List of missions to Mars

Mars and its moons have been a target for many spacecraft, with flyby, orbiter, lander and rover missions visiting the planet.^[1][2] In addition, two spacecraft, Rosetta and Dawn, have made flybys to get gravity assists for other missions; the former en route to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, and the latter en route to asteroid 4 Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres. Three missions were dedicated to Phobos, but they did not achieve their goals.

Missions

Spacecraft	Launch date[1]	Operator	Mission[1]	Outcome[1]	Remarks	Carrier rocket[2]
1M No.1	10 October 1960	OKB-1 Soviet Union	Flyby	0Launch failure	Failed to orbit	Molniya
1M No.2	14 October 1960	OKB-1 Soviet Union	Flyby	0Launch failure	Failed to orbit	Molniya
2MV-4 No.1	24 October 1962	Soviet Union	Flyby	0Launch failure	Disintegrated in LEO	Molniya
Mars 1 (2MV-4 No.2)	1 November 1962	Soviet Union	Flyby	1Spacecraft failure	Communications lost before flyby	Molniya
2MV-3 No.1	4 November 1962	Soviet Union	Lander	0Launch failure	Never left LEO	Molniya
Mariner 3	5 November 1964	NASA United States	Flyby	0Launch failure	Payload fairing failed to separate	Atlas LV-3 Agena-D
Mariner 4	28 November 1964	NASA United States	Flyby	4Successful	Closest approach at 01:00:57 UTC on 15 July 1965	Atlas LV-3 Agena-D
Zond 2 (3MV-4A No.2)	30 November 1964	Soviet Union	Flyby	1Spacecraft failure	Communications lost before flyby	Molniya
Mariner 6	25 February 1969	NASA United States	Flyby	4Successful		Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D
2M No.521	27 March 19691	Soviet Union	Orbiter	0Launch failure	Failed to orbit	Proton-K/D
Mariner 7	27 March 19692	NASA United States	Flyby	4Successful		Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D
2M No.522	2 April 1969	Soviet Union	Orbiter	0Launch failure	Failed to orbit	Proton-K/D
Mariner 8	9 May 19712	NASA United States	Orbiter	0Launch failure	Failed to orbit	Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D
Kosmos 419 (3MS No.170)	10 May 1971	Soviet Union	Orbiter	0Launch failure	Never left LEO; upper stage burn timer set incorrectly	Proton-K/D
Mariner 9	30 May 1971	NASA United States	Orbiter	4Successful[3]	Entered orbit on 14 November 1971, deactivated 516 days after entering orbit	Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D
Mars 2 (4M No.171)	19 May 1971	Soviet Union	Orbiter	3Mostly successful	Entered orbit 27 November 1971, operated for 362 orbits. Mapping operations unsuccessful due to dust storms on the surface[4]	Proton-K/D
Mars 2 lander (SA 4M No.171)	19 May 1971	Soviet Union	Lander	1Spacecraft failure	Deployed from Mars 2, failed to land during attempt on 27 November 1971	Proton-K/D
Mars 3 (4M No.172)	28 May 1971	Soviet Union	Orbiter	3Mostly successful	Entered orbit 2 December 1971, operated for 20 orbits.[5] Mapping operations unsuccessful due to dust storms on the surface[6]	Proton-K/D
Mars 3 lander (SA 4M No.172)	28 May 1971	Soviet Union	Lander	2Partial failure	Deployed from Mars 3; landed at 13:52 UTC on 2 December 1971 but contact lost 14.5 seconds later	Proton-K/D
Prop-M Rover rover (SA 4M No.172)	28 May 1971	Soviet Union	Rover	1Spacecraft failure	Failed to deploy	Proton-K/D
Mars 4 (3MS No.52S)	21 July 1973	Soviet Union	Orbiter	1Spacecraft failure	Failed to perform orbital insertion burn	Proton-K/D
Mars 5 (3MS No.53S)	25 July 1973	Soviet Union	Orbiter	1Spacecraft failure	Failed after nine days in Mars orbit	Proton-K/D
Mars 6 (3MP No.50P)	5 August 1973	Soviet Union	Lander Flyby	1Spacecraft failure	Contact lost upon landing, atmospheric data mostly unreadable. Flyby bus collected data.[7]	Proton-K/D
Mars 7 (3MP No.51P)	9 August 1973	Soviet Union	Lander Flyby	1Spacecraft failure	Separated from coast stage prematurely, failed to enter Martian atmosphere	Proton-K/D
Viking 1 orbiter	20 August 1975	NASA United States	Orbiter	4Successful	Operated for 1385 orbits	Titan IIIE Centaur-D1T
Viking 1 lander	20 August 1975	NASA United States	Lander	4Successful	Deployed from Viking 1 orbiter, operated for 2245 sols	Titan IIIE Centaur-D1T
Viking 2 orbiter	9 September 1975	NASA United States	Orbiter	4Successful	Operated for 700 orbits	Titan IIIE Centaur-D1T
Viking 2 lander	9 September 1975	NASA United States	Lander	4Successful	Deployed from Viking 2 orbiter, operated for 1281 sols	Titan IIIE Centaur-D1T
