Showing 1–12 of 24 results
The Mars 2020 mission with its Perseverance rover is the first step of a roundtrip journey to return Mars samples to Earth for further study. .
Launch date: July 30, 2020
The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is a small, autonomous aircraft. It was sent to Mars to perform experimental flight tests to determine if powered, controlled flight at the Red Planet was possible. .
Mars Sample Return is a proposed mission to return samples from the surface of Mars to Earth. .
Launch date: TBD
InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, was a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4 billion years ago. .
Launch date: May 5, 2018
The twin communications-relay CubeSats, built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, constitute a technology demonstration called Mars Cube One (MarCO). .
The Mars Science Laboratory mission's Curiosity rover landed in Mars' Gale Crater the evening of August 5, 2012, PDT (morning of August 6 EDT), using a series of complicated landing maneuvers never before attempted. .
Launch date: Nov. 26, 2011
Phoenix was a lander sent to the surface of Mars to search for evidence of past or present microbial life. .
Launch date: Aug. 4, 2007
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, has studied the Red Planet's atmosphere and terrain from orbit since 2006 and also serves as a key data relay station for other Mars missions. .
Launch date: Aug. 12, 2005
Opportunity was the second of the two rovers launched in 2003 to land on Mars and begin traversing the Red Planet in search of signs of ancient water. .
Launch date: July 7, 2003
One of two rovers launched in 2003 to explore Mars and search for signs of ancient water, Spirit far outlasted her planned 90-day mission. .
Launch date: June 10, 2003
With more than 20 years in orbit and counting, the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft has spent more time in orbit around the Red Planet, collecting data on Mars' climate and geology, than any other spacecraft in history. .
Launch date: April 7, 2001
Designed to dig for water ice on Mars with a robotic arm, the Mars Polar Lander would have been the first-ever spacecraft to land on a polar region of the Red Planet. .
Launch date: Jan. 3, 1999