many robots from earth have probed mars
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Many Robots From Earth Have Probed
MarsThe United States and Russia havespent billions over four decades
trying to land a spacecraft on Mars.
Many probes have been sent.
On December 2, 1971, the Soviet
Union's Mars 3 was the first
spacecraft to make a successful softlanding on Mars.
Later, three American spacecraft completed highly
successful landings on the surface the pair of Viking
landers in 1976 and Mars Pathfinder 21 years later in
1997.
In addition, several spacecraft have either flown by the
Red Planet, sending back picture postcards as they
traveled on, or they have dropped successfully into orbit
around Mars.
Numerous other spacecraft over the years either failed to
leave Earth at all or were unable to find their waycorrectly to the Red Planet.
Now, five new craft from America, Europe and Japan are
prepared to visit Mars in 2004. If all work as planned, two
will remain in orbit around the planet while three landers
touch down. The flotilla includes Europe's and Japan's
first solo missions to Mars.
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their launches.
The 1970s
In 1971, the U.S. suffered a loss when the probe Mariner 8
splashed into the ocean off Puerto Rico during launch.
But then the first man-made satellite to orbit a planet
other than Earth was America's Mariner 9 which broughtus the first close-ups of the Martian moons Phobos and
Deimos. Launched toward Mars in May 1971, Mariner 9
arrived in a 12-hour orbit around the Red Planet in that
November. Mariner 9 had two TV cameras which sent
back 7,329 photos including close-ups of giant volcanoes,
canyons and ancient riverbeds.
The Soviet Union in 1971 finally achieved success with
Mars 2 and Mars 3, which transmitted data on the harsh
atmosphere. The lander from Mars 2 crashed on the
surface while the lander from Mars 3 became the first to
make a successful soft landing on Mars. However, shortly
after the Mars 3 lander touched down on December 2,
1971, it stopped communicating.Mars 2 and Mars 3 were identical spacecraft
each an orbiter with attached
descent module. They were supposed to send back images of the surface along
with information about weather conditions, the composition of the
atmosphere, and chemical and mechanical properties of the soil. Each had two
television cameras, a mass spectrometer to study the atmosphere, and
temperature, pressure, and wind sensors. Each had a mechanical scoop to
search for organic signs of life.
Both Mars 2 and Mars 3 arrived in orbit over the Red Planet and dropped
their descent modules, which were decorated with USSR flags. The descentmodules had radar altimeters, cone-shaped aerodynamic braking shields,
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parachutes and retro-rockets. After landing, four triangular petals would
open, turning the spacecraft upright and exposing the science instruments.
Each lander carried a small maneuverable robot called PROP-M. Each lander
would use a manipulator arm to place its rover on the surface in the field ofview of its television cameras. Each rover could slide along on a pair of skis,
traveling up to 50 feet, while remaining attached to the lander by a tether
cable. Each rover had a penetrometer and a radiation densitometer and
would stop for measurements every five feet. Movements in the Martian soil
would be recorded.
While Mars 2 crashed, Mars 3 made the first soft landing on Mars. After its
descent module was separated from the orbiter, its descent engine fired. A
braking parachute was deployed. Later, the main parachute popped out, the
heat shield was ejected, and the radar altimeter was turned on. When thepackage was about 75-100 feet above the surface, the main parachute was cut
loose and the retrorockets were fired. The entire entry and landing took about
three minutes. It hit the ground at about 50 mph with its built-in shock
absorbers preventing damage to the instruments.
The four petals covering the Mars 3 lander opened and, 90 seconds later, the
capsule began transmitting to the Mars 3 orbiter. Unfortunately, the
transmission stopped after only 20 seconds and no further signals were
received. It wasn't possible to tell what failedthe lander or the orbiter's
communications relay. One partial panoramic image was relayed to Earth,
but it was dark with no detail. Could the dark picture have been caused by a
powerful dust storm taking place around the landing site at the time?The USSR tried to send four probes to Mars in 1973-74.
Mars 4 and Mars 5 were intended for orbit around the
planet. Mars 5 succeeded. Mars 6 was to land on Mars,
but crashed. Mars 7 missed the planet.