Fobos 1 (1F No.101)	7 July 1988	Soviet Union	Orbiter Phobos lander	1Spacecraft failure	Communications lost before reaching Mars; failed to enter orbit	Proton-K/D-2
Fobos 2 (1F No.102)	7 July 1988	Soviet Union	Orbiter Phobos lander	2Partial failure	Orbital observations successful, communications lost before landing	Proton-K/D-2
Mars Observer	25 September 1992	NASA United States	Orbiter	1Spacecraft failure	Lost communications before orbital insertion	Commercial Titan III
Mars Global Surveyor	7 November 1996	NASA United States	Orbiter	4Successful	Operated for seven years	Delta II 7925
Mars 96 (M1 No.520)	16 November 1996	Rosaviakosmos Russia	Orbiter Penetrators	0Launch failure	Never left LEO	Proton-K/D-2
Mars Pathfinder	4 December 1996	NASA United States	Lander	4Successful	Landed at 19.13°N 33.22°W on 4 July 1997[8]	Delta II 7925
Sojourner	4 December 1996	NASA United States	Rover	4Successful	Operated for 84 days[9]	Delta II 7925
Nozomi (PLANET-B)	3 July 1998	ISAS Japan	Orbiter	1Spacecraft failure	Ran out of fuel before reaching Mars	M-V
Mars Climate Orbiter	11 December 1998	NASA United States	Orbiter	1Spacecraft failure	Approached Mars too closely during orbit insertion attempt due to unit conversion error and burned up in the atmosphere	Delta II 7425
Mars Polar Lander	3 January 1999	NASA United States	Lander	1Spacecraft failure	Failed to land	Delta II 7425
Deep Space 2	3 January 1999	NASA United States	Penetrators	1Spacecraft failure	Deployed from MPL, no data returned	Delta II 7425
Mars Odyssey	7 April 2001	NASA United States	Orbiter	5Operational	Expected to remain operational until 2025.	Delta II 7925
Mars Express	2 June 2003	ESA Europe	Orbiter	5Operational	Enough fuel to remain operational until 2026.	Soyuz-FG/Fregat
Beagle 2	2 June 2003	ESA Europe	Lander	1Lander failure	Deployed from Mars Express. Successful landing, but two solar panels failed to deploy, obstructing its communications.	Soyuz-FG/Fregat
Spirit (MER-A)	10 June 2003	NASA United States	Lander/RoverRover	4Successful	operated for 2208 sols	Delta II 7925
Opportunity (MER-B)	8 July 2003	NASA United States	Lander/RoverRover	5Operational		Delta II 7925H
Rosetta	2 March 2004	ESA Europe	Gravity assist	4Successful	Flyby in February 2007 en route to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko[10]	Ariane 5G+
MRO	12 August 2005	NASA United States	Orbiter	5Operational		Atlas V 401
Phoenix	4 August 2007	NASA United States	Lander	4Successful		Delta II 7925
Dawn	27 September 2007	NASA United States	Gravity assist	4Successful	Flyby in February 2009 en route to 4 Vesta and Ceres	Delta II 7925H
Fobos-Grunt	8 November 2011	Roskosmos Russia	Orbiter Phobos sample	1Spacecraft failure	Never left LEO (intended to depart under own power)	Zenit-2M
Yinghuo-1	8 November 2011	CNSA PR China	Orbiter	1Failure Lost with Fobos-Grunt	To have been deployed by Fobos-Grunt	Zenit-2M
Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)	26 November 2011	NASA United States	Lander/RoverRover	5Operational		Atlas V 541
Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan)	5 November 2013	ISRO India	Orbiter	5Operational	Entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014. Mission extended by six months.[11][12]	PSLV-XL
MAVEN	18 November 2013	NASA United States	Orbiter	5Operational	Orbit insertion on September 22, 2014[13]	Atlas V 401
ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter	14 March 2016	ESA/Roscosmos Europe/Russia	Orbiter	5En route		Proton-M/Briz-M
Schiaparelli EDM lander	14 March 2016	ESA Europe	Lander	5En route	Carried by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter	Proton-M/Briz-M

Locations of selected Mars landers and rovers

Interactive imagemap of the global topography of Mars, overlain with locations of Mars landers and rovers. Hover your mouse to see the names of prominent geographic features, and click to link to them. Coloring of the base map indicates relative elevations, based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Reds and pinks are higher elevation (+3 km to +8 km); yellow is 0 km; greens and blues are lower elevation (down to −8 km). Whites (>+12 km) and browns (>+8 km) are the highest-most elevations. Axes are latitude and longitude; note poles are not shown.

