Chronology of the missions to Mars

This list shows in chronological order all space probes that were launched with the aim of reaching the planet Mars . The space probes which did not reach their destination due to malfunctions or other reasons are also mentioned; Probes with pure false starts are in brackets. Some Martian missions launched and failed by the Soviet Union were designated as satellites (in the event of reaching Earth orbit) and given Sputnik - or Kosmos - cover names. The probes that did not even reach Earth orbit were given no official designation at all. They therefore have names such as: B. Mars 1960A.

chronology

The degree of success is marked in the following colors:

failure	Partial success	Successfully	constantly

No.	mission	Start date ( UTC )	Organization / country	Results
Contents: 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s • 2010s • 2020s • Planned
1960s - 60 - 62 - 64 - 65 - 69

1.	Marsnik 1 (Mars 1960A)	October 10, 1960, 2:27:49 pm	Soviet Union	Planned flyby on Mars. Did not reach Earth orbit due to failure of the third stage of the Molnija launcher
2.	Marsnik 2 (Mars 1960B)	14 October 1960, 13:51:03	Soviet Union	Planned flyby on Mars. Did not reach Earth orbit due to failure of the third stage of the Molniya launcher

3.	Sputnik 22 (Mars 1962A)	October 24, 1962, 5:55:04 p.m.	Soviet Union	Planned flyby on Mars. Only reached orbit due to failure of the fourth stage of the Molnija launcher
4th	Mars 1	November 1, 1962, 4:14:16 pm	Soviet Union	Planned flyby on Mars. Contact broke off on March 21, 1963 at a distance of 106 million kilometers from Earth
5.	Sputnik 24 (Mars 1962B)	November 4, 1962, 3:35:15 pm	Soviet Union	Planned flyby on Mars. Only reached orbit due to failure of the fourth stage of the Molnija launcher

6th	Mariner 3	November 5, 1964, 7:22:05 pm	NASA ( USA )	Planned flyby on Mars. Remained in Earth orbit due to a malfunction of the Atlas-Agena launcher's payload fairing
7th	Mariner 4	November 28, 1964, 2:22:01 PM	NASA (USA)	On July 15, 1965, flew by Mars at a distance of 9,846 km as planned . Delivered the first close-ups of Mars, a total of 22 photos
8th.	Zone 2	November 30, 1964, 1:12 pm	Soviet Union	Planned flyby on Mars. Contact broke off on April 2, 1965 because of a faulty solar panel. On August 6, 1965, flew past Mars 1,500 km away without contact

9.	Zone 3	July 18, 1965, 2:38 pm	Soviet Union	Flyby the moon and successful tests of communication over Mars distance. Originally supposed to fly to Mars, but this was no longer possible due to takeoff delays. Many authors do not count this probe among the Mars probes

10.	Mariner 6	25 February 1969, 1:29:02	NASA (USA)	Flew past Mars at a distance of 3,431 km on July 31, 1969. Delivered a total of 75 recordings
11.	Mars 1969A	March 27, 1969, 10:40:45	Soviet Union	Planned Mars orbiter. Failed to reach Earth orbit due to failure of the third stage of the Proton launcher
12.	Mariner 7	March 27, 1969, 10:22:01 PM	NASA (USA)	Passed Mars on August 5, 1969, 3,430 km away. Delivered a total of 126 images, including the first images of the Martian moon Phobos
13.	Mars 1969B	April 2, 1969, 10:33:00	Soviet Union	Planned Mars orbiter. Failed to reach Earth orbit due to failure of the Proton launcher first stage
1970s - 71 - 73 - 75

14th	Mariner 8	May 9, 1971, 1:11:02	NASA (USA)	Planned Mars orbiter. Failed to reach Earth orbit due to failure of the Atlas Centaur launcher
15th	Cosmos 419	May 10, 1971, 4:58:42 pm	Soviet Union	Planned Mars orbiter and land. Only reached orbit due to failure of the fourth stage of the Proton launcher
16.	Mars 2	May 19, 1971, 4:22:44 pm	Soviet Union	Mars orbiters and lands. Orbiter successfully entered Mars orbit and took some recordings and measurements, but the lander was destroyed on landing
17th	Mars 3	May 28, 1971, 3:26:30 pm	Soviet Union	Mars orbiters and lands. Orbiter reached an unscheduled Mars orbit on December 2, 1971 and took some recordings and measurements, the lander successfully reached the surface of Mars, but fell silent just 20 seconds after landing (the cause was possibly a violent dust storm that was raging there, which could have knocked the lander over)
18th	Mariner 9	May 30, 1971, 10:23:04 pm	NASA (USA)	On November 14, 1971, it was the first artificial satellite to go into orbit and map the entire surface of Mars. Delivered a total of 7,329 recordings

19th	Mars 4	July 21, 1973, 7:30:59 pm	Soviet Union	Planned Mars orbiter, due to faulty brake engines only one flyby on February 10, 1974 at a distance of 2,200 km from Mars. Delivered about 20 shots
20th	Mars 5	July 25, 1973, 18:55:48	Soviet Union	Swiveled into orbit on February 12, 1974, in the 22nd orbit a fault in the transmitter forced the mission to end. Provided about 60 images and some other data over a nine day period
21st	Mars 6	Aug 5, 1973, 5:45:48 pm	Soviet Union	Planned Mars lander. Contact broke off shortly before landing, the probable cause were faulty brake rockets that were ignited just above the ground and were supposed to protect the probe from a hard landing . Provided some data about the atmosphere on the descent
22nd	Mars 7	August 9, 1973, 5:00:17 pm	Soviet Union	Planned Mars lander. Only one flyby due to an error when disconnecting the landing unit

23.	Viking 1	August 20, 1975, 9:22 p.m.	NASA (USA)	Mars Orbiter and Lander, reached Mars orbit on June 19, 1976, landing on July 20, 1976. Orbiter remained in operation until August 7, 1980 and provided about 37,000 images. Lander worked until November 1982 and supplied a. a. about 2,300 photos from the landing site
24.	Viking 2	September 9, 1975, 6:39:00 p.m.	NASA (USA)	Mars Orbiter and Lander, reached Mars orbit on August 7, 1976, landing on September 4, 1976. Orbiter remained in service until July 27, 1978 and provided approximately 19,000 images. Lander worked until April 11, 1980 and supplied u. a. about 2,250 photos from the landing site
1980s - 88

25th	Fobos 1	July 7, 1988, 5:38:04 pm	Soviet Union	Planned Mars orbiter and Phobos lander, the contact was broken on September 2nd, 1988 because of an incorrect command to the probe, which caused the probe to turn away from the sun and freeze its battery
26th	Fobos 2	July 12, 1988, 5:01:43 pm	Soviet Union	Planned Mars orbiter and Phobos lander, swung into orbit on January 29, 1989, contact also broke off on March 27, 1989 (the cause was a malfunction of the on-board computer.)
1990s - 92 - 96 - 98 - 99

27.	Mars Observer	25 September 1992, 5:05:01 pm	NASA (USA)	Planned Mars orbiter, contact broke off on August 21, 1993, three days before entering Mars orbit. The cause is unknown as there was no telemetry at all at the time of loss of contact.

28.	Mars Global Surveyor	November 7, 1996, 5:00:49 pm	NASA (USA)	Successful Mars orbiter, delivered approx. 240,000 high-resolution images; After several extensions of the mission, contact with the probe was broken after almost exactly 10 years, on November 2, 2006, due to an incorrect command
29	Mars 96	November 16, 1996, 8:48:53 PM	Roscosmos ( Russia )	Planned Mars orbiter with several landing stations. Did not reach Earth orbit due to the failure of the fourth stage of the Proton launcher
30th	Mars Pathfinder	December 4, 1996, 6:58:07	NASA (USA)	Mars lander and small rover (Sojourner) . Successful landing, remained in operation for 3 months. Use of the first rover on the surface of Mars

31.	Nozomi (Planet-B)	July 3, 1998, 6:12 pm	ISAS ( Japan )	Planned Mars orbiter. Due to problems with the entry into the Mars transfer orbit, the flight time to Mars was more than four years. During that time, the probe suffered from solar storms , which damaged the main engine. For this reason, the probe was unable to enter Mars orbit and on December 14, 2003 flew past Mars at a distance of 870 km
32.	Mars Climate Orbiter	December 11, 1998, 18:45:51	NASA (USA)	Planned Mars orbiter. Loss of the probe on September 23, 1999 when swiveling into Mars orbit due to insufficient approach altitude (57 km) and subsequent destruction in the atmosphere. The error resulted from the use of two different systems of measurement ( SI system of units and the Anglo-American system )

33.	Mars Polar Lander	January 3, 1999, 8:21:10 pm	NASA (USA)	Planned Mars lander (launch and flight together with Deep Space 2). Was lost on landing on December 3, 1999 due to a faulty sensor
33.	Deep Space 2	January 3, 1999, 8:21:10 pm	NASA (USA)	Two planned penetrator probes (take-off and flight together with Mars Polar Lander). Lost on landing on December 3, 1999; the exact cause could not be determined
2000s - 01 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 07

34.	2001 Mars Odyssey	April 7, 2001, 3:02:22 pm	NASA (USA)	Successful Mars orbiter, entered Mars orbit on October 24, 2001, in service

35.	Mars Express	June 2, 2003, 5:45:26 pm	ESA ( Europe )	Successful Mars orbiter (launch and flight together with Beagle 2), reached Mars orbit on December 25, 2003, in operation
35.	Beagle 2	June 2, 2003, 5:45:26 pm	Great Britain	Planned lander (take-off and flight together with Mars Express), was lost when landing on the night of December 24th to December 25th, 2003 (the exact cause remained unclear)
36.	MER-A Spirit	June 10, 2003, 5:58:47 pm	NASA (USA)	Mars rover, landing on January 4, 2004 in Gusev crater. Worked until March 22, 2010. Due to cold damage on the boards of the on-board electronics, no signal could be received from Spirit since then. On May 24, 2011, NASA announced that it would cease its efforts. Active contact with the rover was ended on May 25, 2011
37.	MER-B Opportunity	July 8, 2003, 03:18:15	NASA (USA)	Mars Rover, landing on January 25, 2004 in Meridiani Planum . Was active on Mars for 14 years and 219 days until June 10, 2018, when contact was lost due to a dust storm

38.	Rosetta	March 2, 2004, 07:17:44	ESA (Europe)	A space probe for exploring a comet flew past Mars on February 25, 2007 at a distance of 250 km and took some pictures and measurements

39.	Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter	August 12, 2005, 11:43:00	NASA (USA)	Mars orbiter, reached on 10 March 2006 the Mars orbit, began in November 2006 scientific operation, in operation

40.	Phoenix	August 4, 2007, 09:26:35	NASA (USA)	First Mars lander targeting near the north pole; Landing on May 25, 2008, radio contact broken on November 2, 2008
41.	Dawn	September 26, 2007, 11:34 am	NASA (USA)	Asteroid probe , flew past Mars on February 17, 2009 at a distance of 543 km and photographed the planet.
2010s - 11 - 13 - 2016 - 2018

42.	Fobos-Grunt	November 8, 2011, 8:16 pm	Roscosmos (Russia)	Mars orbiter and return of Phobos samples to Earth, probably did not leave Earth orbit due to computer system failures, remnants crashed into the Pacific on January 15, 2012 off southern Chile
42.	Yinghuo-1	November 8, 2011, 8:16 pm	China	Mars orbiter, the piggyback payload of the Russian Mars probe Fobos-Grunt, burned up with it on January 15, 2012 over the South Pacific
43.	Curiosity	26 November 2011, 3:02 pm	NASA (USA)	Large rover with nuclear power supply, landing on August 6, 2012 in Gale crater , in operation

44.	Mars Orbiter Mission	November 5, 2013 9:08 am	ISRO (India)	First Indian Mars probe (orbiter), reached Mars orbit on September 24, 2014
45.	MAVEN	November 18, 2013 6:28 PM	NASA (USA)	The second mission of the Mars Scout Program is to investigate the Martian atmosphere and entered a Mars orbit on September 22, 2014.

46.	ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter	March 14, 2016 10:31 am	ESA (Europe), Roskosmos (Russia)	Orbiter as part of ESA's ExoMars program. Entered orbit around Mars on October 19, 2016.
46.	Schiaparelli	March 14, 2016 10:31 am	ESA (Europe), Roskosmos (Russia)	Lander under ESA's ExoMars program. (Start and flight together with TGO). Destroyed in the unplanned hard landing on October 19, 2016.

47.	InSight	5th May 2018	NASA (USA)	Stationary Mars lander designed to study the structure and composition of the interior of Mars. The landing took place on November 26, 2018 in the Elysium region .
47.	Mars Cube One	5th May 2018	NASA (USA)	Two Cubesat as a piggyback payload for the InSight lander
2020s - 2020

48.	al-Amal	19th July 2020	United Arab Emirates	Orbiter, study of atmosphere and climate.
49.	Tianwen-1	July 23, 2020 4:41 am	People's Republic of China	Orbiters, Landers and Rover
50.	Mars 2020 Rover Mission	July 30, 2020	NASA (USA)	Large rover based on Curiosity technology to search for traces of life and to prepare a sample return to Earth.
50.	Mars helicopter	July 30, 2020	NASA (USA)	Technology demonstrator for atmospheric flights on Mars; five flights of 30–90 seconds duration
Planned - 22 - 24

?	Escapade	Summer 2022Template: future / in 2 years	UC Berkeley (USA)	two orbiters for studying the Martian magnetosphere and atmosphere; Start together with the asteroid probe Psyche
?	ExoMars Rover	August – October 2022Template: future / in 2 years	ESA (Europe), Roskosmos (Russia)	Rover as part of ESA's ExoMars program
?	Mars Tera-Hertz Microsatellite - TEREX 1	2022Template: future / in 2 years	ISAS (Japan)	Rideshare mission - small lander to the surface of Mars

?	Martian Moons Exploration - MMX	September 2024Template: future / in 4 years	ISAS (Japan)	Sample return mission to the Mars moons Phobos and Deimos
Concepts
?	Mangalyaan-2	2024	ISRO (India)	Orbiter
?	Mars Tera-Hertz - TEREX 2	2024Template: future / in 4 years	ISAS (Japan)	Mars orbiter
?	Sample Fetch Rover	2026Template: future / in 5 years	ESA (Europe)	Transport of the samples prepared by the Mars 2020 rover to the Mars Sample Retrieval Lander (2028)
?	Mars Sample Retrieval Lander	2026Template: future / in 5 years	NASA (USA)	The samples collected by the Sample Fetch Rover are transported into a Mars orbit using the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV)
?	Earth Return Orbiter	2026Template: future / in 5 years	ESA (Europe)	Samples taken from the Mars Ascent Vehicle in Mars orbit and transported to Earth (arrival 2031 Template: future / in 5 years)

Topographic map of Mars with the positions of the landing probes (blue) and rovers (red). Active people are bold. The regions that rise 3 to 8 km above the global zero level are reddish, yellow around the zero level and green and blue the depressions (up to −8 km).

← Beagle 2 (2003)

Curiosity (2012) →

Deep Space 2 (1999) →

Polar Lander (1999) ↓

^ Opportunity (2004)

← Phoenix (2008)

Schiaparelli EDM (2016) →

Summary

From 1960 to 2016 45 space probes were sent to Mars (not counting Zond 3, Rosetta and Dawn), 20 of which were American, 19 Soviet / Russian, three European, one Japanese, one Chinese (secondary payload of the Russian Mars probe Fobos-Grunt) and one Indian. Of these, only 18 were successful - 14 American, one Soviet (Mars 5), two European (Mars Express, TGO) and one Indian. The remaining missions were either only partial successes (e.g. Fobos 2, Schiaparelli) or complete failures (e.g. Beagle 2, Mars Polar Lander, Mars Observer, Mars 96, Fobos-Grunt). Some of the probes launched in the 1960s and 1970s did not even reach Earth orbit, but this was due to the lack of reliability of the launch vehicles at the time.