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Mission to Mars: Introduction | Past Missions | Present Missions
Past Missions:
- Mariners 3 and 4
- Mariners 6 and 7
- Mariners 8 and 9
- Vikings 1 and 2
- Phobos 1 and 2
- Mars Observer and Mars Global Surveyor
- Mars 96 and Mars Pathfinder
- Nozomi (Planet B), Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander
- 2001 Mars Odyssey
Launch (Mariner 4): N ovember 28, 1964
Flyby (Mariner 4): July 14, 1965
Mass: 261 kilograms (575 pounds)
Science instruments: Camera with digital tape recorder (about 20 pictures), instruments studying cosmic dust, solar plasma, trapped radiation, cosmic rays, magnetic fields, radio occultation and celestial mechanics
Mariners 3 and 4 were built by NASA and designed to perform a flyby of Mars with three main objectives:
The Mariners launch came some 4 years after the USSR launched their first attempted unmanned mission to Mars, which were unfortunately unsuccessful in achieving flyby. Mariner 3 launched on November 5, 1964, but its shroud encasing the spacecraft atop its rocket did not open successfully and Mariner 3 did not make it to Mars. Three weeks later however, Mariner 4 launched successfully on November 28, 1964 and flew past, achieving the first successful Mars flyby on July 14, 1965. It collected the close-up photographs of Mars and returned 21 photos to Earth. Mariner 4's successful eight-month voyage gave scientist pictures of Mars' geographical terrain and new data on Mars, notably the lunar-type impact craters topping the Martian surface. But more importantly, Mariner 4 gave NASA experience for further missions to be conducted.
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Launch: February 24, 1969 (Mariner 6); March 27, 1969 (Mariner 7)
Mars Flyby: July 31, 1969 (Mariner 6); August 5, 1969 (Mariner 7)
Mass: 413 kilograms (908 pounds)
Science instruments: Wide- and narrow-angle cameras with digital tape recorder, infrared spectrometer and radiometer, ultraviolet spectrometer, radio occultation and celestial mechanics experiments
About 5 years after the launch of Mariners 3 and 4, in between which was marked by the launch of Zond 2 by USSR which reached Mars but failed to send back data, Mariners 6 and 7 were next in line for NASA's program. Mariners 6 and 7 were designed for the same data gathering on Mars, but improvements in technology would enable them to gather more accurate results than Mariners 3 and 4 could. Also, Mariners 6 and 7 were entirely devoted to the study of Mars. Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 were launched on February 24, 1969, and March 27, 1969, and managed flybys of Mars on July 30 and August 4 respectively. Many more photos were returned this time and in total, 143 far encounter images and 58 near encounter images were transmitted back to NASA. This was due primarily to advances in technology which allowed information to be transferred as many as 2000 times faster than Mariner 4 could. There were close calls though. Contact was lost with Mariner 7 on July 30 and it was only after a 7-hour silence that contact was restored. Instrument responsible for reporting the direction of the television cameras, however, were damaged and could no longer function as planned. Mariner 7 cameras could not be pointed properly and, with the flyby nearing, manual calibration by ground crews managed to save the day, enabling pictures to be taken. This showed the importance of the ability to reprogram the computer on a spacecraft and served a valuable lesson to NASA. Much more data about conditions on Mars were revealed as the two spacecrafts flyby, analysing the Martian atmosphere and surface with remote sensors. All in all, the mission was a complete success.
