International Mars Missions
Mars exploration has been a topic of global interest since the first missions to the Red Planet in the 1950s. Consider the past, current, and future missions that have or will change the way the world thinks about Mars.
Current Missions
NASA: Perseverance Rover
CNSA: Tianwen-1
EMM: Hope Probe
ESA, ROSCOSMOS: Exo Mars Trace Gas orbiter (TGO)
NASA: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN)
NASA Curiosity Rover
NASA: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
ESA, ASI, NASA: Mars Express
NASA: Mars Odyssey
NASA: Escapade
NASA, CSA, ASI, JAXA: International Mars Ice Mapper (I-MIM)
ISRO: Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) 2
CNSA: Mars Sample Return
NASA, ESA: Mars Sample Return
JAXA: Martian Moons Exploration (MMX)
ESA: Rosalind Franklin ExoMars Rover
ASI: Terrain Analyzer and Sample Tester Explorer (TASTE)
Past Missions
NASA: InSight
NASA: MarCO A & B
ISRO: Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)
NASA: Spirit & Opportunity
NASA: Phoenix
ISAS: Nozomi
NASA: Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner
NASA: Mars Global Surveyor
NASA: Viking 1 and Viking 2
SSSR: Mars 5 and Mars 6
NASA: Mariner 9
SSSR: Mars 2 and Mars 3
NASA: Mariner 6 and Mariner 7
SSSR: Zond 2
NASA: Mariner 4
Current Missions
NASA: Perseverance Rover
2020-present
The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is searching for signs of ancient microbial life, which will advance NASA’s quest to explore the past habitability of Mars. The first leg of a Mars sample return campaign, Perseverance has a drill which will collect core samples of Martian rock and soil, then store them in sealed tubes for pickup by future missions that will ferry them back to Earth for detailed analysis. Perseverance is also testing technologies to help pave the way for future human exploration of Mars.
The Perseverance mission is testing multiple novel technologies that will advance future missions to Mars. Ingenuity, the Mars helicopter, tested the first powered flight on Mars and opens the door for future aerial exploration missions. The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) is testing turning atmospheric carbon dioxide into oxygen. The Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment, (RIMFAX) uses radar waves to probe the ground under the rover.
A selfie taken by Perseverance Rover while on Mars. Image courtesy of NASA.
Tianwen-1, China’s first Mars mission, consists of an orbiter and a rover named Zhurong. It entered Mars orbit in February 2021 and Zhurong landed on May 14, 2021.
The rover demonstrated crucial entry, descent, and landing technologies, including an aeroshell, supersonic parachute, sensor systems, and the retropulsion needed for a soft landing on Mars. It also demonstrated a radar instrument designed to detect subsurface water, with the implication that this water may be able to support life.
Between the rover and orbiter, there are eight instruments, which include cameras, a radar system, climate sensors, and a laser spectrometer.
Emirates Mars Mission: Hope Probe
2020-present
The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) is the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) first mission to Mars. Its Hope Probe entered Mars orbit in 2021 and will study climate dynamics and global weather patterns. It may help identify why Mars is losing hydrogen and oxygen into space; it will examine the mechanisms behind the upward transport of energy and particles and the escape of such particles from the gravity of Mars.
Hope is demonstrating the promise of international space exploration efforts. The mission was designed and managed at all stages by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, with participation from scientists at U.S. universities. Japan launched the craft.
Illustration of the Hope Probe orbiting Mars. Image courtesy of Emirates Mars Mission/UAE Space Agency.
2016-present
The ExoMars programme comprises two missions: the first – the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) – launched in 2016 while the second, carrying the Rosalind Franklin rover, will target launch in 2028. Together they will address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars.
TGO’s main objectives are to search for evidence of methane and other trace atmospheric gasses that could be signatures of active biological or geological processes.
The 2016 TGO will act as a relay for the mission.
Illustration of the TGO orbiting Mars. Image courtesy of ESA.
NASA: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN)
2013-present
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN) launched on November 18, 2013, and entered orbit around Mars on September 21, 2014. The mission’s goal is to explore the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the Sun and solar wind. Scientists will use MAVEN data to explore the loss of volatile compounds—such as CO2 N2 and H2O—from the Martian atmosphere to space. Understanding atmospheric loss will give scientists insight into the history of Mars’ atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability.
Illustration of MAVEN orbiting Mars. Image courtesy of NASA.
NASA: Curiosity Rover
2011-present
Part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, Curiosity is the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars. It launched Nov. 26, 2011 and landed on Mars on August 5, 2012.
Early in its mission, Curiosity’s scientific tools found chemical and mineral evidence of past habitable environments on Mars. It continues to explore the rock record from a time when Mars could have been home to microbial life.
