Mars missions Mars missions 2001 Mars Odyssey is an unmanned spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. Its mission is to use spectrometers and imagers to hunt for evidence of past or present water and volcanic activity on Mars. It is hoped that the data Odyssey obtains will help answer the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars. It also acts as a relay for communications between the Mars Explorations Rovers and Earth. ...more on Wikipedia about "2001 Mars Odyssey"
Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. ...more on Wikipedia about "Beagle 2"
Cosmos 419 was launched by the Soviet Union on May 10, 1971. Mars was at its closest to Earth since 1956, and in May that year both the Soviet Union and the United States made new attempts to reach the Red Planet. Cosmos' payload however failed to separate from the fourth stage of the launch vehicle, and Cosmos 419 reentered Earth's atmosphere two days after launch. ...more on Wikipedia about "Cosmos 419"
The Deep Space 2 mission, which launched in January 1999 as part of NASA's New Millennium Program, consisted of two highly advanced miniature probes to Mars. They were intended to be the first spacecraft ever to penetrate below the surface of another planet. The Deep Space 2 probes were also the first landers to use only an aeroshell, lacking parachutes or rockets to reduce their impact velocity. ...more on Wikipedia about "Deep Space 2"
(Earth Return Vehicle)
ExoMars is a planned Mars rover to be launched in 2011 to arrive in 2013 as part of European Space Agency's Aurora programme as a Flagship mission. As this mission is still in the early planning stages, the information here and on ESA's website is preliminary. ...more on Wikipedia about "ExoMars"
The following table is a partial list of artificial objects on the surface of Mars. Most are defunct after having served their purpose, but the MER-A Spirit rover and the MER-B Opportunity rover are still operational. The list does not include smaller objects such as parachutes or heatshields. ...more on Wikipedia about "List of artificial objects on Mars" www.shortopedia.com Dreamteam.
Malin Space Science Systems is a San Diego, California company that designs, develops, and operates instruments to fly on unmanned spacecraft. ...more on Wikipedia about "Malin Space Science Systems"
Mariner 3 and 4 were identical spacecraft of the Mariner program designed to carry out the first flybys of Mars. Mariner 3 was launched on November 5, 1964, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft atop its rocket failed to open properly, and Mariner 3 did not get to Mars. Unable to collect the Sun's energy for power from its solar panels, the probe soon died when its batteries ran out and is now in solar orbit. Three weeks later, on November 28, 1964, Mariner 4 was launched successfully on an eight-month voyage to the red planet. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mariner 3"
Mariner 4 was the fourth in a series of spacecraft used for planetary exploration in a flyby mode and represented the first successful flyby of the planet Mars, returning the first pictures of the Martian surface. These represented the first images of another planet ever returned from deep space. Mariner 4 was designed to conduct closeup scientific observations of Mars and to transmit these observations to Earth. Other mission objectives were to perform field and particle measurements in interplanetary space in the vicinity of Mars and to provide experience in and knowledge of the engineering capabilities for interplanetary flights of long duration. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mariner 4"
As part of the wider Mariner program, in 1969 Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 completed the first dual mission to Mars, flying over the equator and south polar regions and analysing atmosphere and surface with remote sensors as well as recording and relaying hundreds of pictures. By chance, both flew over cratered regions and missed both the giant northern volcanoes and the equatorial grand canyon discovered later. Their approach pictures did, however, photograph about 20% of the planet's surface, showing the dark features long seen from Earth, but none of the canals mistakenly observed by ground-based astronomers. In total 198 photos were taken and transmitted back to earth, adding more detail than the earlier mission, Mariner 4. Both craft also studied the atmosphere of Mars. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mariner 6 and 7"
Mariner-H, also commonly known as Mariner 8, was (along with Mariner 9) part of the Mariner Mars 71 project. It was intended to go into Mars orbit and return images and data. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mariner 8"
Mariner 9 was a NASA space probe orbiter that helped in the exploration of Mars and was part of the Mariner program. Mariner 9 was launched toward Mars on May 30, 1971 and reached the planet on November 14, of the same year, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. After months of dust-storms it managed to send back surprisingly clear pictures of the surface. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mariner 9"
The Mariner program was a series of unmanned interplanetary probes designed to investigate Mars, Venus and Mercury. The program included a number of firsts, including the first planetary flyby, the first planetary orbiter, and the first gravity assist. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mariner program"
