many robots from earth have probed mars

7/28/2019 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.

many robots from earth have probed mars

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