A self-portrait of Curiosity on Mars. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
NASA: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
2005-present
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter blasted off from Cape Canaveral in 2005, on a search for evidence that water persisted on the surface of Mars for long periods of time. While other Mars missions have shown that water flowed across the surface during Mars’ history, it remains a mystery as to whether water was ever around long enough to provide a habitat for life.
MRO makes use of the HiRISE camera, the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet. The camera’s high resolution capability (imaging up to 30 centimeters per pixel) remains unprecedented for any existing orbiter in the study of the Red Planet, as well as being an indispensable instrument for helping to select landing sites for robotic and future human exploration.
Also aboard MRO is CRISM, an imaging spectrometer with a scannable field of view that can cover wavelengths in both the visible range and shorter wavelengths within the infrared range. Being able to detect light in these wavelength ranges enables the CRISM team to identify a broad range of minerals on the Martian surface.
An image of a crater taken by MRO. Image courtesy of NASA.
ESA, ASI, NASA: Mars Express
2003-present
Mars Express is Europe’s first mission to the Red Planet. It carries seven instruments and deployed a lander, Beagle 2. The lander was lost during its attempt to reach the planet’s surface but the orbiter continues its highly successful on-going global investigation of Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos.
Since beginning science operations in 2004, the mission has provided views of Mars in three dimensions, tracing the history of water across the planet. This demonstrates that Mars once harboured environmental conditions that may have been suitable for life. Key discoveries include the presence of minerals that form only in the presence of water, the detection of water-ice deposits underground, and evidence to suggest volcanism on Mars may have persisted until recent times.
The spacecraft has also provided relay communication services between the Earth and the NASA rovers on the surface, forming a centrepiece of the international effort in exploring Mars.
Illustration of Mars Express over water-ice crater. Image courtesy of ESA/Mars Express
NASA: Mars Odyssey
2001-present
The 2001 Mars Odyssey is the longest continually active mission around a planet that is not Earth. The spacecraft launched on April 7, 2001, and arrived at Mars on October 24, 2001. It created the first global map of chemical elements and minerals that make up the Martian surface. It successfully completed its primary science mission from February 2002 through August 2004, and its extended operations continue today.
The Odyssey orbiter currently serves as a communications relay for rovers and landers on Mars. It is serving as an important ice mapping tool and a radiation monitor that yields information about solar flares.
Odyssey has mapped chemical elements and minerals on the surface of Mars. Image courtesy of NASA.
The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) are a dual-spacecraft mission to study how the magnetosphere of Mars interacts with solar wind and the process behind atmospheric escape.
The two identical spacecraft were scheduled for launch as secondary satellites on the Psyche mission in August 2022, but are now scheduled to launch on an early flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
The science goals of the mission are to: understand the processes controlling the structure of Mars’ hybrid magnetosphere and how it guides ion flows, understand how energy and momentum are transported from the solar wind through Mars’ magnetosphere and understand the processes controlling the flow of energy and matter into and out of the collisional atmosphere.
Illustration of EscaPADE craft orbiting Mars. Image courtesy of Rocket Lab USA/UC Berkeley.
ASI, CSA, JAXA, NASA: International Mars Ice Mapper (I-MIM)
NASA, CSA, ASI, and JAXA have signed a statement of intent to advance a possible robotic Mars ice mapping mission, which could help identify abundant, accessible ice for future science missions and eventual human exploration on the Red Planet.
The international Mars Ice Mapper mission would detect the location, depth, spatial extent, and abundance of near-surface ice deposits, which would enable the science community to interpret a more detailed volatile history of Mars. The radar-carrying orbiter would also help identify properties of the dust, loose rocky material – known as regolith – and rock layers that might impact the ability to access ice.
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ISRO: Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) 2
The planned successor to MOM, Mangalyaan 2 is a proposed orbiter intended to continue studies of the Martian surface and sub-surface and serve as a continued communication link to Earth. The understanding of the temporal evolution of the Martian atmosphere necessitates new measurements to quantify the loss of atmospheric water and carbon dioxide.
This new Mars mission provides an opportunity to address questions regarding planetary evolutionary processes, how and whether life arose elsewhere in the solar system and the interplay between geological and possible biological history.
China is working on a complex mission to collect Mars rock samples and deliver them to Earth by building on the successes of recent Moon and Mars missions. The as-of-yet unnamed mission could launch as soon as 2028 with the goal of returning samples around 2030.
The Mars Sample Return Campaign is a partnership between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to conduct a series of missions designed to bring samples of Martian rocks and soil safely back to Earth, where they can be investigated in unprecedented detail, using all the capabilities of terrestrial laboratories.
The sample return mission architecture is designed to continue the work begun by NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which has already collected and cached a set of scientifically meaningful samples for future retrieval.
