A Timeline of Mars Research and Exploration
1609: Johannes Kepler calculates the orbit of Mars, which leads to his laws of planetary motion.
1659: Christiaan Huygens draws the first sketch of Mars.
1663: Giovanni Cassini finds rotation period of Mars is about 24 hours 40 minutes.
1784: William Herschel recognizes similarities between Mars and Earth, suggests that Martian polar caps are made of ice and snow.
1840: Johann Maedler publishes first map of Mars.
1864: William Rutter Dawes makes first accurate map of Mars.
1877: Giovanni Schiaparelli observes lines on Martian surface, which he calls canali (channels), mistranslated as "canals." This becomes basis of notion of intelligent life on planet.
1877: Asaph Hall at U.S. Naval Observatory discovers Phobos and Deimos, the Martian moons.
1894: Percival Lowell theorizes that the Mars "canals" may be evidence of an advanced civilization.
1894: William W. Campbell insists "life as we know it" could not exist on Mars.
1907: Alfred Russel Wallace reasons that Martian surface is frozen and hostile to life.
1947: Gerard Kuiper detects carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars.
1965: Mariner 4 (USA) Flyby: Sends back 21 photos of southern hemisphere; measures atmospheric pressure.
1969: Mariner 6 (USA) Flyby: Sends back high-resolution photos of equatorial region.
1969: Mariner 7 (USA) Flyby: Sends back high-resolution photos of southern hemisphere;
determines that polar ice caps are frozen carbon dioxide (CO2).
1971: Mars 2 (USSR) Orbiter and lander: Crash-lands in southern hemisphere; no data from lander.
1971: Mariner 9 (USA) First successful Mars orbiter, including flyby of Phobos and Deimos; transmits over 7,000 images to provide nearly complete map of planet; finds frozen water beneath CO2 ice caps.
1971: Mars 3 (USSR) Orbiter and lander: Lander transmits data for 20 seconds before failing: first TV images from a planet surface.
1973: Mars 4 (USSR) Flyby: Fails to achieve orbit; transmits a few images.
1973: Mars 5 (USSR)Orbits planet for 24 hours before failure; transmits images.
1973: Mars 6 (USSR)Orbiter and lander: Crash-lands in southern hemisphere.
1973: Mars 7 (USSR)Orbiter and lander:Fails.
1976: Viking 1 (USA) Orbiter and lander: First successful Mars landing; transmits data including weather, soil conditions. Lander accidentally shut down in 1982.
1976: Viking 2 (USA) Orbiter and lander: Transmits extensive data, including evidence of frozen surface water. Lander shut down in 1980.
1984: Martian meteorite ALH84001 discovered in Antarctica.
1988: Phobos 1 (USSR) Orbiter and lander. Fails en route to Mars.
1988: Phobos 2 (USSR) Surface probe: Flyby and lander to study Martian moon Phobos. Contact lost near Phobos.
1993: Mars Observer (USA) Orbiter: Contact lost.
1996: Mars '96 (Russia) Orbiter and lander: Fails; crashes into Earth's ocean.
1997: Mars Pathfinder (USA) Lander and rover: Surface exploration; data collection; engineering studies for future landings: Successfully completed July - September.
1997: Mars Global Surveyor (USA) Orbiter: Two-year mapping mission: Arrived at Mars in September 1997, orbital
mapping of surface planned to begin after completion of aerobraking maneuvers in March 1999.
1998: "NOZOMI" Planet-B: Japanese Mars Orbiter: to study the Martian upper atmosphere with emphasis on its interaction with the solar wind. Malfunctioned and abandoned on arrival December 9, 2003, due to rocket failure.
1998: Mars Climate Orbiter (USA): designed to function as an interplanetary weather satellite and a communications relay for Mars Polar Lander. Lost on arrival September 23, 1999, engineers concluded that the spacecraft entered the planet's atmosphere too low and probably burned up.
1999: Mars Polar Lander (USA): an ambitious mission to set a spacecraft down on the frigid terrain near the edge of Mars' south polar cap and dig for water ice with a robotic arm. Piggybacking on the lander were two small probes called Deep Space 2 designed to impact the Martian surface to test new technologies. Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 were lost on arrival December 3, 1999.
2001, 03, 05: Mars Surveyor Program (USA), 3 separate landers:
- 2001: Mars Odyssey 2001 (USA) Orbiter: to determine the composition of the planet's surface, to detect water and shallow buried ice, and to study the radiation environment.
