This is a list of the 50 spacecraft missions (including unsuccessful ones) relating to the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

, such as orbiters and rovers.

Missions

;Mission Type Legend:

Mars landing locations

There are a number of derelict orbiters around Mars whose location is not known precisely; there is a proposal to search for small moons, dust rings, and old orbiters with the Optical Navigation Camera on the ''

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ''Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' (MRO) is a spacecraft designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and relay data from surface missions back to Earth. It was launched on August 12, 2005, an ...

''. There should be 8 derelict Mars orbiters barring unforeseen events if they have not decayed as of 2016. One example is Mariner 9, which entered Mars orbit in 1971 and is expected to remain in orbit until approximately 2022, when the spacecraft is projected to enter the Martian atmosphere and either burn up or crash into the planet's surface. The Viking 1 orbiter is predicted not to decay until at least 2019. One orbiter that is confirmed to have undergone Mars atmospheric entry is

Mars Climate Orbiter The ''Mars Climate Orbiter'' (formerly the Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter) was a robotic space probe launched by NASA on December 11, 1998, to study the Martian climate, Martian atmosphere, and surface changes and to act as the communications re ...

Timeline

Future missions

In development

Proposals

Missions to the moons of Mars

Missions dedicated to explore the two

moons of Mars The two moons of Mars are Phobos (moon), Phobos and Deimos (moon), Deimos. They are irregular in shape. Both were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall in August 1877 and are named after the Greek mythology, Greek mythological twin charac ...

, Phobos and Deimos. Many missions to Mars have also included dedicated observations of the moons, while this section is about missions focused solely 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. 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. In Japan, the

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) is a Japanese national research organization of astrophysics using rockets, astronomical satellites and interplanetary probes which played a major role in Japan's space development. Since 2003, it is a division of Japan Aerospace E ...

(ISAS) is developing a sample return mission to Phobos, due to launch in 2024. This mission is called Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) and is proposed as a flagship Strategic Large Mission. MMX will build on the expertise the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA) would gain through the Hayabusa2 and

SLIM Slim or SLIM may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slim Goodbody, a fictional character who teaches about anatomy * Slim, one of the alien antagonists of the 1988 film '' Killer Klowns from Outer Space'' * Slim, the Pixl fro ...

missions. As of January 2018, MMX is set for launch in September 2024.MMX Homepage
JAXA, 2017 Three missions to land on Phobos have been launched; the

Phobos program Phobos (Greek for "fear") most commonly refers to: * Phobos (moon), a moon of Mars * Phobos (mythology), the Greek god and personification of fear and panic Phobos may also refer to: Comics * Phobos (Marvel Comics) * Phobos (''W.I.T.C.H.''), a ...

in the late 1980s saw the launch of

Fobos 1 ''Phobos 1'' was an uncrewed Soviet space probe of the Phobos Program launched from the Baikonour launch facility on 7 July 1988. Its intended mission was to explore Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. The mission failed on 2 September 19 ...

and

Fobos 2 ''Phobos 2'' was the last space probe designed by the Soviet Union. It was designed to explore the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. It was launched on 12 July 1988, and entered orbit on 29 January 1989. ''Phobos 2'' operated nominally throug ...

, while the

Fobos-Grunt Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt (russian: link=no, Фобос-Грунт, where ''грунт'' refers to the ''ground'' in the narrow geological meaning of any type of soil or rock exposed on the surface) was an attempted Russian sample return mis ...

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 A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

. 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 ''Mars Express'' is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA). The ''Mars Express'' mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally ref ...

of the Mars moons. Osiris-Rex 2 was a proposal to make OR a double mission, with the other one collecting samples from the two Mars moons. In 2012, it was stated that this mission would be both the quickest and least expensive way to get samples from the Moons. The 'Red Rocks Project', a part of Lockheed Martin's "Stepping stones to Mars" program, proposed to explore Mars robotically from Deimos.Larry Pag
Deep Space Exploration - Stepping Stones
builds up to "Red Rocks : Explore Mars from Deimos"

Mars Missions by Organization/Company

Unrealized concepts

''examples only''

1970s

* '' Mars 4NM'' and '' Mars 5NM'' – projects intended by the Soviet Union for heavy Marsokhod (in 1973 according to initial plan of 1970) and

Mars sample return A Mars sample-return (MSR) mission is a proposed mission to collect rock and dust samples on Mars and sample-return mission, return them to Earth. Such a mission would allow more extensive analysis than that allowed by onboard sensors. The thr ...

