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Space Topics: Planetary Exploration TimelinesA Mars Timeline: 1960 to the Presentby A. J. S. Rayl, Melanie Melton, Courtney Dressing, and Emily Lakdawalla The dawn of the Space Age saw many attempted missions to Mars, which proved a difficult target to reach. The first images returned from Mars dashed hopes that Mars could ever have harbored life, but discoveries since then have occasionally hinted at a possibly lively early Mars. 1960
October 10 The Soviet Union launches Korabl 4 (Marsnik 1) to fly by Mars. It is the USSR's first attempt at an interplanetary probe. After launch, however, the rocket's third stage fails to lift the probe into orbit. October 14. The Soviet Union launches Korabl 5 (Marsnik 2) to fly by Mars. Just after launch, the rocket's third stage fails and the probe never achieves Earth orbit. The Angry Red Planet -- Directed by Ib Melchior, this low-budget action adventure movie tells the story of four astronauts who survive the trip to Mars only to encounter giant life-threatening three-eyed Martians and huge animals that appear to be a genetically engineered mix of bats, rats, spiders, and crabs. Melchior uses a tinting process known as Cinemagic to give the Red Planet a pinkish hue and orders sets that feature buildings that redefine skyscrapers, giving Mars a visual appearance distinct from other efforts. As the screen fades to black, three of the four astronauts have been killed, while the only female astronaut, played by Nora Hayden, returns to Earth. In 2000, the film is reworked and released as Red Planet.
1961Stranger in a Strange Land, a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, is published. The story line centers on the return, assimilation (or lack of it), and adventures of Valentine Michael Smith, who was born during, and is the only survivor of, the first manned mission to Mars. Raised by Martians, he knows nothing of Earth's cultures or of interactions with other humans. Being the legal heir to a huge financial empire, the de facto owner of the planet Mars, and his uniqueness, turn him into a global sensation. As Valentine Michael Smith explores human sexuality and the human concept of love, he ultimately, controversially, establishes his own religion, teaching Earthlings some unforgettable lessons in the process. The book-which introduces the word grok into the English lexicon and influences the 1960s migration into communes-becomes an immediate must-read in colleges across America, earns a Hugo Award in 1962, and eventually becomes a classic in modern literature. It is deemed by many critics and readers to be one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written. In the words of author Kurt Vonnegut, it is "a brilliant mind-bender." 1962
October 24. The Soviet Union launches Korabl 11 (Sputnik 22) to fly by Mars. The spacecraft breaks apart after reaching Earth orbit and the debris reenters Earth's atmosphere. It is tracked by the US Ballistic Missile Early Warning System in Alaska, where officials at first think it is a Soviet ICBM attack in response to the Cuban missile crisis that is threatening nuclear war between the US and Cuba. November 1. The Soviet Union launches Mars 1 (Sputnik 23) to fly by Mars. It reaches 107 million kilometers (66 million miles) from Earth when controllers lose contact with its signal. November 4. The Soviet Union launches Korabl 13 (Sputnik 24) to land on Mars. The spacecraft breaks apart in Earth orbit during a burn to transfer the probe to a Mars trajectory. Lowell Observatory astronomer Earl Charles Slipher publishes A Photographic History of Mars (1905-1961), collecting early photographs of Mars.
