Courtesy : en.wikipedia.org

Mars exploration

The planet Mars has been explored remotely by spacecraft. Probes sent from Earth, beginning in the late 20th century, have yielded a large increase in knowledge about the Martian system, focused primarily on understanding its geology and habitability potential.Engineering interplanetary journeys is complicated and the exploration of Mars has experienced a high failure rate, especially the early attempts. Roughly sixty percent of all spacecraft destined for Mars failed before completing their missions and some failed before their observations could begin. Some missions have met with unexpected success, such as the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity which operated for years beyond their specification.

Current status

A 19th-century hand-drawn map by Giovanni Schiaparelli, and a more modern photographic image, with a blended one in the middle.

As of May 2021, there are three operational rovers on the surface of Mars, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, both operated by the United States of America space agency NASA, as well as the Zhurong rover, part of the Tianwen-1 mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).There are eight orbiters surveying the planet: Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), MAVEN, the Trace Gas Orbiter, the Hope Mars Mission, and the Tianwen-1 orbiter, which have contributed massive amounts of information about Mars. The stationary lander InSight is investigating the deep interior of Mars. Various sample return missions are being planned to pick up the samples obtained by the Perseverance rover. An attempted return mission for Mars’ moon Phobos (Fobos-Grunt) failed at launch in 2011. In all, there are 13 probes currently surveying Mars including the Ingenuity helicopter, which is scouting sites for Perseverance to study

The next missions expected to arrive at Mars are:

• The joint ExoMars program of Roscosmos and ESA has delayed the launch of the Kazachok landing platform, which will carry the Rosalind Franklin rover, until 2022.
• Mars Orbiter Mission 2 by India, planned launch in 2024.

Martian system

Main articles: Mars, Martian surface, Atmosphere of Mars, and Moons of Mars

Mars has long been the subject of human interest. Early telescopic observations revealed color changes on the surface that were attributed to seasonal vegetation and apparent linear features were ascribed to intelligent design. Further telescopic observations found two moons, Phobos and Deimos, polar ice caps and the feature now known as Olympus Mons, the Solar System’s tallest mountain. The discoveries piqued further interest in the study and exploration of the red planet. Mars is a rocky planet, like Earth, that formed around the same time, yet with only half the diameter of Earth, and a far thinner atmosphere; it has a cold and desert-like surface

One way the surface of Mars has been categorized, is by thirty “quadrangles”, with each quadrangle named for a prominent physiographic feature within that quadrangle.

Clickable image of the 30 cartographic quadrangles of Mars, defined by the USGS.Quadrangle numbers (beginning with MC for “Mars Chart”)and names link to the corresponding articles. North is at the top; 0°N 180°W is at the far left on the equator. The map images were taken by the Mars Global Surveyor.

Launch windows

Spacecraft launches and Mars distance from Earth in millions of kilometers

The minimum-energy launch windows for a Martian expedition occur at intervals of approximately two years and two months (specifically 780 days, the planet’s synodic period with respect to Earth). In addition, the lowest available transfer energy varies on a roughly 16-year cycle. For example, a minimum occurred in the 1969 and 1971 launch windows, rising to a peak in the late 1970s, and hitting another low in 1986 an

Past and current missions

Main article: List of missions to Mars

Starting in 1960, the Soviets launched a series of probes to Mars including the first intended flybys and hard (impact) landing (Mars 1962B).The first successful flyby of Mars was on 14–15 July 1965, by NASA’s Mariner 4. On November 14, 1971, Mariner 9 became the first space probe to orbit another planet when it entered into orbit around MarsThe amount of data returned by probes increased dramatically as technology improved.

The first to contact the surface were two Soviet probes: Mars 2 lander on November 27 and Mars 3 lander on December 2, 1971—Mars 2 failed during descent and Mars 3 about twenty seconds after the first Martian soft landing. Mars 6 failed during descent but did return some corrupted atmospheric data in 1974.The 1975 NASA launches of the Viking program consisted of two orbiters, each with a lander that successfully soft landed in 1976. Viking 1 remained operational for six years, Viking 2 for three. The Viking landers relayed the first color panoramas of Mars.

The Soviet probes Phobos 1 and 2 were sent to Mars in 1988 to study Mars and its two moons, with a focus on Phobos. Phobos 1 lost contact on the way to Mars. Phobos 2, while successfully photographing Mars and Phobos, failed before it was set to release two landers to the surface of Phobos.