Spirit (2004) >

Opportunity (2004) >

< Sojourner (1997)

Viking 1 (1976) >

Viking 2 (1976) >

< Phoenix (2008)

< Mars 3 (1971)

Curiosity (2012) >

< Beagle 2 (2003)

Future missions

In development

Mission	Launch	Notes	Country or Space Agency
InSight	2018 [14][15]	Lander	NASA
Red Dragon	2018[16]	Lander	SpaceX USA
Mangalyaan 2[17]	2018-2020	Orbiter. Optional: lander, rover	Indian Space Research Organisation
Mars Hope	2020[18][19][20]	Orbiter[18]	United Arab Emirates
Mars 2020	2020	Rover	NASA
ExoMars Rover	2020 [21]	Rover	ESA
2020 Chinese Mars Mission	2020	Orbiter, lander, rover	China National Space Administration

Proposals

Mission	Launch	Notes	Country or Space Agency
NASA 2022 orbiter	2022	Orbiter[22]	NASA
Mars to Stay		Settlement	United States
	2040-2060	Crewed phase of the Chinese Mars exploration program[23]	China National Space Administration
	2040-2060	Crewed phase of the Russian Mars exploration program[24]	Roscosmos

Missions to the moons of Mars

Phobos' stickney crater

Deimos (lower left) and Phobos (lower right) compared with the asteroid 951 Gaspra

Phobos by Mars Global Surveyor in 1998^[25]

Missions dedicated to explore the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. Many missions to Mars have also included dedicated observations of the Moons, what this is about is missions focused just 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.^[26] 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.^[27]

In Japan, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) is assessing a sample return mission to Phobos.^[28][29] This mission is called MMX (Martian Moons Explorer)^[30] and is proposed as a flagship Strategic Large Mission.^[31] If funded, MMX will build on the expertise the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) would gain through the Hayabusa 2 and SLIM missions.^[32] As of January 2016, MMX is under review by JAXA, and is proposed to be launched in 2022.^[29][33]

Proposal	Target	Reference
Aladdin	Phobos and Deimos	[34]
DSR	Deimos	[35]
Gulliver	Deimos	[36]
Hall	Phobos and Deimos	[37]
M-PADS	Phobos and Deimos	[38]
Merlin	Phobos and Deimos	[39]
MMSR (2011 ver.)	Phobos or Deimos	[40]
OSRIS-REx 2	Phobos or Deimos	[41]
Pandora	Phobos and Deimos	[26]
PCROSS	Phobos	[42]
Phobos Surveyor	Phobos	[43]
PRIME	Phobos	[44]
Fobos-Grunt 2	Phobos	[45]
Phootprint	Phobos	[46][47]
PADME	Phobos and Deimos	[48][49]
Martian Moons Explorer (MMX)	Phobos	[30]

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.

Launched mission	Target	Reference
Phobos 1	Phobos
Phobos 2	Phobos
Fobos-Grunt	Phobos

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.

The 'Red Rocks Project', a part of Lockheed Martin's "Stepping stones to Mars" program, proposed to explore Mars robotically from Deimos.^[50][51]

See also

• Artificial objects on Mars
• Exploration of Mars
• Manned mission to Mars
• Mars Exploration Rover
• Mars flyby
• Mars landing
• Mars rover