The Topps company releases "Mars Attacks" bubble-gum cards depicting pictures of Martians attacking Earth. Despite the odds, the technologically inferior Earthlings manage to work together to attack Mars and are victorious as the Red Planet explodes. The cards were created by Len Brown and Woody Gelman and painted by Norm Saunder. 1963
On September 29, My Favorite Martian, created by Jack L. Greene and starring Ray Walston as the Martian and Bill Bixby as his Earthling host, newspaper reporter Tim O'Hara, debuts on CBS-TV to enthusiastic reviews and a 33% share of the television viewing audience. Offering an alternative to the monsters from outer space theme that pervaded 1950s sci-fi films, Walston's Martian is as irascible as he is lovable. After being rejected by every producer who had ever seen it until producer Jack Chertok reportedly found it at the bottom of a pile of scripts, the show quickly turns into one of America's favorite sit-coms. "Despite the premise of a man from Mars with antennae growing from his head who can disappear at will and read Earthlings' thoughts [the show] seemed professional, slickly done and completely delightful," reports a Los Angeles Times reviewer after its debut. The show runs until September 4, 1966. The Day Mars Invaded Earth -- Directed/produced by Maury Dexter, this Invasion of the Body Snatchers-derived effort stars Kent Taylor and Marie Windsor as a couple who begin seeing doubles of their friends and family. As the script turns, the doubles are actually Martians who are quietly assuming control of the brains and resurrected bodies of their human counterparts in order to prevent the human exploration and colonization of their home planet. In the end, counter to Hollywood tradition, the Martians win. 1964Robinson Crusoe on Mars -- In this underground sci-fi classic, a rocket ship bound for Mars ("Mars Gravity Probe One") is forced to change course in order to avoid an asteroid. Commander Kit Draper (Paul Mantee) and Colonel Dan MacReady (Adam West), along with a monkey named Mona, head to Mars in separate escape pods. MacReady crashes and burns. Commander Draper lands and the plot twists into a story of survival.
November 5. The US launches Mariner 3 to fly by Mars. A shield designed to protect Mariner 3's instruments during launch fails to release once the spacecraft has reached Earth orbit. With its instruments covered and the extra weight of the shield dragging it down, the spacecraft is unable to obtain the necessary trajectory to send it on to Mars. November 28. The US launches Mariner 4 to fly by Mars. It becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Mars and obtain close-up pictures of the Red Planet. November 30. The Soviet Union launches Zond 2 to fly by Mars and drop a descent craft, but controllers lose contact with the spacecraft in May 1965 after a midcourse correction maneuver. Zond 2 eventually flies past Mars on August 6, 1965, but no data are returned. Zond 3, initially a companion to Zond 2, misses its launch window to Mars. It is instead launched on a Mars trajectory to study the Moon and interplanetary space and to perform spacecraft tests.
John Carter of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs' eleventh and final science fiction novel chronicling the adventures of John Carter, is published. Best known not for his Martian tales but for Tarzan, Burroughs is "a much underrated writer," according to the esteemed Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians -- Directed by Nicholas Webster, this low-budget movie has found its way to the top of many critics' lists of the 'Worst Christmas Movies Ever Made' because of performances and production that are defined, diplomatically, as amateurish. As the storyline goes, Mars' Ruling Council members cannot seem to do anything to make their deprived children happy, so they plan to kidnap Santa Claus, played by John Call, from Earth. It goes down the chimney from there. 1965