Viking 1 and Viking 2 carried the American flag across
millions of miles of interplanetary space to photograph
Mars, Phobos and Deimos, and land on the Red Planet in
1976. The Vikings have been the most scientifically-
profitable Martian operations to date. Viking 1 launched September 9, 1975, arrived at
Mars June 19, 1976, and landed.
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Viking 2 launched August 20, 1975, arrived at Mars
August 7, 1976, and landed.Viking bio-tests turned up unusual chemical activity in the
soil, but any finding of evidence of life remains
controversial even today. At the time, the planet was said
to be sterile.
The 1980s
In 1988, the Soviet Union sent two probes to Mars. They
were designed to explore the Sun while enroute, and then
Mars and the Martian moon Phobos the spacecraft
were named Phobos 1 and Phobos 2.
A software glitch led to loss of contact with Phobos 1.
Phobos 2 carried the USSR flag 111 million miles to Mars
orbit on January 29, 1989. It detected water vapor in the
Martian atmosphere and sent back some photos. However,
a computer problem ended the its mission before thespacecraft could send a robot probe to land on the moon
Phobos.
The 1990s
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In 1993, after a Mars-launch hiatus of 18 years, the U.S.
sent a new spacecraft Mars Observerto look in on
the Red Planet. Unfortunately, it's signal was lost three
days before it was to fly into orbit around Mars.
In 1996, America launched Mars Global Surveyor to map
the Red Planet. MGS sent home more than 120,000
pictures along with data raising a possibility of water
beneath the martian surface.
Meanwhile, Russia tried to send its Mars 96 probe, but the
spacecraft splashed into the Pacific Ocean at launch.
The next year, America's Pathfinder landed on Mars.
Millions of people on Earth watched as the lander sent out
a rover named Sojourner for a close-up look at rocks andthe terrain. Pathfinder sent back more than 20,000 images
that made it seem Mars once might have been warm and
wet.
Japan launched its Planet-B interplanetary probe on July
3, 1998, to look for signs of water on Mars and measure
the Red Planet's magnetic field. In space, it was renamed
Nozomi, which is Japanese for Hope. The spacecraft was
Japan's first interplanetary mission. Previously, only the
United States and Russia had sent spacecraft to Mars.
MORE ABOUT NOZOMIThe U.S. suffered two setbacks from 1999 launches. Its
http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsPlanetB.htmlhttp://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsPlanetB.htmlhttp://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsPlanetB.html -
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Climate Orbiter was lost as it arrived at Mars. Then the
signal from Polar Lander was lost when it was supposed to
touch down near the south pole of the Red Planet.
The 2000s
In 2001, the U.S. probe Mars Odyssey was sent to examine
the composition of the Martian surface, to look for waterand ice, and to study the radiation environment. In the
process, it created the first large-scale geological map of
the planet.
MORE ABOUT MARS ODYSSEY
The European Space Agency launched its probe MarsExpress on June 2, 2003, to fly into orbit around Mars in
January 2004, and drop a lander named Beagle 2 to the
surface.
MORE ABOUT MARS EXPRESS AND BEAGLE 2Also in summer 2003, the U.S. sent two identical six-
wheeled Mars Exploration Roversnamed Spiritand
Opportunityto land on the Martian surface.
MORE ABOUT MARS EXPLORATION ROVERSMeanwhile, the first Japanese Mars orbiter, Planet B or
Nozomi, continues on its 4.5 year voyage from Earth to the
Red Planet.
http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsSurveyor2001.htmlhttp://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsSurveyor2001.htmlhttp://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsExpressBeagle.htmlhttp://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsExpressBeagle.htmlhttp://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsSurveyor2003.htmlhttp://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsSurveyor2003.htmlhttp://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsSurveyor2003.htmlhttp://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsExpressBeagle.htmlhttp://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsExploration/MarsSurveyor2001.html -
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The five craftMars Express with Beagle 2, Nozomi, and
the twin Mars Exploration Rovers will arrive in
December 2003 and January 2004.
The New Era
A new era of sophisticated robot interplanetary probesthat may be launched from Earth by the United States,
Europe, Japan, Russia and China in the 21st century will
continue to teach us many new things about Mars and
help us solve some old mysteries of the Solar System.
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