TheVoyager Mars programwas the first U.S. planned delegation to Mars , conceived in 1960 . The initial program was to get off unmanned ballistic capsule to orbit both Mars and Venus , with launching capsules to deploy to the Earth’s surface of each planet . Several Mars missions were proposedthroughout the seventies . The program was delayed by the sudden mandate to land men on the moon , and Voyager Mars was eventually completely scrub up .
The first man - made object to actuallylandon Mars was the SovietMars 2 investigation , which crash into the Martian surface on November 27th , 1971 . The firstsuccessfullanding was the SovietMars 3 , which accomplish a diffuse control surface landing on December 2nd , 1971 . Both probes had been en route to Mars for a year . The Mars 3 mission was short : the lander transfer data from the surface for 14.5 bit before system failure . The cause for the failure has never been completely determined . The photo above is a example of the Mars 3 lander . The SovietMars 6 landertransmitted 224 seconds of data point as it approach Mars , but stopped infection at either impact or slightly before impact on March 12th , 1974 .
NASA’sViking Programwas America ’s first successful mission to the Martian Earth’s surface , consisting of two orbiter and two landers . The Viking 1 satellite reached Mars in June of 1976 and spent the next few weeks searching for a courteous spot to shore . The Viking 1 lander touched down on July 20th , 1976 -exactly seven old age after Apollo 11 land on the lunation . On September 3rd , the Viking 2 lander secern from its satellite and also strive the Earth’s surface . The two orbiters and the two Lander all transport information and images from Mars for year before go out of military service . Shown above is a exemplar of the Viking lander .
TheMars Pathfinder missionlanded on the planet on July 4th , 1997 . The lander used an experimental " airbag " landing , and bounced 15 times , coming to rest a kilometer from its initial breaker point of wallop . Once on Mars , the lander became a groundwork post namedthe Carl Sagan Memorial Station(the famed uranologist had die only a few calendar month originally ) . Inside the place was the first NASA Mars rover , namedSojourner . Sojourner run around the Martian surface at one cm per second , but hey , it moved!No other Mars probe had done that before . Sojourner inspected Martian rock , which were list after cartoon characters . In thepicture above , the river is taking Alpha Particle cristal - ray Spectrometer readings on a rock named Yogi . The Pathfinder charge transmitted thousands of images and huge amounts of data , ending on September 27th , 1997 . The station and the rover had solve months past what was expected of them .
The twin geology roversSpirit and Opportunity , also have intercourse as Mars Exploration Rover A ( MER - A ) and Mars Exploration Rover B ( MER - B ) , were found in the summer of 2003 . They were design to locomote quicker and further than the previous rover .
Spirit ( MER - A ) was " the little bird of passage that could . " It land on Mars on January 3 , 2004 , after a seven - month space flight . Spirit was expect to study its environs and send data point back to Earth for about 90 Martian days . However , Martian wind unexpectedly removed dust from the rover ’s solar venire , allow them to engender free energy far longer . In fact , Spirit continued to rove the satellite , canvass rocks and dust for five years ! In 2009 , the rover became stuck on the Martian control surface and could n’t move , but Spirit continue to analyze its milieu and commune with Earth for another year . In early 2010 , the fading solar generator wasput into hibernation mode , because the Martian wintertime was coming when petty sunshine usable would be available for recharging . engineer did not hold much hope for revive Spirit , and it was not to be . In 2011 , NASA decided to officiallyclose the bookson the Spirit bird of passage . The mental image above is Spirit ’s " ego - portrait . "
Spirit was very popular during its day in the Sunday . Randall Munroe of xkcd illustratedthe story of Spiritin a way everyone could link up to , and even now makes people ( like me ) tear up . Pixar could n’t have come up with a more sombre plot .
TheOpportunity rovertouched down on January 25th , 2004 , on the diametric side of Mars from its twin Spirit . Like Spirit , it was expected to transport out a 90 - day mission under solar big businessman , but go on to generate its own power long afterward . The incredible thing about chance is that eight old age afterwards , it isstillpowered upand explore Mars , and still transmitting data point back to NASA ! Thepanorama shown herewas sew together from 817 images taken by Opportunity in December 2011 .
ThePhoenix Mars roverwas air to the gelid part of Mars specifically to look for evidence of water . It land on the scarlet planet on May 25th , 2008 . The mission was a accommodative exploit between the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory atthe University of Arizonaand NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory . In June , the Phoenix robotic roveridentified glacial waterin a Martian soil sample distribution , which was hailed as one of the biggest discoveries in history . Phoenix made the promulgation over itsTwitter feed .
Like the other solar - powered Mars rover , Phoenix exceeded its expected life-time , and continued to relay data after all its planned experiment were carry out . The commission wasended in 2010 .
The current mission to Mars is predict MSL , for Mars Science Laboratory . Of course , we called it Curiosity . That ’s the nickname of thenewest Mars roverthat has capture the world ’s imagination , possibly because of its strange and dissimilar method acting of landing , which was publicize in a video call Curiosity ’s Seven Minutes of Terror .
But the Curiosity rover landed precisely as was planned . Here ’s what the bird of passage saw as it approach and land on the planet .
curio is bigger and heavy than previous rover , and its delegation is to assess whether conditions haveeverbeen right for the beingness of life on Mars , and to pile up data for a next man mission . you may come after the Curiosity Mars roamer mission at NASA .
The next mission to Mars is namedInSight , and its launching is design for the year 2016 . It promises to be as exciting as all the other Mars missions .