July 14. Mariner 4 flies within 9,844 kilometers (6,117 miles) of Mars and begins transmitting data back to Earth, becoming the first spacecraft to return pictures of Mars to Earth. It sends images of a large, ancient crater and confirms the existence of a thin Martian atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide. Once past Mars, the spacecraft continues on its way, returning data as it goes. The ancient cratered Moon-like surface of Mars revealed in the Mariner 4 images is a great disappointment to many. October. Mariner 4 ceases data return when the orientation of its antenna makes communication with Earth impossible. The Wizard of Mars -- Directed by David L. Hewitt, this off-world remake of The Wizard of Oz is nowhere near as good as the original. After four astronauts (Dorothy, Doc, Charlie, and Steve) crash-land on Mars in 1974, they must attempt to survive in the brutal Martian environment with only four days' worth of supplies. Fortunately, they discover a golden road leading them to a Martian city, where they meet the "Wizard." The powerful Wizard (really the collective consciousness of the Martians) requires the astronauts to complete a task before leaving the planet. Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster -- Directed by Robert Gaffney, this film stars Marilyn Hanold as Martian Princess Marcuzan. A recent atomic war has destroyed nearly all the women on Mars, so Princess Marcuzan and her assistant, Dr. Nadir (Lou Cutell), must travel to Earth to kidnap more females. The Martians land in Puerto Rico after shooting down a NASA spacecraft manned by an android. 1966Queen of Blood -- Directed by Curtis Harrington, this sci-fi/horror movie stars Basil Rathbone as Dr. Farraday and Dennis Hopper as Paul Grant. In 1990, an alien ship crash-lands on Mars after attempting to reach Earth. The sole survivor (a light green female) is rescued and ferried back to Earth. On the way, the seemingly harmless alien begins to devour the crew. 1967Late in the year, scientists reestablish contact with Mariner 4 and begin, once again, receiving data. December 20. NASA terminates the Mariner 4 mission. Mars Needs Women -- Directed by Larry Buchanan, this campy, low-budget sci-fi movie is considered so bad, and its special effects so inept, that it becomes an underground cult classic, perhaps because it represents Hollywood filmmaking at its worst. It stars Disney regular Tommy Kirk as the leader of a group of Martians who come to Earth in search of women with whom to repopulate the Red Planet. The military, however, view their arrival as the prologue to an invasion, and the drama ensues. In the end, the Martians escape without the women of their choice (an airline flight attendant, a burlesque dancer, and a geneticist). 1968Mission Mars -- Directed by Nick Webster, this low-budget sci-fi film revolves around the concept of a presence on Mars awaiting humankind to reach it. It stars Darren McGavin, Nick Adams, and George DeVries as astronauts who, en route to the Red Planet, cross flight paths with two dead Russian cosmonauts. Upon their arrival, the trio encounters a third, unconscious, cosmonaut and do battle with the evil alien presence before returning home with their new-found comrade. 1969
February 25. The US launches Mariner 6 to fly by Mars. Its twin, Mariner 7, will launch in 31 days. March 27. The Soviet Union launches Mars 1969A to orbit Mars. The third stage of the rocket launching this mission catches fire and explodes, causing the remaining pieces to crash-land back on Earth. March 27. The US launches Mariner 7 to fly by Mars. It is scheduled to arrive at Mars five days after Mariner 6. April 2. The Soviet Union launches Mars 1969B to orbit Mars. The first stage of the rocket fails almost immediately after liftoff. July 31. Mariner 6 successfully flies by Mars. At closest approach, it is 3,431 kilometers (2,131 miles) from the Martian surface. The spacecraft sends back a total of 75 images (49 "far encounter and 26 "near encounter") of the planet. August 5. Mariner 7 successfully flies within 3,430 kilometers (2,131 miles) of the Martian surface. It will ultimately return 126 images of Mars. The two Mariner missions help scientists establish the mass, radius, and shape of the planet. Scientists also discover that Mars' southern polar ice cap is composed of carbon dioxide. Mariner 4, 6, and 7 all flew over Mars' southern hemisphere, returning pictures of an ancient Moon-like surface. 1971American rock singer David Bowie releases the album Hunky Dory containing the song "Life on Mars." May 8. The US launches Mariner 8 to fly by Mars. It fails to reach Earth orbit. Mariner 8 had been designed to map 70% of the Martian surface and would have been the first spacecraft to orbit Mars. May 10. The Soviet Union launches Kosmos 419 to orbit Mars. Kosmos 419 reaches Earth orbit, but its fourth-stage rocket, which would have sent the spacecraft on its way, fails to ignite due to an erroneous ignition timer setting. The spacecraft reenters the atmosphere on May 12 and is destroyed. May 19. The Soviet Union successfully launches Mars 2 toward Mars. May 28. The Soviet Union successfully launches Mars 3, a spacecraft identical to Mars 2. May 30. The US launches Mariner 9.
November 14. Mariner 9 becomes the first spacecraft from the US to go into orbit around another planet. However, excitement for its arrival is subdued by a dark cloud -- literally. A Martian dust storm, which started in late September, has grown to cover the entire planet. The only surface features visible are the summit of Olympus Mons and the three volcanoes of Tharsis Ridge. Mission scientists will have to wait until the dust settles before they begin the science portion of the mission. November 27. Mars 2 arrives at Mars, releasing a probe that descends to the surface (at a much faster rate than intended) and crashes. However, the Mars 2 orbiter is successfully placed in an 18-hour orbit. December 2. Mars 3 arrives, delivering a descent craft to the Red Planet that survives on the surface for 20 seconds before mysteriously shutting down, possibly because of a dust storm. The orbiter, short on fuel, is unable to obtain its original 18-hour orbit. Instead, the spacecraft ends up in an almost 13-day orbit around the planet. 1972August 22. Mars 2 and 3 shut down. Together, the Mars 2 and 3 orbiters return 60 images of Mars, record temperatures ranging from -110 to 13 degrees Celsius (-166 to 55 degrees Farenheit), produce surface relief maps, and supply data about the Martian gravity and magnetic fields. Additionally, combined data from Mars 2 and Mars 3 are used to produce a color image of the global dust storm of December 1971. At the end of the mission, Mars 2 has completed 362 orbits and Mars 3 has completed 20 orbits. October 27. Mariner 9 runs out of fuel after 684 orbits (349 days in orbit). All told, it has taken a total of 7,329 images of the entire surface of Mars, returned data about the atmospheric and surface composition of the planet and the density and pressure of its atmosphere, as well as its gravity and topography. The data include the first detailed images of Valles Marineris, the polar caps, and the volcanoes. The spacecraft also provides scientists with the first close-up views of Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars. Mariner 9 overturns the impression of Mars as an ancient, Moon-like place; its images reveal a great many features that look as though they were carved by liquid water. 1973
July 21. The Soviet Union launches Mars 4 to orbit Mars. This and the following three spacecraft will be plagued by problems with their microchips. July 25. The Soviet Union launches Mars 5 to orbit Mars. August 5. The Soviet Union launches Mars 6, a combined flyby and descent craft. August 9. The Soviet Union launches Mars 7 to land on the Red Planet. 1974February 10. Mars 4 arrives at the Red Planet, but its retro-rockets fail to fire. The spacecraft flies by the planet instead of slowing down and going into orbit. As it soars past the planet at a distance of 2,200 kilometers (1,370 miles), it takes one set of images and collects limited data. Despite the failure to enter orbit, Mars 4 is responsible for the detection of the night-side ionosphere on Mars and continues to return data about interplanetary space. February 12. The USSR's Mars 5 successfully goes into orbit around the Red Planet. The spacecraft completes 22 orbits in the same number of days before a problem on board the spacecraft terminates the mission. Mars 5 returns 60 images of the Red Planet (from 5 N, 330 W to 20 S, 130 W) and provides information about the Martian atmosphere. March 6. Mars 7 successfully arrives at the planet, but an error on board the spacecraft causes the lander to separate early, and it misses the planet by 1,300 kilometers (800 miles). Both spacecraft and lander go into a solar orbit. March 12. Mars 6 arrives at the Red Planet. Its descent craft separates from the main spacecraft and descends through the atmosphere, transmitting 224 seconds of data before abruptly cutting off (either when the retro-rockets fire or when it slams into the ground). Although these are the first data of their kind (from within the Martian atmosphere), most of the information is garbled and unusable. The main spacecraft acts as a transmission relay between the descent craft and Earth. It also performs an occultation experiment before flying past the Red Planet. Soviet attempts to visit Mars end for 15 years. 1975
August 20. The US launches Viking 1 to orbit and land. Each of the two Viking spacecraft that will go to Mars in 1975 consist of two separate units, an orbiter and a lander. September 9. The US launches Viking 2 to Mars. Like its twin, Viking 1, it is composed of two components, an orbiter and a lander. British rock band Wings releases the album Venus and Mars containing a song of the same name. 1976June 19. Viking 1 arrives at Mars, goes into orbit around the Red Planet, and begins taking pictures of the surface in search of a safe landing site for the lander. Mission planners hope for a July 4th landing, but the original site turns out to be too rocky. Another site is chosen. July 20. Viking 1 lands on Mars. It is the first successful Mars landing and occurs on the seventh anniversary of the first Moon landing. The Viking 1 lander touches down in the Chryse Planitia, about 20 degrees north of the equator (22.48 degrees north, 49.97 degrees west). The lander takes extensive weather readings and conducts experiments on soil samples that it collects with a scoop. Both the orbiter and lander will take many images of the Red Planet and collect a tremendous amount of atmospheric and surface data.
August 7. Viking 2 goes into orbit around Mars. September 3. The Viking 2 lander separates from the orbiter and touches down in the Utopia Planitia, on the opposite side of the planet and almost 1,500 kilometers closer to the North Pole than Viking 1 (at roughly 47.27 degrees north, 225.99 degrees west). One of the lander's legs settles down on a rock, so the entire lander is tilted by about 8 degrees. The lander takes extensive atmospheric readings and conducts experiments on soil samples that it collects with a scoop. In addition, between the two landers, more than 1,400 images are taken of the Martian surface.
1978July 25. After 706 orbits, the Viking 2 orbiter is shut down after using up its attitude control propellant. It has returned some 16,000 images. Capricorn One -- Directed by Peter Hyams, this high-budget drama features a number of stars including Elliot Gould, James Brolin, Brenda Vaccaro, Sam Waterston, Telly Savalas, Karen Black, and O.J. Simpson. The astronauts scheduled for the first manned mission to Mars are removed from the ship because it is deemed unsafe. Not long after they are asked to participate in a fake landing on a specially designed set, they realize their lives are in danger. The musical version of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is released, starring Richard Burton and David Essex. The songs "Forever Autumn" and "The Eve of the War" become hit singles. 1979
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century -- Created by Glen A. Larsen, directed by Daniel Haller, and starring Gil Gerard as Buck, this telefilm is a remake of the 1939 serial. Following the same basic storyline but influenced by Barbarella and Star Wars, a cheerful Buck uses old-fashioned heroics and high technology to thwart the plan of the evil Princess Ardela, played by Pamela Hensley, to take over Earth. 1980April 11. The Viking 2 lander's batteries fail, and it ceases operation. August 17. The Viking 1 orbiter is powered down after 1,485 orbits. November. The Planetary Society is founded by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman. The Society will become a leading advocate of the scientific exploration of Mars. Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles land on television in the form of a miniseries directed by Michael Anderson and starring Rock Hudson. 1982January. The Viking 1 lander is renamed the Thomas Mutch Memorial Station in honor of the late leader of the Viking imaging team, who had recently died in a climbing accident in the Himalayas. March. The rock band The Misfits releases the album Walk Among Us containing the song "I Turned into a Martian." November 13. Contact is lost with the Viking 1 lander due to a faulty command sent by ground control. There will not be another successful American mission to Mars for 15 years. 1983
Richard Hoagland begins to analyze pictures of Mars returned by Viking. He postulates that one particularly provocative image of what appears to be a large "monument" resembling a humanoid face in a region known as Cydonia is an artifact from an ancient and intelligent civilization. Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars [UK] -- Directed by D.A. Pennebaker, this rock documentary filmed on July 3, 1973, during the final concert of David Bowie's landmark Ziggy Stardust world concert tour (in support of the album of the same name), is finally released after a decade in postproduction during which Pennebaker reportedly struggled with the soundtrack mix. The film gets a one-time broadcast on television on, oddly, ABC's "Movie of the Week." 1984Roberta Score of the Antarctic Meteorite Lab at Johnson Space Center discovers the 4.5 billion-year-old Martian meteorite ALH84001. The meteorite is misclassified as a common diogenite meteorite and remains relatively insignificant for 10 years. 1986Invaders from Mars -- This big-budget movie remake of the 1953 classic of the same name is directed by Tobe Hooper; features a stellar cast, including Louise Fletcher, Timothy Bottoms, Bud Cort, and Karen Black; and offers top-flight special effects by Star Wars innovator John Dykstra. While it fails to achieve the stark, paranoid mood and eerie atmosphere of the original, it is, according to many reviewers, equally entertaining, capable of raising the hair on the back of your neck. 1988
July 7. The Soviet Union launches Phobos 1 to orbit Mars. The spacecraft is designed to study the Sun and interplanetary space while en route. Once in orbit around Mars, it is to study the Red Planet and take close-up images of its moon Phobos. July 12. The Soviet Union launches Phobos 2 to the Martian moon. It is slated to orbit and drop two "hoppers" (landers) onto the surface of Phobos. September 2. Controllers on the ground accidentally upload software containing a command that deactivates Phobos 1's attitude control thrusters. The spacecraft turns its solar panels away from the Sun and is unable to recharge its batteries. As a result, the mission is lost. War of the Worlds -- This TV series, which expands on H. G. Wells' original story with the premise that the Martians did not die as in the end of the book, but were instead put into a state of hibernation, airs for two seasons on cable television on the Sci-Fi Channel. Starring Jared Martin as Dr. Harrison Blackwood and Lynda Mason Green as Dr. Suzanne McCullough, it essentially picks up where the original leaves off. As the curtain rises here, the aliens have gained the power to mix their cells with human cells and to assume control of human bodies. 1989January 29. Phobos 2 goes into orbit around the Martian moon and begins sending back preliminary data. March 27. Just before Phobos 2 is to move within 50 meters (160 feet) of the Martian moon and deploy its two "hoppers" (landers), the spacecraft's onboard computer malfunctions and the mission is lost. Lobster Man from Mars -- Directed by Stanley Sheff and written by Bob Greenberg and Tommy Sledge, this film within a film features a young student's attempts to sell his film of the same name to a desperate producer. 1990Ray Bradbury's Chronicles: The Martian Episodes, starring David Carradine, Ben Cross, John Vernon, Hal Linden, and David Birney, offers five journeys into interplanetary adventure, mystery, and thrills on the fabled Red Planet, each adapted from the author's works. It airs on the Ray Bradbury Theater on cable television. Total Recall -- Directed by Paul Verhoeven and inspired by Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," this film starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as construction worker Douglas Quaid. After endless dreams of the Red Planet, Quaid finds himself on Mars and struggles with his implanted memories. 1992
September 25. The US launches Mars Observer to orbit and study the Red Planet. Mars Observer is designed to spend a year examining the geoscience and climate of Mars. The specific objectives of the mission are to "(1) determine the global elemental and mineralogical character of the surface material; (2) define globally the topography and gravitational field; (3) establish the nature of the Martian magnetic field; (4) determine the temporal and spatial distribution, abundance, sources, and sinks of volatiles and dust over a seasonal cycle; and (5) explore the structure and circulation of the atmosphere." 1993August 21. Just 3 days away from Mars, Mars Observer goes silent, and all contact with the spacecraft is suddenly lost. Scientists are unable to determine the cause of the failure. Mars Observer is the first and last spacecraft in the Observer series of planetary missions; the proposed 1997 launches of the other two missions (Lunar Observer and Mercury Observer) never occur. 1994The Planetary Society produces Visions of Mars, a CD-ROM filled with art and literature inspired by the Red Planet. A collaborative project that involves the Russian Space Research Institute, the CD-ROM features more than 70 novels, stories, and articles about Mars. Included are , among other items, a 10th century Arabic poem, Kim Stanley Robinson's Green Mars, as well as 54 images of the planet drawn from sci-fi and astronomy sources, part of a documentary made the night the Viking 1 lander settled on Mars, and even Orson Welles' legendary radio play of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Richard Hoagland begins appearing on the UFO circuit with the Viking photographs taken in the Cydonia region and his theory that they represent "evidence" that an intelligent species once commanded the Red Planet. NASA and JPL scientists dismiss the image seen in the photographs as "a play of light and shadows."