(planned for 1975). The missions were to be launched on the failed N1 rocket. * '' Mars 5M (Mars-79)'' – double-launching Soviet sample return mission planned to 1979 but cancelled due to complexity and technical problems * '' Voyager-Mars'' – USA, 1970s – Two orbiters and two landers, launched by a single

Saturn V Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with three stages, and powered with liquid fuel. It was flown from 196 ...

rocket.

1990s

* '' Vesta'' – the multiaimed Soviet mission, developed in cooperation with European countries for realisation in 1991–1994 but canceled due to the Soviet Union disbanding, included the flyby of Mars with delivering the aerostat and small landers or penetrators followed by flybys of 1 Ceres or

4 Vesta Vesta ( minor-planet designation: 4 Vesta) is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of . It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers on 29 March 1807 and is named after Vesta, t ...

and some other asteroids with impact of penetrator on the one of them. * '' Mars Aerostat'' – Russian/French balloon part for cancelled Vesta mission and then for failed

Mars 96 Mars 96 (sometimes called Mars-8) was a failed Mars mission launched in 1996 to investigate Mars by the Russian Space Forces and not directly related to the Soviet Mars probe program of the same name. After failure of the second fourth-stage ...

mission, originally planned for the 1992 launch window, postponed to 1994 and then to 1996 before being cancelled. * Mars Together, combined U.S. and Russian mission study in the 1990s. To be launched by a Molinya with possible U.S. orbiter or lander. * '' Mars Environmental Survey'' – set of 16 landers planned for 1999–2009 * '' Mars-98'' – Russian mission including an orbiter, lander, and rover, planned for 1998 launch opportunity as repeat of failed

mission; cancelled due to lack of funding

2000s

* '' Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander'' – October 2001 – Mars lander (refurbished, became Phoenix lander) * ''Kitty Hawk'' – Mars airplane micromission, proposed for 17 December 2003, the centennial of the Wright brothers' first flight. Its funding was eventually given to the 2003 Mars Network project. * ''

NetLander In late 2007 (or 2009) CNES (the French Space Agency) and ESA (the European Space Agency) had planned to send a remote sensing orbiter and four small Netlanders to Mars. They planned to land them in four different locations. The CNES and ESA cancel ...

'' – 2007 or 2009 – Mars netlanders * '' Beagle 3'' – 2009 British lander mission meant to search for life, past or present. * '' Mars Telecommunications Orbiter'' – September 2009 – Mars orbiter for telecommunications

2010s

* ''

Mars One Mars One was a small private Dutch organization that received money from investors by claiming it would use it to land the first humans on Mars and leave them there to establish a permanent human colony. From its announcement in 2012 to its ...

'' - announced in 2012, planned to land a demo lander on Mars by 2016, with a crewed landing to follow by 2023. These dates were delayed multiple times, and the project was eventually cancelled, with the company going bankrupt in 2019 * '' Sky-Sailor'' – 2014 – Plane developed by Switzerland to take detailed pictures of Mars surface * ''

Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher The Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C), also known as Mars 2018 mission was a NASA concept for a Mars rover mission, proposed to be launched in 2018 together with the European ExoMars rover.Mars 2020 Mars 2020 is a Mars rover mission forming part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program that includes the rover '' Perseverance'', the small robotic, coaxial helicopter '' Ingenuity'', and associated delivery vehicles. Mars 2020 was launched from ...

rover. * '' Red Dragon'' – Derivative of a

Dragon 2 Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched private missions such as Ins ...

capsule by SpaceX, designed to land by aerobraking and retropropulsion. Planned for 2018, then 2020. Canceled in favor of the Starship system. * ''Tumbleweed'' rover, wind-propelled sphereExploring Mars: Blowing in the Wind?
Jpl.nasa.gov (10 August 2001). Retrieved on 2012-08-14. PIA24838-NASA-MarsMissions-20210928

References

{{Portal bar, Solar System, Space, Spaceflight Mars

Missions to Mars This is a list of the 50 spacecraft missions (including unsuccessful ones) relating to the planet Mars, such as orbiters and rovers. Missions ;Mission Type Legend: Mars landing locations There are a number of derelict orbiters around ...