The following table is a list of successful and unsuccessful Mars landers. As of 2022, 21 lander missions and 8 sub-landers (Rovers and Penetrators) attempted to land on Mars. Of 21 landers, the Curiosity rover and Perseverance rover are currently in operation on Mars.
S.No | Landers | Launch date | Landing date | Mass (kg) [1] | Landing site | Region | Status | Country | MOLA | Entry velocity | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Mars 2MV-3 No.1 | 04 Nov 1962 | 25 Nov 1962 | 890 | - | - | Failure | Soviet Union | - | - | [2] |
2. | Mars 2 | 19 May 1971 | 27 Nov 1971 | 1210 | 45°S 47°E♦ | - | Failure | Soviet Union | - | - | [3] [4] |
3. | Mars 3 | 28 May 1971 | 02 Dec 1971 | 1210 | 45°S 202°E♦ | Sirenum Terra | Partial success | Soviet Union | - | 5.7 km/sec | [5] [4] |
4. | Mars 6 | 05 Aug 1973 | 12 Mar 1974 | 635 | 23.90°S 19.4°W | Margaritifer Terra | Failure | Soviet Union | - | - | [6] [4] |
5. | Mars 7 | 09 Aug 1973 | - | 635 | - | - | Failure | Soviet Union | - | - | [7] [4] |
6. | Viking 1 | 20 Aug 1975 | 20 Jul 1976 | 572 | 22.27°N 47.95°W | Chryse Planitia | Success | USA | -3.5 | 4.61 km/sec | [8] |
7. | Viking 2 | 09 Sep 1975 | 03 Sep 1976 | 572 | 47.64°N 225.71°W | Utopia Planitia | Success | USA | -3.5 | 4.61 km/sec | [9] |
8. | Phobos 1 § | 07 Jul 1988 | - | 2600† | - | - | Failure | Soviet Union | - | - | [10] |
9. | Phobos 2 § | 12 Jul 1987 | - | 2600† | - | - | Failure | Soviet Union | - | - | [10] |
10. | Mars 96 | 16 Nov 1996 | - | 3159 | - | - | Failure | Russia | - | - | [11] |
11. | Mars Pathfinder | 04 Dec 1996 | 04 Jul 1997 | 361 | 19°7′48″ N 33°18′12″W | Ares Vallis | Success | USA | -2.5 | 7.26 km/sec | [12] [13] |
12. | Mars Polar Lander | 03 Jan 1999 | 03 Dec 1999 | 583 | 76°S 195°W | Ultimi Scopuli | Failure | USA | -3.0 | 6.91 km/sec | [14] [15] |
13. | Beagle 2 | 02 Jun 2003 | 25 Dec 2003 | 33.2 | 11.5265°N 90.4295°E | Isidis Planitia | Failure | United Kingdom | - | 5.63 km/sec | [16] [17] |
14. | Spirit rover | 10 Jun 2003 | 4 Jan 2004 | 174 | 14.5684°S 175.4726°E | Gusev Crater | Success | USA | -1.9 | 5.4 km/sec | [18] [19] [20] |
15. | Opportunity rover | 07 Jul 2003 | 25 Jan 2004 | 174 | 1.9462°S 354.4743°E | Meridiani Planum | Success | USA | -1.4 | 5.5 km/sec | [18] [21] [20] |
16. | Phoenix lander | 04 Aug 2007 | 25 May 2008 | 350 | 68.22°N 125.7°W | Vastitas Borealis | Success | USA | -3.5 | 5.59 km/sec | [12] |
17. | Curiosity rover | 26 Nov 2011 | 6 Aug 2012 | 899 | 4.5895°S 137.4417°E | Gale Crater | Operational | USA | 2.0 | 5.6 km/sec | [22] [23] [20] |
18. | Schiaparelli EDM | 14 Mar 2016 | 19 Oct 2016 | 577 | 2.052°S 6.208°W | Meridiani Planum | Failure | ESA/ Russia | 1.45 | 5.83 km/sec | [24] |
19. | InSight Mars Lander | 5 May 2018 | 26 Nov 2018 | 727 | 4.5°N 135.9°E | Elysium Planitia | Success | USA | -2.5 | 6.3 km/sec | [25] |
20. | Perseverance rover | 30 Jul 2020 | 18 Feb 2021 | 1,025 | 18.4447°N 77.4508°E | Jezero crater | Operational | USA | - | - | [26] |
21. | Tianwen-1 | 23 July 2020 | 14 May 2021 | 240 | 25.1°N, 109.7°E | Utopia Planitia | Success | China | - | 4.8 km/sec | [27] |
§ - Spacecraft intended for Martian moons (Phobos and Deimos), †Entry Mass, ♦ Estimated, MOLA - Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter
S.No | Sub-Landers | Type | Lander Slot | Launch Date | Mass (kg) | Status | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | PrOP-M | Rover | Mars 2 | 19 May 1971 | 4.5 | Failure | [3] [4] |
2. | PrOP-M | Rover | Mars 3 | 28 May 1971 | 4.5 | Not deployed | [4] [5] |
3. | Mars 96 | Penetrator | Mars 96 | 16 Nov 1996 | 88 | Failure | [11] |
4. | Deep Space 2 | Penetrator | Mars Polar Lander | 03 Jan 1999 | 2.4 | Failure | [14] [15] |
5. | Sojourner | Rover | Mars Pathfinder | 04 Dec 1996 | 11.5 | Success | [12] [13] |
6. | Mars helicopter Ingenuity | UAV Helicopter | Mars 2020 Perseverance rover | 30 Jul 2021 | 1.8 | Success | |
7. | Zhurong | Rover | Tianwen-1 | 23 Jul 2021 | 240 | Success | |
8. | Tianwen-1 Remote camera | Camera | Zhurong rover | 1 June 2021 | <1 | Success |
Lander | Proposed Launch | Country | Agency | Type | Sub-Lander | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mars MetNet Precursor | ? | Finland | FMI | Impact Lander | - | [28] |