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Launch (Mariner 9): May 30, 1971
Arrival (Mariner 9): November 13, 1971
Mass: 998 kilograms (2,200 pounds)
Science instruments: Wide- and narrow-angle cameras with digital tape recorder, infrared spectrometer and radiometer, ultraviolet spectrometer, radio occultation and celestial mechanics instruments
It was two years after Mariner 7 that Mariner 8 was launched, designed to perform the next important phrase: an orbit of Mars. It however, failed to launch properly and 365 seconds after its launch, fell into the Atlantic. Meanwhile, the IKI was also launching their unmanned missions. The Kosmos 419 was launched 2 days after Mariner 8, designed as a lander. It however only achieved earth orbit. That same month the IKI also launched Mars 2 and 3, which were both designed as orbiters and landers. While Mars 2 crashed, Mars 3 managed to send back data and photos. These were however, not many. Mariner 9 however, launched 22 days after Mariner 8, on the May 30, 1971, arrived at Mars November 14, 1971. Primarily, Mariner 9 was equipped with the same instruments as Mariners 6 and 7, but carried a larger propulsion system for orbiting. As a result, Mariner 9 weighed more than Mariner 6 and 7 combined. Mariner 9 had essentially the same objectives as Mariners 6 and 7, except that it was to do a more thorough data collection than its predecessors did while in its long orbiting period. The ambitious project surpassed its objectives. It arrived in November to witness a dust storm. With a reprogrammable computer on board, Mariner 9 continued to orbit around Mars while the presence of dust storms on Mars was confirmed as the storm raged below. As the dust storm died down, Mariner 9 got to work and pictured 80% of Mars surface, 10% more than was expected. 7329 photos revealed to scientist Mars' varied landscape, that of great volcanoes and huge canyons, but more importantly, evidence of flow, which suggested the presence of water. This observation sparked one of the greatest questions asked about Mars, and can answer the question to human colonisation of Mars one day. Armed with new data about Mars' atmospheric pressure, NASA could now enter the next phrase of their Mars exploration: the Viking Program. Mariner 9 in the meantime would be remembered as Mars' first satellite, orbiting for nearly a year, the longest yet in its time.
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Launch: August 20, 1975 (Viking 1); September 9, 1975 (Viking 2)
Arrival: June 19, 1976 (Viking 1); August 7, 1976 (Viking 2)
Mass: 2,325 kilograms (5,125 pounds) with fuel
Science instruments: High-resolution camera, atmospheric water-vapor mapper, surface heat mapper, occultation experiment
Mariner 9 managed to orbit around Mars for 349 days, bringing scientist much information about the red planet. As NASA's attention turned to a new program, the IKI sent Mars 4, 5, 6 and 7 with some success. Roughly three years after Mariner 9's orbit, NASA sent two spacecraft to further investigate Mars as part of the mission called the Viking Mission. Vikings 1 and 2 were designed to consist of an orbiter and lander each. Viking 1 was launched on August 20, 1975, and arrived at Mars on June 19, 1976. Viking 1 then orbited for one month to search for a landing place before its lander separated from the orbiter on July 20, 1976, and touched down at Chryse Planitia. Viking 2 was launched 19 days from Viking 1 on launched September 9, 1975, and entered Mars orbit on August 7, 1976, its lander touching down at Utopia Planitia on September 3, 1976. Above in space, the orbiters were busy imaging the entire surface of Mars. Viking 2's orbiter was powered down on July 25, 1978, after 706 orbits, 2 years of orbiting, and Viking 1's orbiter on August 17, 1980, after over 1400 orbits, 4 years' orbiting. The landers stayed longer to analyse and transmit information about Mars' surface. Viking 2's lander powered down on April 11, 1980, and Viking 1's lander followed on November 13, 1982. The information the Vikings provided us with a complete look of Mars, showing even more geographical structures such as volcanoes and more evidence of surface water. All in all, the Vikings have sent us more than fifty thousand photos, and became the first mission to safely land a spacecraft onto Mars.
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Launch Date: 07 July 1988 (Phobos 1) and 12 July 1988 (Phobos 2)
Launch Vehicle: Proton-K
Mass: 2600 Kg (6220 Kg with orbital insertion hardware attached)
Power System: Solar panels
There were little launches after the Viking mission concluded. Meanwhile, the soviet economy was in a bad shape. Facing deficits amounting to billions per year, USSR nevertheless managed to send up two probes, Phobos 1 and 2 to investigate Mars and its satellites, one of which was Phobos. Phobos 1 was launched on July 7, 1988, and Phobos 2 on July 12 that same year. Phobos 1's flight however did not went well. An expected communications session on September 2, 1988, failed to occur as planned and Phobos 1 was lost. Phobos 2 did a little better, getting to within 50m from the surface of Phobos where it released two landers. It managed to transmit TV images to be reviewed by a group of international scientist from USSR, Bulgaria, Germany, Finland, Great Britain and the US before communications failed and Phobos 2 lost on March 27, 1989. Though Phobos 1 and 2 were lost, it was still a success to some degree, as images of Phobos were obtained and reviewed. The Phobos mission however, was the end of a phrase for the IKI space research. In 1991, communism had failed and the USSR was disbanded. Space exploration had entered a new phrase.
