026.^[73]

Three missions to land on Phobos have been launched; the Phobos program in the late 1980s saw the launch of Fobos 1 and Fobos 2, while the Fobos-Grunt sample return mission was launched in 2011. None of these missions were successful: Fobos 1 failed en route to Mars, Fobos 2 failed shortly before landing, and Fobos-Grunt never left low Earth orbit.

Missions sent to the Martian system have returned data on Phobos and Deimos and missions specifically dedicated to the moons are a subset of missions Mars that often include dedicated goals to acquire data about these moons. An example of this is the imaging campaigns by Mars Express of the Mars moons.

Osiris-Rex 2 was a proposal to make OR a double mission, with the other one collecting samples from the two Mars moons.^[74] In 2012, it was stated that this mission would be both the quickest and least expensive way to get samples from the Moons.^[59]

The 'Red Rocks Project,' a part of Lockheed Martin's "Stepping Stones to Mars" program, proposed to explore Mars robotically from Deimos.^[75][76]

Statistics

Mission milestone by country

Legend

  Achieved
  Failed attempt

Country	Flyby	Orbit	Lander	Rover	Powered flight	Phobos lander	Phobos rover	Phobos sample return
United States						—	—	—
China					—	—	—	—
Soviet Union					—			—
Russia				—	—		—
ESA				—	—	—	—	—
United Kingdom		—		—	—	—	—	—
India			—	—	—	—	—	—
United Arab Emirates			—	—	—	—	—	—
Japan			—	—	—	—	—	—

Missions by organization/company

Country	Agency or company	Successful	Partial failure	Failure	Operational	Gravity assist	Total
United States	NASA	13	-	5	4	1	23
Soviet Union	Energia	1	6	10	-	-	17
Russia	Roscosmos	-	1	2	-	-	3
ESA	ESA	-	2	-	-	1	3
China	CNSA	1	-	1	1	-	2
India	ISRO	1	-	-	-	-	1
United Arab Emirates	UAESA	1	-	-	1	-	1
Japan	ISAS	-	-	1	-	-	1

Future missions

Under development

Mission	Organization	Launch Date	Type
Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorer mission (ESCAPADE) Photon Blue and Gold	NASA  United States	October 2024[77]	2 Orbiters
Mars Orbiter Mission 2	ISRO  India	NET 2026[78][79]	Orbiter[80][81] also proposed to carry a UAV , may be implemented for conceptual MOM-3[82]
Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) Phobos Sample Return Mission	JAXA  Japan	2026[73]	Orbiter/Lander
First Commercial Mission to Mars	Relativity Space, Impulse Space	2026	Lander[83]
SpaceX Uncrewed Landing	SpaceX	2026	Lander with cargo[84]
Tianwen-3 Mars sample-return mission	CNSA  China	2028[85]	Two spacecrafts: one consists of orbiter and return module, the other lander, ascent module and a mobile sampling robot. Expected sample return: July 2031[86]
TEREX-1[87]	NICT, ISSL  Japan	Mid 2020s	Orbiter
Rosalind Franklin rover	ESA	2028	Rover
SpaceX Crewed Landing	SpaceX	2029	Lander with crew and cargo[88]

Proposed missions

Mission	Organisation	Proposed launch	Type
MELOS rover	JAXA  Japan	2024	Rover and aircraft
SatRevolution	Poland	2024[89][90]	Orbiter
Mars-Grunt	Roscosmos  Russia	2024	Orbiter, lander, ascent vehicle, sample-return
Icebreaker Life	NASA  United States	2026	Lander
NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return	NASA  United States ESA	NET 2030[91][92]	Orbiter/Lander/Return vehicle
Next Mars Orbiter (NeMO)	NASA  United States	Late 2020s[93]	Telecomm orbiter[94] (originally proposed for 2022)
Deimos and Phobos Interior Explorer (DePhine)	ESA	2030	Orbiter and Martian moon flybys
Large Inflatable Fabric Environment	Sierra Nevada Corporation	TBD	Orbital habitat in Low Mars Orbit (LMO)[95]
Mars MetNet	FMI  Finland IKI  Russia INTA  Spain	TBD	Impactors
Mars Geyser Hopper	NASA  United States	TBD	Hopper
Mars Micro Orbiter (MMO)	NASA  United States	?	Orbiter
Phobos And Deimos & Mars Environment	NASA  United States	?	Orbiter
Biological Oxidant and Life Detection (BOLD)	Washington State University  United States	?	Landing probes and Impactors
Mars Exploration Ice Mapper	NASA (withdrawn)[96]  United States Canadian Space Agency  Canada Italian Space Agency  Italy	?

Unrealized concepts

1970s

• 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). The missions were to be launched on the failed N1 rocket.^[97]
• Mars 5M (Mars-79) – double-launching Soviet sample return mission planned to 1979 but cancelled due to complexity and technical problems
• Voyager-Mars – USA, 1970s – Two orbiters and two landers, launched by a single Saturn V rocket.

1990s

• Vesta – the multiaimed Soviet mission, developed in cooperation with European countries for realisation in 1991–1994 but canceled due to the Soviet Union disbanding, included the flyby of Mars with delivering the aerostat and small landers or penetrators followed by flybys of 1 Ceresor4 Vesta and some other asteroids with impact of penetrator on the one of them.
• Mars Aerostat – Russian/French balloon part for cancelled Vesta mission and then for failed Mars 96 mission,^[98] originally planned for the 1992 launch window, postponed to 1994 and then to 1996 before being cancelled.^[99]
• Mars Together, combined U.S. and Russian mission study in the 1990s. To be launched by a Molniya with possible U.S. orbiter or lander.^[100][101]
• 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 as repeat of failed Mars 96 mission; cancelled due to lack of funding

2000s

• Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander – October 2001 – Mars lander (refurbished, became Phoenix lander)
• Kitty Hawk – Mars airplane micromission, proposed for 17 December 2003, the centennial of the Wright brothers' first flight.^[102] Its funding was eventually given to the 2003 Mars Network project.^[103]
• NetLander – 2007 or 2009 – Mars netlanders
• Beagle 3 – 2009 British lander mission meant to search for life, past or present.^{[clarification needed]}
• Mars Telecommunications Orbiter – September 2009 – Mars orbiter for telecommunications

2010s

• Mars One - announced in 2012, planned to land a demo lander on Mars by 2016, with a crewed landing to follow by 2023. These dates were delayed multiple times, and the project was eventually cancelled, with the company going bankrupt in 2019
• Sky-Sailor – 2014 – Plane developed by Switzerland to take detailed pictures of Mars surface
• Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher – 2018 rover concept, cancelled due to budget cuts in 2011. Sample cache goal later moved to Mars 2020 rover.^[104]
• Red Dragon – Derivative of a Dragon 2 capsule by SpaceX, designed to land by aerobraking and retropropulsion. Planned for 2018, then 2020. Canceled in favor of the Starship system.
• Tumbleweed rover, wind-propelled sphere^[105]

See also

References

Space

Spaceflight