- 2003: Mars Express Orbiter/Beagle 2 Lander (ESA/USA): Mars Express is exploring the atmosphere and surface of Mars from polar orbit. Beagle 2 lander failed on arrival.
- 2005: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (USA): scheduled for launch in 2005, will be equipped with zoom cameras, carry a sounder to find subsurface water and look for safe and scientifically worthy landing sites for future exploration.
2003-4: Mars Exploration Rover Mission (USA): NASA's twin robot geologists, the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, launched toward Mars on June 10 and July 7, 2003, in search of answers about the history of water on Mars.
2004: Rosetta (ESA): Once intended as ESA's Mars, Asteroid and Comet mission, now scheduled for launch on February 26, 2004, and after a first Earth gravity assist in March 2005, fly by Mars in March 2007 for gravity assist acceleration, followed by two further Earth gravity assist flybys in November 2007 and November 2009. It should reach Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in May 2014, start global mapping of that comet in August 2014 and deliver a landerm Philia, in November 2014. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko will pass its perihelion in August 2015, Rosetta is intended to continue investigating the comet until December 2015.
2005: Mars Surveyor 2005 Orbiter (France): to be launched on August 10, 2005 by an Atlas V rocket, and to arrive at Mars in March, 2006. To study Mars from orbit from March 2006 to July 2008, take high-resolution measurements and images, and possibly serve as communications relay for later Mars landers until about February 2010.
2007-8: Phoenix Scout (USA): launching in 2007 with projected landing in May 2008, the progeny of two promising U.S. missions to Mars will deploy a lander to the water-ice-rich northern polar region, dig with a robotic arm into arctic terrain for clues on the history of water, and search for environments suitable for microbes. An in-situ volatile and organic molecule survey (LPL/Univ of Arizona).
2007: Mars Remote Sensing Orbiter (CNES, French Space Agency), scheduled for launch in late 2007. Remote Sensing Orbiter.
2007: Mars Netlander (CNES, French Space Agency), scheduled for launch with an Ariane 5 in late 2007. Network of 4 small landers to perform scientific measurements on the surface of Mars over one Martian year.
2007: Mars Communications Orbiter (ASI, Italian Space Agency), scheduled for launch in late 2007. Communications orbiter for Netlanders and future missions.
2007: Mars Small Scout Missions (USA), tentatively scheduled for launch in December 2006, arrival at Mars February, 2009, science mission February to August, 2009. One or more of a series of small "scout" missions, including small landers, airplanes and balloons.
2009-10: Mars Science Laboratory (USA): a roving long-range, long-duration science laboratory that will be a major leap in surface measurements and pave the way for a future sample return mission.
Beyond 2009 (USA/International): NASA plans additional science orbiters, rovers and landers, and the first mission to return samples of Martian rock and soil to Earth. Current plans call for the first sample return mission to be launched no earlier than 2014. Options that would significantly increase the rate of mission launch and/or accelerate the schedule of exploration are under study. Technology development for advanced capabilities such as miniaturized surface science instruments and deep drilling to hundreds of meters will also be carried out in this period. The program envisions significant international participation, particularly by France and Italy.
2011: Mars Scout 2 (USA). A mission succeeding and extending the 2007 Mars Scout, Phoenix; details to be defined.
2014: Mars Sample Return Lander (Nasa, France, Italy, international?; former Mars 2011), under study for launch in early 2014. Possible first sample return mission. To arrive at Mars in late 2014, launch from Mars early 2015, and return to Earth in late 2016.
2016: Mars 2016 (USA, international?; under study). Possibly another sample return mission, or orbiters, landers, rovers.
For the time after 2016, a continuation of the research missions is planned. Detailed plans are still to be worked out, and should utilize the newly acquired knowledge of the current and scheduled Mars missions. Nasa officials have expressed their intention that these efforts should eventually be leading to a Mars mission with a human crew to be launched in 2018 (and to arrive at Mars in 2019), and to begin an era of permanent human presence on our neighbor planet. Moreover, this date is continuously under discussion with the aim to do the mission sooner.
2019?: Human visit to Mars? The new vision presented by the President of the United States in January, 2004 proposes a crewed Mars mission following the establishment of a permanantly crewed Moon base which should be built between 2015 and 2020, after completing the assembly of the International Space Station and the development of a new space transportation system in about 2010. In the scenario of this plan, a crewed Mars mission could occur in or after the year 2019.
View a graphical timeline of future visits to Mars (courtesy of JPL).
Learn more about all the missions at NASA's Mars Exploration Program.
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