* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Mars missions

Blobrana · L

Descriptions of the various attempts; past, present and occasionally future, of exploring the planet Mars.

launch	Launch Date/Time (UTC)	Name	country	Information
1	1960 Oct 10 14:27:49	Marsnik 1	USSR	The first attempt. After launch, the third stage pumps were unable to develop enough thrust to commence ignition, so Earth parking orbit was not achieved. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 120 km before reentry.
2	1960 Oct 14 13:51:03	Marsnik 2	USSR	Another Failure, unable to reach orbit.
3	1962 Oct 24 17:55:04	Sputnik 22	USSR	The spacecraft and attached upper stage either broke up as they were going into Earth orbit or had the upper stage explode in orbit during the burn to put the spacecraft into Mars trajectory. The pieces, some of which apparently remained in Earth orbit for a few days, was detected by the U.S. Ballistic Missile Early Warning System radar in Alaska and was momentarily feared to be the start of a Soviet nuclear ICBM attack.
4	1962 Nov 01 16:14:16	Mars 1	USSR	Early telemetry indicated that there was a leak in one of the gas valves in the orientation system so the spacecraft was transferred to gyroscopic stabilization. On its way to Mars, communications ceased, probably due to failure of the spacecraft orientation system.
5	1962 Nov 04 15:35:15	Sputnik 24	USSR	The booster and spacecraft broke up during the burn to transfer to Mars trajectory. Five large pieces were tracked by the U.S. Ballistic Missile Early Warning System.
6	1964 Nov 05 19:22:05	Mariner 3	USA	The first american attempt, Unfortunately a protective shield failed to eject after the spacecraft had passed through the Earth's atmosphere. None of the instrument sensors were uncovered, and the added weight prevented the spacecraft from attaining its prescribed Mars trajectory.
6	1964 Nov 28 14:22:01	Mariner 4	USA	Mariner 4 successfully flies by Mars on 1965 July 14 and returns the first pictures of the Martian Surface.
7	1964 Nov 30 13:12:00	Zond 2	USSR	One of the two solar panels failed so only half the anticipated power was available to the spacecraft. After a mid-course maneuver, communications with the spacecraft were lost in early May, 1965. The dormant spacecraft flew by Mars on 6 August 1965.
8	1967 Mar 27	Unnamed	USSR	"Launch Failure"
8	1969 Feb 24 01:29:02	Mariner 6	USA	Another successful flyby mission on 1969 July 31.
9	1969 Mar 27 10:40:45	Mars 1969A	USSR	This Soviet Mars mission was never officially announced but has since been identified as a planned orbiter. After successful operation of the first two stages, the third stage launcher experienced a malfunction in a rotor bearing which caused the turbo pump to catch fire. The engine shut down and exploded; the remains of the craft landing in the Altai mountains.
9	1969 Mar 27 22:22:01	Mariner 7	USA	Mariner 7 flies by Mars on 1969 August 05.
10	1969 Apr 02 10:33:00	Mars 1969B	USSR	OUCH! This Soviet Mars mission was never officially announced but has since been identified as a planned orbiter. The first stage of the launcher failed almost immediately. At 0.02 seconds after liftoff, one of the six first-stage rockets exploded. The control system initially compensated for the lost engine and the launch proceeded on 5 engines---until 25 seconds after liftoff, at approximately 1 km altitude, the rocket began to tip over to a horizontal position. The five engines shut down and the rocket impacted and exploded 41 seconds after liftoff approximately 3 km from the launch pad.
11	1971 May 08 01:11:00	Mariner 8	USA	The main Centaur engine was ignited 265 seconds after launch, but the upper stage began to oscillate in pitch and tumbled out of control. The Centaur stage shut down 365 seconds after launch due to starvation caused by the tumbling. The Centaur and spacecraft payload separated and re-entered the Earth's atmosphere approximately 1500 km downrange and fell into the Atlantic Ocean about 560 km north of Puerto Rico.
12	1971 May 10 16:58:42	Cosmos 419	USSR	The booster successfully put the spacecraft into low Earth parking orbit, but the stage 4 failed to function due to a bad ignition timer setting (the timer, which was supposed to start ignition 1.5 hours after orbit, was erroneously set for 1.5 years.) The orbit decayed and the spacecraft re-entered Earth's atmosphere 2 days later on 12 May 1971.
12	1971 May 19 16:22:44	Mars 2	USSR	The USSR finally orbits Mars on 1971 Nov 27. The descent module, however, entered the Martian atmosphere at a steeper angle than planned. The descent system malfunctioned and the lander crashed at 45 deg S, 302 deg W.
12	1971 May 28 15:26:30	Mars 3	USSR	The USSR sends another orbiter/lander to Mars. Twenty seconds after landing, the lander stopped working... Unfortunately the orbiter had suffered from a partial loss of fuel and did not have enough to put itself into a planned 25 hour orbit? But it managed to send back stunning pictures!