Mars MetNet | ? | Finland | FMI | Multi-lander | - | [29] |
Mars Lander | 2045 | South Korea | KARI | Lander | - | [30] |
Icebreaker | 2026 | US | NASA | Lander | - | [31] |
Martian Moons Exploration | 2026 | Japan | JAXA | Lander | Sample Return | [32] |
Phootprint | 2024 | Europe | ESA | Lander | Ascent Stage | [33] |
Fobos-Grunt (Repeat) | 2024 | Russia | ROSCOSMOS | Lander | Ascent Stage | [34] |
Mars-Grunt | 2024 | Russia | ROSCOSMOS | Lander | - | [1] |
BOLD | 2020 | US | NASA | Impact Lander | 6-Impact Lander | [35] |
The Explorers program is a NASA exploration program that provides flight opportunities for physics, geophysics, heliophysics, and astrophysics investigations from space. Launched in 1958, Explorer 1 was the first spacecraft of the United States to achieve orbit. Over 90 space missions have been launched since. Starting with Explorer 6, it has been operated by NASA, with regular collaboration with a variety of other institutions, including many international partners.
The Mars program was a series of uncrewed spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1973. The spacecraft were intended to explore Mars, and included flyby probes, landers and orbiters.
This is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordering events in the exploration of the Solar System by date of spacecraft launch. It includes:
Surveyor 5 is the fifth lunar lander of the American uncrewed Surveyor program sent to explore the surface of the Moon. Surveyor 5 landed on Mare Tranquillitatis in 1967. A total of 19,118 images were transmitted to Earth.
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was an American robotic space probe developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. MGS was a global mapping mission that examined the entire planet, from the ionosphere down through the atmosphere to the surface. As part of the larger Mars Exploration Program, Mars Global Surveyor performed atmospheric monitoring for sister orbiters during aerobraking, and helped Mars rovers and lander missions by identifying potential landing sites and relaying surface telemetry.
The Mars Polar Lander, also known as the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander, was a 290-kilogram uncrewed spacecraft lander launched by NASA on January 3, 1999, to study the soil and climate of Planum Australe, a region near the south pole on Mars. It formed part of the Mars Surveyor '98 mission. On December 3, 1999, however, after the descent phase was expected to be complete, the lander failed to reestablish communication with Earth. A post-mortem analysis determined the most likely cause of the mishap was premature termination of the engine firing prior to the lander touching the surface, causing it to strike the planet at a high velocity.
A Mars rover is a remote-controlled motor vehicle designed to travel on the surface of Mars. Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be directed to interesting features, they can place themselves in sunny positions to weather winter months, and they can advance the knowledge of how to perform very remote robotic vehicle control. They serve a different purpose than orbital spacecraft like Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. A more recent development is the Mars helicopter.
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The Discovery Program is a series of Solar System exploration missions funded by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through its Planetary Missions Program Office. The cost of each mission is capped at a lower level than missions from NASA's New Frontiers or Flagship Programs. As a result, Discovery missions tend to be more focused on a specific scientific goal rather than serving a general purpose.
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Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) is a planetary exploration program operated by NASA. The program funds small, low-cost spacecraft for stand-alone planetary exploration missions. These spacecraft are intended to launch as secondary payloads on other missions and are riskier than Discovery or New Frontiers missions.