History of Projects

Viking Mission 1976

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_program

http://www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/mars/viking.html

• 2 orbiters, 2 landers
• Life detection experiments

Mars Pathfinder 1956

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Pathfinder

http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/default.html

• Moved 10s of meters
• Found basalt and inference of water compounds

Mars Global Surveyor 1956, 7-9 mos after pathfinder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Global_Surveyor

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/

• Visible: showed gulleys, valleys at higher resolution than Viking; Also found results of geologically modern water (the water could be 0-200,000 years old)
• IR: Found a special gray, coarse form of hematite. On Earth, this form of hematite can only be created by exposure to water over time.

Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) 1998

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/orbiter/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter

• burned up

Mars Polar Lander (MPL) 1998

http://marsweb.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Polar_Lander

• programming error
• software and hardware weren't tested together and so when the legs came out, the lander thought it was already on the ground and the power switched off. The lander crashed to the ground.

Odyssey 2001

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Odyssey

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/

• used gamma ray and neutron spectroscopy

Surface Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) 2003

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover

• spirit: landed in gusev crater, collected visible data
• opportunity: landed in meridiani, collected geochemical data, found hematite
• they moved more than 100 meters
• provided pictures of bedrock, which was more site-specific than data collected from ground debris that could have come from far away

Current or Future Projects

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/

• launched 2005, arrived in Mars's orbit March 10, 2006
• high resolution visible data, (size of beach balls seen)
• IR sensors as well

Mars Express

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Express

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/index.html

• launched on June 2, 2003
• look for methane, formaldehyde (maybe)
• use radar sounding to determine boundary layers within the regolith (mars soil)

Phoenix

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(spacecraft)

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/phoenix_water.html

• scheduled to launch in August 2007
• redo of the mars polar lander
• grab a piece of ice

Mars Science Lab 2009,2010

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/msl.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory

• fractometer
• XRD - gold standard of minerology
• raman spectroscopy - looks for organics
• should be able to travel 10km