The next steps include a Sample Retrieval Lander and Mars Ascent Vehicle which will deliver samples to an ESA-led Earth Return Orbiter. After recovery on Earth, samples will be stored and made available to scientists around the world to look for signs of past life on Mars and perform many other studies beyond the capabilities of instruments delivered to Mars.
MMX (Martian Moons eXploration) is a mission to explore the Martian moons.
Mars has two moons – Phobos and Deimos. MMX is planning to collect surface material from Phobos and bring it back to the Earth. MMX is currently under development, with current plans to launch in the mid-2020s.
Some of the main goals of MMX include establishing the technology required for a return trip between Earth and Mars, implementing advanced sampling techniques on celestial bodies, and achieving greater understanding of the formation of Martian moons.
Illustration of MMX lander on a Martian moon. Image courtesy of JAXA.
ESA: Rosalind Franklin ExoMars Rover
A European rover named for Rosalind Franklin is part of the ExoMars programme that will now utilize a European-built surface lander to deliver the rover to the Martian surface. It is scheduled to launch in the late 2020s or early 2030s.
The rover will be the first mission to combine the capability to move across the surface and to study Mars at depth. It will collect samples with a drill down to a depth of 2m and analyze them with next-generation instruments in an onboard laboratory. Underground samples are more likely to include biomarkers, since the Martian atmosphere offers little protection from radiation at the surface.
Illustration of the Rosalind Franklin rover on Mars. Image courtesy of ESA
ASI: Terrain Analyzer and Sample Tester (TASTE)
Terrain Analyzer and Sample Tester (TASTE) is a Cubesat-in-Cubesat mission composed of an orbiter and a lander that will explore the Martian moon Deimos. The mission will combine orbital observations and direct surface analysis to better understand the formation of Deimos.
InSight, short for ‘Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport,’ was a Mars lander designed to study the “inner space” of Mars, its crust, mantle, and core.
During its mission, InSight detected the first quake discovered on another planet and collected the most comprehensive weather data of Mars to date, such as details of temperature and pressure.
InSight’s highly sensitive seismometer, paired with daily monitoring performed by the French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and the Marsquake Service managed by ETH Zurich, detected 1,319 marsquakes, including quakes caused by meteoroid impacts.
In 2022, Insight’s mission was ended after mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory were unable to contact the lander after two consecutive attempts, leading them to conclude the spacecraft’s solar batteries had run out of energy.
InSight’s first selfie. Image courtesy of NASA/JPT-Caltech.
Two identical communications-relay “CubeSats,” built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, were launched for redundancy as Mars Cube One (MarCO). MarCO-A and B were designed to facilitate communication with Earth and InSight around landing and to demonstrate their communications technology.
Illustration of MarC0-A and MarCo-B orbiting Mars. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL.
ISRO: Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)
2013- 2022
ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission – also known as MOM or Mangalyaan – was India’s first mission to Mars.
MOM carried five scientific payloads to study Martian surface features, morphology, mineralogy and the Martian atmosphere. It carried color cameras, instruments designed to map methane, and spectrometers to analyze the atmosphere.
In April 2022, ISRO lost contact with Mangalyaan. Officials explained that the orbiter had passed into Mars’ shadow for an extended period and likely became unable to orient its solar panels properly to receive power. The mission’s seven year lifespan far outlived the planned six-month operation.
NASA: Spirit & Opportunity
2003-2019
In January 2004, twin rovers named Spirit and Opportunity landed on opposite sides of the red planet. These robotic explorers trekked for miles across the Martian surface, conducting field geology and making atmospheric observations. They carried identical, sophisticated science instruments and found evidence of past water.
Spirit landed at Gusev Crater, a possible former lake in a giant impact crater. Opportunity landed at Meridiani Planum, a place where there were mineral deposits that only form in the presence of water.
Both rovers exceeded their planned 90-day mission lifetimes by several years. Spirit lasted until its final communication to Earth in 2010. Opportunity’s mission ended in 2019; the rover holds the records for the longest running rover and the rover with the most miles traveled.
Illustration of Spirit. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL.
NASA: Phoenix 2007
The Phoenix mission was the first chosen for NASA’s Scout program, an initiative for smaller, lower-cost spacecraft. Phoenix used a lander that was intended for use by 2001’s Mars Surveyor lander prior to its cancellation. It also carried a complex suite of instruments that were improved variations of those that flew on the lost Mars Polar Lander.
Phoenix landed farther north than any previous mission, at a latitude roughly equivalent to the arctic circle on Earth. During the course of its three-month mission, Phoenix dug into an ice-rich layer near the surface. It checked samples of dirt and ice for evidence of whether the site was ever hospitable to life.
Phoenix’s stereo camera, located on its 2-meter (6.6-foot) mast, used two “eyes” to reveal a high-resolution perspective of the landing site’s geology. Phoenix also scanned the atmosphere up to 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in altitude, obtaining data about the formation, duration and movement of clouds, fog, and dust plumes. It also carried temperature and pressure sensors.
