
For Roman on his eighth birthday
From Grandpa Jamieson

Introduction
There have been quite a few missions to Mars, beginning as early as 1960. Some were flyby missions, some were orbiters, and some actually landed on the planet. These missions have come mostly from the United States, but also from Russia, China, Japan, India, and the European Union. Many failed for one reason or another, particularly in the early years, but many others have succeeded spectacularly. In this book, we will look at the history of these missions and their findings, and then we will take a gander at a few that are still on the drawing board. So, fasten your seat belt and prepare for launch!
The Challenge
Compared to a trip to Mars, going to the moon was a walk in the park. The moon orbits the Earth and, while its orbit isn't perfectly round, it's pretty close. That means that the moon is always about a quarter of a million miles away. Mars, like the Earth, orbits the sun, and the distance between the two planets varies greatly over time. That's because Earth orbits the sun in a relatively brisk 365 days, but Mars, which travels in a much larger elliptical orbit, requires 687 earth-days to make the same trip. When the two planets are at their closest, they are still 33.9 millions miles apart, but that doesn't happen very often. And when they are farthest apart, they are on opposite sides of the sun and at least 235 million miles away from each other.
This creates a very narrow launch window. Missions to Mars have to be launched at intervals of slightly more than two years. And, as you will see, that is precisely what has been happening.
The engineers who designed these programs knew that a single glitch could cause a mission to fail, so they built redundancy into as many systems as possible. They also knew that if a mission were to fail, they would have to wait another two years for the next opportunity to re-launch. So, to increase their odds of success, they would often launch two identical missions a few days apart in the hope that at least one of them would get the job done. In the early years, though, even that was often not enough to guarantee success.

Mars is a lot smaller than Earth, as you can see in the picture at the right, with less gravity and a much thinner atmosphere. These conditions make it easier to land spacecraft on the surface of Mars than it would be to land on Earth and, in future missions, they will also make it easier to blast off from the surface. On the other hand, the thin atmosphere and lack of oxygen will make it harder to live and work on the red planet.

1960 & 1962 - First Steps
Despite the difficulties of going to Mars, the first attempts were made very early in the Space Age, and they were made by the same country that pioneered space travel way back in the beginning: Russia. Remember that it was the Russians who launched the very first satellite (Sputnik) into space in October 1957 and put the first man (Yuri Gagarin) into space in April 1961.


In October 1960, about midway between those between those two spectacular successes, the Russians launched the first pair of missions to Mars (1M no. 1 & 1M No. 2), but both failed to even reach earth orbit.
They tried again with another pair (2MV-3 No. 1 & 2MV-4 No. 1) in October and November of 1962. One disintegrated in low earth orbit and the other failed to leave low earth orbit.
A separate mission (Mars 1) successfully headed off to the red planet for a flyby mission. Hopes were high, but communications were lost before it arrived, so it too ended in failure.
1964 - First Successful Flyby Mission
The first American attempt to reach Mars involved a pair of launches in November 1964 as part of NASA's Mariner program. Mariner 3 failed shortly after launch, but Mariner 4 made it all the way to Mars, conducting a flyby mission of the red planet on July 15, 1965. So, despite Russia's early attempts, the Americans were the first to launch a successful mission to Mars.
The Russians also launched a Mars mission in November 1964 (Zond 2), but once again lost communications with the spacecraft before it arrived at its destination.



Clockwise from top left: Russian Mars 1M spacecraft, Russian Zond 2, American Mariner 3 & 4
1969
A little over four years later, in early 1969, NASA launched another pair of missions in the Mariner program. Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 both conducted successful flyby missions of Mars. The Russians also launched a pair of missions (2M No. 521 & 2M No. 522), but both failed to reach low earth orbit.

1971 - First Successful Orbiter and Lander
In May 1971, NASA launched the third pair of missions in the Mariner program. Mariner 8 experienced a launch failure, but Mariner 9 made it all the way to the red planet and entered Mars orbit on November 14, 1971. This was the first successful Mars orbiter and remained active until it was deactivated 516 days later.

The Russians' Kosmos 419 mission failed to leave low earth orbit, but they also launched a pair of missions (Mars 2 and Mars 3) with great ambitions. Each one had an orbiter, a lander, and a rover.
The Mars 2 mission reached Mars and went into orbit on November 27, 1971, 13 days too late to beat Mariner 9, and operated successfully for 362 orbits. The lander, unfortunately, crashed onto the surface and took the rover down with it.
The Mars 3 mission went into orbit on December 2, 1971, but only operated for 20 orbits. The lander, on the other hand, set down successfully onto the Martian surface, giving the Russians a first. Unfortunately, radio communication failed 14.5 seconds after it landed. As a result, the Prop-M Rover failed to deploy.



Russian Mars 2 and 3 spacecraft - orbiter (top), lander (left), and rover (right)
1973
This was an all-Russian year, with four missions (Mars 4, 5, 6, and 7), launched in July and August 1973. There were no American launches to Mars and the Russian missions were very disappointing.
The Mars 4 orbiter failed to enter Martian orbit because its rockets did not fire. Mars 5 began orbiting Mars, then stopped transmitting after nine days. Contact with the Mars 6 lander was lost immediately after it touched down onto the Martian surface. And the Mars 7 lander failed to enter the Martian atmosphere because it separated too soon from the main spacecraft.
1975
This was an all-American year, with no Russian launches to Mars. NASA launched a pair of missions (Viking 1 and 2), each with an orbiter and a lander, and both were successful.
The Viking 1 orbiter operated for 1385 orbits and the lander for 2245 sols (Martian days). This was the first lander to successfully return data to Earth.
The Viking 2 orbiter operated for 700 orbits and the lander for 1281 sols.



Clockwise from top left: Viking orbiter, Viking lander, and first clear photograph ever returned from Mars.
Loss of Interest in Mars
America's last moon landing, Apollo 17, took place in 1972 and NASA began to refocus its attention on things closer to home. Work began on a reusable space shuttle, a space station, and the commercialization of space. The Russians, having experienced more frustration than triumph, had little enthusiasm for more of the same. In addition, the poor Russian economy and internal political turmoil made it difficult to continue their formerly aggressive space program. As a result, there were no missions to Mars from 1975 to 1988.


1988
In 1988, Russia sent a pair of missions to Mars (Phobos 1 and 2), but they were sent to study Phobos, not the red planet itself. Phobos is the larger of the two moons of Mars. The other is Deimos. (Phobos is the Greek word for fear and deimos is the Greek word for death.) They are quite small and irregularly shaped, leading astronomers to believe that they are actually asteroids captured long ago by the gravity of Mars. The asteroid belt lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.


Phobos
Deimos
Deimos, Phobos, and Earth's moon
Both missions were were launched in July 1988 and performed flawlessly until they reached their destination. At that point, a technician on Earth entered a computer command incorrectly, leaving out a single hyphen, that caused the Phobos 1 attitude control system to shut down. Because of that error, the spacecraft could no longer orient its solar panels to pick up the sun's rays. Even worse, it was an irreversible instruction, so the spacecraft's batteries died and so did the mission.


Phobos 2 didn't fare much better. In the delicate final phase of the mission, when the spacecraft was to approach within 50 meters of the moon and drop two small landers onto the surface, contact with the spacecraft was lost and could not be reacquired. Once again, the Russians were beset with bad luck.

To date, there still has not been a successful mission to either of the moons of Mars.
At left: An artist's conception of what was supposed to happen on the Phobos 1 and 2 missions.
1992
In September 1992, NASA took another stab at Mars, launching a single mission, an orbiter, called Mars Observer. Unfortunately, communications were lost before it could be inserted into Mars orbit.

As spacecraft became more sophisticated, more expensive, and more reliable, the number of paired launches decreased in favor of single make-or-break missions.
1996 - First Successful Rover
Interest in Mars was eventually revived, with three separate American missions (Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Pathfinder, Sojourner) and one Russian mission (Mars 96) launched in November and December of 1996.
Mars Global Surveyor, a Mars orbiter, was launched by NASA in November 1996 and operated successfully for seven years. The Russian Mars 96 mission, launched a few days later, failed to leave low earth orbit. Mars Pathfinder, a lander, was launched by NASA in December 1996 and landed successfully on the Martian surface. Best of all, though, was Sojourner. Launched by NASA in December 1996 as part of the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, it was the first successful rover to operate on another planet, and did so for 84 days.



Mars Pathfinder literally bounced onto the surface of Mars with Sojourner on board, protected by a bunch of inflated balloons. It rolled to a stop, then deflated the balloons. The spacecraft opened like a blooming flower and the Sojourner rover rolled down a ramp to the Martian surface, where it began exploring the rocky terrain.
1998-1999
The next opportunity to reach Mars came in late 1998 and early 1999. The Japanese launched an orbiter mission called Nozomi in July 1998, but it ran out of fuel before reaching Mars. There were no Russian missions.
NASA launched three missions (Mars Climate Orbiter, Mars Polar Lander, and Deep Space 2) in December 1998 and January 1999, but all three failed. The Mars Climate Orbiter approached the planet too closely and burned up in the atmosphere. The Mars Polar Lander failed to land. And Deep Space 2, a surface penetrator that deployed successfully from the Mars Polar Lander, nevertheless failed to return data. There were no successful missions in this cycle.
2001
There was only one mission in 2001, a NASA orbiter call Mars Odyssey launched in April of that year. It was successfully inserted into orbit and remains there today. It is expected to remain operational until 2025.


2003
In June 2003, the European Space Agency launched a two-part mission to Mars, with an orbiter called Mars Express and a lander called Beagle 2. The orbiter was successfully inserted into orbit and has enough fuel to remain operational until 2026. Communications were lost with the lander when it was released from the orbiter, but orbital images show that it landed successfully. However, its solar panels failed to deploy due to the loss of radio contact.
NASA launched two rover missions, Spirit in June 2003 and Opportunity in July 2003. Both rovers were identical and both landed successfully. Spirit operated for 3308 sols an Opportunity for 5351 sols.

Spirit/Opportunity rover
2004
In March 2004, the European Space Agency launched a mission called Rosetta to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Technically, this was not really a mission to Mars, but it used Mars for a gravity assist to speed it on its way. It flew toward Mars, picking up speed as it "fell" toward the planet, and then fired its rockets to veer off toward the comet. The planet's gravity gave it a boost in speed and sent it on its way, using the same principle as a slingshot.
Since it was in the neighborhood, though, it used the opportunity to conduct a flyby mission of the red planet, gathering data as it flew past. A photo of the comet, taken by Rosetta, is shown on the next page (bottom, left).

2005
There was only one launch in 2005. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched by NASA in August 2005 and entered Mars orbit in March 2006. The orbiter is still operational. An artist's conception of the spacecraft is shown below at right.






2007
NASA launched two missions to Mars in 2007. The first was the Phoenix lander, which left Earth in August 2007 and arrived at Mars in May 2008. The pictures above show how the lander reached the surface, descending first by parachute and then, following its release, firing rockets to settle down gently onto the Martian surface. The lander was designed to operate for only 90 days, but continued working for another two months. This mission confirmed the presence of subsurface water on Mars, as predicted by Mars Odyssey.


The second mission was Dawn, launched by NASA in September 2007. Its primary mission was not actually Mars, but rather the two largest objects in the asteroid belt, Ceres (above, left) and Vesta (above, right). Both are classified as dwarf planets because they have enough gravity to crush themselves into a spherical shape. However, Dawn used Mars for a gravity assist to speed it along its way. And, since it was going to be in the neighborhood, NASA decided to take advantage of the opportunity to conduct a flyby mission as it swept past Mars.

2011
In 2011, the Russians and Chinese launched an ambitious joint mission to Mars. The Russian part of the mission was called Fobos-Grunt ("Phobos Ground") and its purpose was to obtain ground samples from the Martian moon Phobos. The Chinese part of the mission was called Yinghuo-1 ("Luminous Fire") and it was to be the first Chinese spacecraft to orbit Mars. Launched by the Russians, it reached Earth orbit successfully, but the rocket burn to send it off to Mars failed to ignite, leaving the craft stranded in Earth orbit.
The Fobos-Grunt spacecraft
- Full access to our public library
- Save favorite books
- Interact with authors

For Roman on his eighth birthday
From Grandpa Jamieson

Introduction
There have been quite a few missions to Mars, beginning as early as 1960. Some were flyby missions, some were orbiters, and some actually landed on the planet. These missions have come mostly from the United States, but also from Russia, China, Japan, India, and the European Union. Many failed for one reason or another, particularly in the early years, but many others have succeeded spectacularly. In this book, we will look at the history of these missions and their findings, and then we will take a gander at a few that are still on the drawing board. So, fasten your seat belt and prepare for launch!
The Challenge
Compared to a trip to Mars, going to the moon was a walk in the park. The moon orbits the Earth and, while its orbit isn't perfectly round, it's pretty close. That means that the moon is always about a quarter of a million miles away. Mars, like the Earth, orbits the sun, and the distance between the two planets varies greatly over time. That's because Earth orbits the sun in a relatively brisk 365 days, but Mars, which travels in a much larger elliptical orbit, requires 687 earth-days to make the same trip. When the two planets are at their closest, they are still 33.9 millions miles apart, but that doesn't happen very often. And when they are farthest apart, they are on opposite sides of the sun and at least 235 million miles away from each other.
This creates a very narrow launch window. Missions to Mars have to be launched at intervals of slightly more than two years. And, as you will see, that is precisely what has been happening.
The engineers who designed these programs knew that a single glitch could cause a mission to fail, so they built redundancy into as many systems as possible. They also knew that if a mission were to fail, they would have to wait another two years for the next opportunity to re-launch. So, to increase their odds of success, they would often launch two identical missions a few days apart in the hope that at least one of them would get the job done. In the early years, though, even that was often not enough to guarantee success.
- < BEGINNING
- END >
-
DOWNLOAD
-
LIKE(24)
-
COMMENT(6)
-
SHARE
-
SAVE
-
BUY THIS BOOK
(from $9.79+) -
BUY THIS BOOK
(from $9.79+) - DOWNLOAD
- LIKE (24)
- COMMENT (6)
- SHARE
- SAVE
- Report
-
BUY
-
LIKE(24)
-
COMMENT(6)
-
SHARE
- Excessive Violence
- Harassment
- Offensive Pictures
- Spelling & Grammar Errors
- Unfinished
- Other Problem
COMMENTS
Click 'X' to report any negative comments. Thanks!