References

1. Chronology of Mars Exploration. NASA. Retrieved on 2011-12-01.
2. Russian Space Web - Mars Missions
3. Pyle, Rod (2012). Destination Mars. Prometheus Books. pp. 73–78. ISBN 978-1-61614-589-7. It was the first spacecraft to enter orbit around another world.
4. "Missions to Mars". The Planetary Society.
5. Perminov, V.G. (July 1999). The Difficult Road to Mars - A Brief History of Mars Exploration in the Soviet Union (PDF). NASA Headquarters History Division. pp. 34–60. ISBN 0-16-058859-6.
6. Webster, Guy (April 11, 2013). "NASA Mars Orbiter Images May Show 1971 Soviet Lander". NASA. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
7. NSSDC - Mars 6
8. "Mars Pathfinder Science Results". NASA.
9. Mars Pathfinder - Welcome to Mars - Sol 86
10. "ESA - Beautiful new images from Rosetta’s approach to Mars: OSIRIS UPDATE". Esa.int. 2007-02-24. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
11. "The first image sent from Mars Orbiter.". ISRO.
12. "Mangalyaan Completes 6 Months in Martian Orbit, Could Last Much Longer". NDTV. 24 March 2015.
13. Brown, Dwayne; Neal-Jones, Nancy; Zubritsky, Elizabeth (September 21, 2014). "NASA's Newest Mars Mission Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Red Planet". NASA. Retrieved September 22, 2014.
14. Clark, Stephen (9 March 2016). "InSight Mars lander escapes cancellation, aims for 2018 launch". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
15. Chang, Kenneth (9 March 2016). "NASA Reschedules Mars InSight Mission for May 2018". New York Times. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
16. Cowing, Keith (28 April 2016). "SpaceX Will Start Going to Mars in 2018". SpaceRef. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
17. "India plans second Mars mission in 2018". CNN IBN. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-10-30.
18. Clark, Stephen (8 May 2015). "UAE details ambitious plan for Martian weather satellite". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
19. "Emirates Mars Mission". iCresRise Magazine. January 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
20. Emirates Mars Mission. Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). 5 May 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
21. "Second ExoMars mission moves to next launch opportunity in 2020" (Press release). ESA. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
22. Stephen, Clark (March 3, 2015). "NASA eyes ion engines for Mars orbiter launching in 2022". Space Flight Now. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
23. 中国嫦娥探月工程进展顺利 进度将有望加快-军事频道-中华网-中国最大职业人士门户
24. Пилотируемый полет на Марс будет возможен после 2040 года - Роскосмос. versii.com (in Russian). Retrieved 22 August 2014.
26. MERLIN: The Creative Choices Behind a Proposal to Explore the Martian Moons (Merlin and PADME info also)
27. MMSR - a study for a Martian Moon Sample Return mission
28. "Introduction to JAXA’s Exploration of the Two Moons of Mars, with Sample Return from Phobos" (PDF). Phobos/Deimos Sample Return Mission Study Team. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
29. "JAXA、火星衛星「フォボス」探査…２２年に". The Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). January 4, 2016. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
30. "ISASニュース 2016.1 No.418" (PDF) (in Japanese). Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-04.
31. "宇宙科学・探査分野 工程表取り組み状況について その3" (PDF) (in Japanese). Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
32. Torishima, Shinya (June 19, 2015). "JAXAの「火星の衛星からのサンプル・リターン」計画とは". Mynavi News (in Japanese). Retrieved 2015-10-06.
33. JAXA plans probe to bring back samples from moons of Mars
34. C. Pieters, et al. - Aladdin: Phobos-Deimos Sample Return
35. Small Body Sample Return to Deimos
36. Dr. Britt - The Gulliver Mission: Sample Return from Deimos
37. P. Lee, et al. - Hall: A Phobos and Deimos Sample Return Mission
38. Mars Phobos and Deimos Survey (M-PADS)–A Martian Moons Orbiter and Phobos Lander (Ball, Andrew J.; Price, Michael E.; Walker, Roger J.; Dando, Glyn C.; Wells, Nigel S. and Zarnecki, John C. (2009). Mars Phobos and Deimos Survey (M-PADS)–A Martian Moons Orbiter and Phobos Lander. Advances in Space Research, 43(1), pp. 120–127.)
39. MERLIN: MARS-MOON EXPLORATION, RECONNAISSANCE AND LANDED INVESTIGATION
40. MMSR - a study for a Martian Moon Sample Return mission
41. Elifritz, T. L. - OSIRIS-REx II to Mars
42. Colaprete, A, et al. - PCROSS — Phobos Close Rendevous(sic) Observation Sensing Satellite
43. Phobos Surveyor - Space Safety Magazine
44. PRIME
45. SSM - Phobos-Grunt 2 Bound for Launch in 2020, Russians Confirmed While Celebrating Sputnik
46. Barraclough, Simon; Ratcliffe, Andrew; Buchwald, Robert; Scheer, Heloise; Chapuy, Marc; Garland, Martin (June 16, 2014). Phootprint: A European Phobos Sample Return Mission (PDF). 11th International Planetary Probe Workshop. Airbus Defense and Space.
47. Koschny, Detlef; Svedhem, Håkan; Rebuffat, Denis (August 2, 2014). "Phootprint - A Phobos sample return mission study". ESA. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
48. Lee, Pascal; Bicay, Michael; Colapre, Anthony; Elphic, Richard (March 17–21, 2014). Phobos And Deimos & Mars Environment (PADME): A LADEE-Derived Mission to Explore Mars's Moons and the Martian Orbital Environment. (PDF). 45th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2014).
49. Reyes, Tim (1 October 2014). "Making the Case for a Mission to the Martian Moon Phobos". Universe Today. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
50. Larry Page Deep Space Exploration - Stepping Stones builds up to "Red Rocks : Explore Mars from Deimos"
51. One Possible Small Step Toward Mars Landing: A Martian Moon