12	1971 May 30 22:23:00	Mariner 9	USA	Mariner 9 arrived at Mars and began orbiting on 1971 Nov 14. The orbit decay will plunge the spacecraft into the Martian atmosphere in late 2022.
12	1973 July 21 19:30:59	Mars 4	USSR	The spacecraft reached Mars on 10 February 1974. But due to the degradation of the computer chip during the voyage to Mars, the retro-rockets never fired to slow the craft into Mars orbit, and Mars 4 flew by the planet at a range of 2200 km. It returned one swath of pictures and some radio occultation data which constituted the first detection of the nightside ionosphere on Mars.
12	1973 July 25 18:55:48	Mars 5	USSR	Another successful orbiter reached Mars on 1974 Feb 12.
13	1973 August 05 17:45:48	Mars 6	USSR	Contact with the descent module was lost at 09:11:05 UT in "direct proximity to the surface", probably either when the retrorockets fired or when it hit the surface at an estimated 61 m/s. The descent module transmitted 224 seconds of data before transmissions ceased. Unfortunately, much of the data were unreadable due to degradation of the onboard computer chip.
14	1973 August 09 17:00:17	Mars 7	USSR	Due to a problem in the operation of one of the onboard systems (attitude control or retro-rockets) the landing probe separated prematurely (4 hours before encounter) and missed the planet by 1300 km.
14	1975 August 20 21:22:00	Viking 1	USA	On 1976 June 19 the orbiter began to orbit and the lander landed on July 20.
14	1975 Sep 09 18:39:00	Viking 2	USA	Orbit on 1976 August 07 and a soft landing on September 03.
15	1988 July 07 17:38:04	Phobos 1	USSR	Phobos 1 operated nominally until an expected communications session on September 02 failed to occur. The failure of controllers to regain contact with the spacecraft was traced to an error in the software uploaded on 29/30 August which had deactivated the attitude thrusters. This resulted in a loss of the lock on the Sun, causing the spacecraft to orient the solar arrays away from the Sun and depleting the batteries.
15	1988 July 12 17:01:43	Phobos 2	USSR	Phobos 2 collected some useful data upon approach to one of the red planet's moons. Shortly before the final phase of the mission, during which the spacecraft was to approach within 50 m of Phobos' surface and release two landers, one a mobile `hopper', the other a stationary platform, contact with Phobos 2 was lost.
16	1992 Sep 25 17:05:01	Mars Observer	USA	Mars Observer makes it all the way to Mars orbit insertion. After which it exploded.
16	1996 Nov 07 17:00:50	Mars Global Surveyor	USA	The probe began orbiting Mars on 1997 Sep 12.
17	1996 Nov 16 20:48:53	Mars 96	USSR	The spacecraft was launched into Earth orbit, but failed to achieve insertion into Mars cruise trajectory and re-entered the Earth's atmosphere at about 00:45 to 01:30 UT on 17 November and crashed within a presumed 320 km by 80 km area which includes parts of the Pacific Ocean, Chile, and Bolivia. The cause of the crash is not known.
17	1996 Dec 04 06:58:00	Mars Pathfinder	USA	Mars Pathfinder lands on the Martian surface on 1997 July 04.
18	1998 July 03 18:12:00	Nozomi	Japan	On 20 December, the spacecraft attempted to use gravitational assist from an Earth flyby to put it on a course for Mars. Unfortunately, a malfunctioning valve caused excessive loss of fuel causing the spacecraft to miss its trajectory. Two further course corrections expended further fuel. To save the play, it was decided to allow the spacecraft to orbit the sun for four years when a lower velocity trajectory would be available. However, on 2002 April 21, powerful solar flares damaged the spacecraft's onboard communications and power systems. An electrical short then shut down the heaters causing the hydrazine fuel to freeze. The spacecraft made it back for another Earth swing-by and the fuel was thawed out on 2003 June 19. Another attempt was made to put it back on course, but the main thruster orbital insertion burn failed on 9 December.
19	1998 Dec 10 18:45:51	Mars Climate Orbiter	USA	Doh! nasa didn`t use the same units for measurement, miles instead of kilometres. Causing the probe to crash.
20	1999 Jan 03 20:21:10	Mars Polar Lander	USA	The last telemetry from Mars Polar Lander was sent just prior to atmospheric entry on 3 December 1999. No further signals have been received from the lander, the cause of this loss of communication is not known.
20	2001 Apr 07 15:02:22	Mars Odyssey	USA	Successfully made it to orbit on 2001 Oct 24
20	2003 June 02 17:45:00	Mars Express	ESA	Mars Express fired its main thrusters on 25 December and has successfully gone into orbit around Mars. The Beagle 2 lander, however, has not been heard from and presumed lost.
20	2003 June 10 17:58:47	Spirit	USA	The spirit rover landed on Mars on 2004 Jan 04.
20	2003 July 08 03:18:15	Opportunity	USA	The spacecraft landed on Mars on January 25. 2004
20	2005 Aug 10 11:54	Reconnaissance Orbiter		The 2-ton reconnaissance orbiter is NASA's last Mars orbiter this decade.
20	2011 Nov 08 20:16	Phobos-Grunt spacecraft	Russia	Radio contact lost soon after launch.
??	2011 Nov 26 15:46	Mars Science Laboratory mission	USA

Credit ?

Blobrana · L

Martian colonies

Blobrana · L

RE: Mars missions

Blobrana · L

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have joined to share resources and expertise on three future science missions to Mars. In three separate robotic missions (the first in 2016), both agencies will study the possibility of past life on the Red Planet, as well as test communications relays and other geochemical and biological mysteries. The third mission, in the 2020's, will return to Earth a sample taken from the Martian surface.

Blobrana · L

Obama sets Mars goal for America

Barack Obama says it should be possible to send astronauts to orbit the planet Mars by the mid-2030s and return them safely to Earth.
The US president made the claim in a major speech to staff at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
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Blobrana · L

The US and European space agencies have signed the "letter of intent" that ties together their Mars programmes.
The agreement, which was penned in Washington DC, gives the green light to scientists and engineers to begin the joint planning of Red Planet missions.

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Blobrana · L

Strathclyde University has developed a technique which allows manned space missions to communicate continuously from Mars.
Communication from the red planet is blacked out for weeks at a time when the sun obscures its view from Earth.
However University of Strathclyde researchers have found a way to allow continuous communication with just one spacecraft.
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Blobrana · L

Scientists have discovered craters in Mars filled with almost pure water ice with the help of UA technology and say they are hopeful that this discovery will lead to possible missions there for astronauts.
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, comprises a team of UA scientists who operate the high-resolution camera that captured the images of ice on Mars surface from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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Blobrana · L

Fly me to Mars. One-way

Five years ago I made the radical proposal that a handful of astronauts be sent on a one-way journey to Mars. I am not talking about a suicide mission. With its protective atmosphere, accessible water and carbon dioxide, and significant amounts of methane, Mars is one of the few places in the solar system that could support a human colony.
By eliminating the need to transport heavy fuel and equipment for the return journey, costs could be slashed by 80% or more.
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