Phoenix Mars Lander in Testing. Image courtesy of NASA.
ISAS: Nozomi
1998-2003
Japan’s first interplanetary spacecraft, Nozomi, was engineered to study solar wind and the upper atmosphere of Mars. Nozomi represented multinational cooperation; it was entirely designed and built by Japan and included a set of 14 science instruments made by Japan, Canada, Germany, Sweden, and the United States. The craft successfully left Earth’s orbit, but a propellant valve error during flight and a series of other complications, including solar flare damage, left the craft with too little fuel to reach Mars. A new plan instituted a heliocentric orbit, in which Nozomi collected valuable information about interplanetary space.
Illustration of Nozomi in Mars orbit. Image courtesy of JAXA and ISAS.
NASA: Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner
1996-1997
The Pathfinder lander and its corresponding Sojourner rover, the first wheeled rover to land and operate on Mars, employed a new landing technology that involved descending through the atmosphere immediately and bouncing on an airbag system instead of entering orbit. The time it takes for messages to travel between planets required that Sojourner be able to make its own decisions in real time, a capability common to recent rovers.
The pair gathered data about Mars water and geology and found that Martian dust is magnetic. The lander and rover both lasted three months.
NASA: Mars Global Surveyor
1996-2006
The Mars Global Surveyor observed Mars from a low-altitude, polar orbit mapped observations that helped determine the landing site for the Phoenix rover. The mission employed “aerobraking,” a new technique in which the craft used its solar panels and flaps to increase drag to finetune its orbit. Surveyor captured the highest-resolution images taken from orbit at the time and captured the dynamic surface, shown through shifting features like dunes. The mission ended in 2007 after contact was lost.
Illustration of the Mars Global Surveyor. Image courtesy of NASA.
NASA: Viking 1 and Viking 2
1975-1982
The two Viking landers and their corresponding orbiters represented the first mission to search for life. The landers contained equipment specially designed to detect biological activity. Through chemical metabolism experiments, they found evidence that suggested the presence of living organisms; more recent study has cast doubt on these conclusions, but the mission did uncover helpful information about the enigmatic chemical quality of the Martian surface.
Both landers were powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators, allowing them to live far beyond their projected lifetime. The Viking 0 lander made its final data transmission to earth in 1980, and the Viking 1 ended communication in 1982.
Carl Sagan stands by a Viking lander model in Death Valley, California. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL.
SSSR: Mars 5 and Mars 6
1973-1975
Spacecraft 5 and 6 the Soviet Space Program’s (SSSR) Mars series were partially successful; Mars 5 completed 22 orbits around Mars and returned 60 images before failing. Mars 6’s descent craft successfully separated from its corresponding orbiter and transmitted 224 seconds of the first data from within the Martian atmosphere before losing contact, possibly upon hitting the surface.
NASA: Mariner 9
1971-1971
In 1971, Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. It took a total of 7,329 images, photomapping 100% of the planet’s surface and completing the first close-up look of Mars’s two moons, Phobos and Deimos.
SSSR: Mars 2 and Mars 3
1971-1972
Twin spacecraft Mars 2 and 3 arrived at Mars at the time one of the largest dust storms in Mars recorded history; the Mars probe 2 did not land successfully, while Mars 3 probe became the first craft to land functionally on the planet. Both carried small rovers; it is unclear if Mars 3 was able to release its rover before becoming disabled by the dust storm. The circling orbiters returned a cumulative 60 images, and recorded data about temperatures, magnetics, and gravity.
An image of the rover each lander was designed to release. Image courtesy of the Planetary Society.
NASA: Mariner 6 and Mariner 7
1967-1969
Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 fulfilled the first dual mission to Mars and successfully completed their flybys in 1969. They each sent back several dozen photos, which demonstrated that the dark spaces on Mars were not water-filled canals as was previously believed.
Illustration of identical Mars 6 and 7. Image Courtesy of NASA.
SSSR (Soviet Space Program): Zond 2
1964-1965
Zond 2 represented the Soviet Union’s first successful flyby of Mars. The craft’s radio communications failed during a maneuvering attempt en route, however, and the craft was unable to transmit data back to Earth.
The Zond 2 craft. Image courtesy of NASA.
NASA: Mariner 4
1964-1967
Mariner 4 was the first craft to successfully reach Mars. As the fourth in a series of ten Mariner spacecraft created by NASA, it was launched in 1964 and completed a flyby of Mars in 1965. It sent 21 photographs back to Earth and lasted over two years longer than expected, collecting long-term data of the solar wind environment and taking measurements in coordination with Mariner 5, a twin craft sent to Venus.
Mariner’s photographs reveal lunar-type impact craters. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL.