I'm Going to Mars!

Mars Orbiters

Mariner 4

Mariner 4 was the fourth in a series of spacecraft used for planetary exploration in a flyby mode and represented the first successful flyby of the planet Mars, returning the first pictures of the martian surface. These represented the first images of another planet ever returned from deep space. Mariner 4 was designed to conduct closeup scientific observations of Mars and to transmit these observations to Earth. Other mission objectives were to perform field and particle measurements in interplanetary space in the vicinity of Mars and to provide experience in and knowledge of the engineering capabilities for interplanetary flights of long duration.

Mariner 9

The Mariner Mars 71 mission was planned to consist of two spacecraft to orbit Mars on complementary missions, but due to the failure of Mariner 8 to launch properly, only one spacecraft was available. Mariner 9 combined mission objectives of both Mariner 8 (mapping 70 % of the Martian surface) and Mariner 9 (a study of temporal changes in the Martian atmosphere and on the Martian surface). For the survey portion of the mission, the planetary surface was to be mapped with the same resolution as planned for the original mission, although the resolution of pictures of the polar regions would be decreased due to the increased slant range. The variable features experiments were changed from studies of six given areas every 5 days to studies of smaller regions every 17 days. Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet

Mars 4

Mars 4, 5, 6, and 7 comprised an associated group of Soviet spacecraft launched towards Mars in July and August of 1973. The Mars 5 automatic station was designed to orbit Mars and return information on the composition, structure, and properties of the martian atmosphere and surface. The spacecraft was also designed to act as a communications link to the Mars 6 and 7 landers. The orbiter operated only a few days and returned atmospheric data and images of a small portion of the martian southern hemisphere.

Phobos 1

Phobos 1, and its companion spacecraft Phobos 2, were the next-generation in the Venera-type planetary missions, succeeding those last used during the Vega 1 and 2 missions to comet P/Halley.

Mars Global Surveyor

The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) mission is designed as a rapid, low-cost recovery of the Mars Observer mission objectives. The science objectives involve high resolution imaging of the surface, studies of the topography and gravity, the role of water and dust on the surface and in the atmosphere of Mars, the weather and climate of Mars, the composition of the surface and atmosphere, and the existence and evolution of the Martian magnetic field.

Mars Odyssey

The 2001 Mars Odyssey is the remaining part of the Mars Surveyor 2001 Project, which originally consisted of two separately launched missions, The Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter and the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander. The lander spacecraft was cancelled as part of the reorganization of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA. The orbiter, renamed the 2001 Mars Odyssey, will nominally orbit Mars for three years, with the objective of conducting a detailed mineralogical analysis of the planet's surface from orbit and measuring the radiation environment.

Mars Express

Mars Express is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Mars. It consists of an orbiter, the Mars Express Orbiter, and a lander, Beagle 2. The scientific objectives of the Mars Express Orbiter are to obtain global high-resolution photo-geology (10 m resolution), mineralogical mapping (100 m resolution) and mapping of the atmospheric composition, study the subsurface structure, the global atmospheric circulation, and the interaction between the atmosphere and the subsurface, and the atmosphere and the interplanetary medium. The Beagle 2 lander objectives are to characterize the landing site geology, mineralogy, and geochemistry, the physical properties of the atmosphere and surface layers, collect data on martian meteorology and climatology, and search for possible signatures of life.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched successfully on 12 August at 1143 UT (7:43 a.m. EDT).

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is designed to orbit Mars over a full martian year and gather data with six scientific instruments, including a high-resolution imager. The science objectives of the mission are to: characterize the present climate of Mars and its physical mechanisms of seasonal and interannual climate change; determine the nature of complex layered terrain on Mars and identify water-related landforms; search for sites showing evidence of aqueous and/or hydrothermal activity; identify and characterize sites with the highest potential for landed science and sample return by future Mars missions; and return scientific data from Mars landed craft during a relay phase. MRO will return high resolution images, study surface composition, search for subsurface water, trace dust and water in the atmosphere, and monitor weather.