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The Mars Observer was the first NASA unmanned mission to Mars after the Viking Mission concluded in the 1980s. Mars Observer was launched on September 25, 1992, designed as an orbiter. All went well until 3 days to arrival of Mars, communications with the craft was lost. With the failure of the Mars Observer was followed another long period of waiting till November 7, 1996 the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. The Mars Global Surveyor was the predecessor of the Mars Observer, built basically to offer a rapid, low cost recovery to the Mars Observer objectives. After its successful launch, the spacecraft reached Mars on September 12, 1997, and began its orbit. Though its primary mapping mission was delayed to March 1999 due to certain difficulties, all else went well and the many advanced and sophisticated instruments on board, such as the thermal emission spectrometer, began work. Even now, it is still in orbit around Mars mapping its surface.
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Mars 96 was a Russian orbiter and lander which was launched from Baikonur on November 16, 1996, with a rejuvenated IKI under the new Russian government that planned a new Russian Space Program. But actually, plans for this launch had started as early as 1989 after the Phobos mission concluded. While there was a plan to send an earlier flight in 1994, it was not to be due to national economic difficulties. The Mars 96 flight thus had high expectations. Unfortunately, technical problems did not permit it to meet its goals. The craft crashed into the Pacific after its third revolution round Earth. While Russia failed its unmanned mission, NASA was once more sending another craft to Mars. The Mars Pathfinder was the second of NASA's low cost missions to Mars, the first being the Mars Global Surveyor. Consisting of a lander and a rover, the mission was primarily to show the feasibility of low cost landings and ability to explore Mars' surface. Launched on December 4, 1996, the Mars Pathfinder reached and landed on Mars on July 4, 1997. However, to some bad luck, communication with it was lost on September 27, 1997 due to unknown reasons, and NASA has failed its second out of three missions since the Vikings.
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1998 was an interesting year when Japan managed to send a craft to break the so far monopoly of Mars exploration of the US and Russia. The Nozomi was the first Japanese Mars orbiter built and was launched on July 4, 1998. However, immediate success had to be postponed when the Nozomi's Mars landing was delayed due to propulsion problems and was forced to orbit round the Sun for some time. It is however, in heliocentric orbit to arrive at Mars in early 2004. Meanwhile, NASA sent the Mars Climate Orbiter on December 11, 1998. Sadly, bad luck struck again when the Mars Climate Orbiter was lost on its arrival to Mars, likely due to failure of NASA's systems engineering team to find and ratify the error which caused the lost of the orbiter. The Mars Polar Lander was launched on January 3, 1999, piggybacking two miniature probes, or Deep Space 2, to Mars. Disappointingly once more, the probes failed to respond to NASA despite the team's attempt to regain communications. With the failure of the probes to respond was the lost of many of the first-of-a-kind instruments and systems that had taken NASA much effort to equip on the two probes.
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Launch Date: April 7, 2001
Arrival Date: October 24, 2001
Mass: 758 kilograms (1,671 pounds), fueled
Science instruments on board: Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE), Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) and Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS)
2001 Mars Odyssey is an orbiting spacecraft. One of its main objectives is to determine the composition of the planet's surface. Although the surface of Mars has long been thought to consist of a mixture of rock, soil and icy material, the exact composition of these materials is still unknown. The spacecraft will collect images that will be helpful in identifying the minerals present in the soils and rocks on the Martian surface and to study small-scale geologic processes.
By measuring the amount of hydrogen found in the upper meter of soil across the whole planet, the spacecraft will help us understand how much water may be available for future exploration, as well as give us clues about Mar's climatic history. Mars Odyssey will also collect data on the radiation environment of Mars to help the scientists assess potential risks to any future human explorers to Mars. The orbiter can also act as a communications relay for future Mars landers.
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