Mars 1 (1962 Beta Nu 1) was an automatic interplanetary station launched in the direction of Mars on November 1, 1962, the first of the Soviet Mars probe program, with the intent of flying by the planet at a distance of about 11,000 km. It was designed to image the surface and send back data on cosmic radiation, micrometeoroid impacts and Mars' magnetic field, radiation environment, atmospheric structure, and possible organic compounds. After leaving Earth orbit, the spacecraft and the booster fourth stage separated and the solar panels were deployed. Early telemetry indicated that there was a leak in one of the gas valves in the orientation system so the spacecraft was transferred to gyroscopic stabilization. Sixty-one radio transmissions were held, initially at two day intervals and later at 5 days in which a large amount of interplanetary data were collected. On 21 March 1963, when the spacecraft was at a distance of 106,760,000 km from Earth on its way to Mars, communications ceased, probably due to failure of the spacecraft's antenna orientation system. Mars 1 closest approach to Mars occurred on June 19, 1963 at a distance of approximately 193,000 km, after which the spacecraft entered a heliocentric orbit. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars 1"
For 2011, NASA is planing to send the Second Scout Mission. This mission is supposed to be a "double" in which two scientific units are sent at once. It has not yet been decided which two projects will be sent. Some of the possible candidates (of which NASA scientists will only choose one) are: ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars 2011"
Mars 96 was an orbiter launched in 1996 by Russia and not directly related to the Soviet Mars probe program of the same name. The Mars 96 spacecraft was based on the Phobos vehicles launched to Mars in 1988. They were of a new design at the time and both ultimately failed. But for the Mars 96 probe the designers believed they had corrected the flaws of the Phobos vehicle. Alas, they did not get to find out if they had produced a successful design this time. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars 96"
The Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter) was one of two spacecraft in the Mars Surveyor '98 program, the other being the Mars Polar Lander (formerly the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander). The two missions were to study the Martian weather, climate, and water and carbon dioxide budget, in order to understand the reservoirs, behavior, and atmospheric role of volatiles and to search for evidence of long-term and episodic climate changes. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars Climate Orbiter"
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission (since 2003) is an unmanned Mars exploration mission that includes sending two Rovers ( robots) to explore the Martian surface and geology. The mission was led by Project Manager Peter Theisinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Principal Investigator Steven Squyres, professor of astronomy at Cornell University. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars Exploration Rover"
Mars Express is a Mars exploration mission of the European Space Agency and the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. The use of the word "express" in this mission's name refers originally to the relatively short time of its voyage, which was launched in time when Earth and Mars were closer to each other than ever in recorded history (about 60,000 years). However it also describes nicely the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was designed and built. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars Express"
The Mars Express Orbiter is part of the Mars Express program, a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Mars. It consists of the orbiter and a lander, Beagle 2. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars Express Orbiter"
The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) is an American spacecraft. Developed by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996, it began America's return to Mars after a 20-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001, and is now in an extended mission phase. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars Global Surveyor"
(Mars Habitat Unit) ==Overview== ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars Habitat Unit"
Mars Observer, launched in September 25, 1992, was the first of the Observer series of planetary missions, was designed to study the geoscience and climate of Mars. The primary science objectives for the mission were to: ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars Observer"
The Mars Pathfinder was launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II rocket, just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. After a 7-month voyage it landed on Ares Vallis, in a region called Chryse Planitia on Mars, on 4 July 1997. During its voyage the spacecraft had to accomplish four flight adjustments on 10 January, 3 February, 6 May and 25 June. The lander opened, exposing the rover called Sojourner (named after the famous American abolitionist Sojourner Truth) that would go on to execute different experiments on the Martian surface. ...more on Wikipedia about "Mars Pathfinder"
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia . Direct links to the original articles are in the text.
If you use exact copy or modified of this article you should preserve above paragraph and put also : It uses material from
the Shortopedia article about "Mars missions".
| MAIN PAGE | MAIN INDEX | CONTACT US |