NASA meteorite specialist Dave Mittlefehldt examines Martian meteorite ALH84001 and discovers that it is actually a rare variety of SNC meteorite. Mittlefehldt also learns that ALH84001 contains carbonate minerals. 1995The general scientific consensus about life on Mars shifts once again, this time to the hypothesis that the conditions to support life did exist long ago on the Red Planet. May 29. The Planetary Society and LEGO sign an agreement to create "Red Rover, Red Rover," a classroom educational product allowing kids to simulate the exploration of Mars through a teleoperated rover. 1996August 7. A team of scientists led by David McKay announces that ALH84001, a meteorite from Mars initially recovered by a joint National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and Smithsonian Institution expedition in 1984, bears signs of primitive microbial life. Other scientists soon contest the findings. November 7. The US launches Mars Global Surveyor to orbit the Red Planet. November 16. Russia launches Mars 96, consisting of an orbiter, a lander, and two soil penetrators. The rocket carrying the spacecraft launches successfully, but its third stage ignites prematurely and sends the spacecraft crashing back to Earth.
December 4. The US launches Mars Pathfinder to Mars. The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must by Robert Zubrin with Richard Wagner is published. Zubrin, a former senior engineer at Lockheed Martin and founder of Pioneer Astronautics, a space exploration and research and development firm, offers a step-by-step plan of how we can use present-day technology to send humans to Mars. Buzz Aldrin sums up Zubrin's effort this way: "This book shows how a flight to Mars has progressed from fantasy to . . . a reality that can be achieved by us." Special Report: Journey to Mars -- This made-for-TV movie directed by Robert Mandel and starring Keith Carradine, Dean Jones, Judge Reinhold, and Alfre Woodard, tells the story of a team of astronauts on a 7-month voyage to Mars who find the mission -- and their lives -- in danger because of last-minute complications. Mars Attacks! This high-budget science-fiction comedy, directed by Tim Burton, features an all-star ensemble cast, including Jack Nicholson, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Jim Brown, Glenn Close, Danny Devito, Michael J. Fox, Pam Grier, Tom Jones, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rod Steiger, and Paul Winfield. The plot twists as the world turns to US President James Dale, played by Nicholson, for leadership in its greatest hour of need. However, as Dale continually botches his overtures to the Martians, everyone is left to wonder whether there isn't somebody better to represent the Earthlings? 1997February 4. Former Tubes band member Bill "Sputnik" Sooner releases the album Mall to Mars containing a song of the same name. March 25. American rock/pop singer Matthew Sweet releases the album Blue Sky on Mars featuring cover art from the Viking landers. July 4. Pathfinder passes through Mars' atmosphere, sheds its heat shield, fires its retro-rockets, deploys a set of airbags, and then bounces to a stop on the Martian surface, all within 4 minutes of arriving at the Red Planet. This dramatic landing marks the first successful mission to the Martian surface since Viking 20 years earlier. It is promptly renamed the Sagan Memorial Station (after The Planetary Society's cofounder Carl Sagan, who had died on December 20). Once the lander is safely on the surface, its protective airbags deflate and retract, allowing the pyramid-shaped spacecraft to unfold its three petals, revealing a weather station and the small Sojourner rover, named after the African-American abolitionist Sojourner Truth.
July 6. Sojourner, the 6-wheeled rover carried to Mars on board Pathfinder, rolls off a ramp and onto the Martian surface. September 12. Mars Global Surveyor arrives at Mars. To save fuel, the orbiter is scheduled to go through a series of aerobraking maneuvers to shrink its elliptical, 18-hour orbit to a circular 2-hour orbit. During one of its aerobraking passes, while the spacecraft is using the drag of the atmosphere to slow its speed, engineers on Earth notice that one of its solar panels has been overextended. Faced with the possibility of losing the solar panel, engineers decide to dramatically slow the aerobraking process in order to avoid stressing the questionable panel. Over the next year, scientists gently tweak the orbit. Mars Global Surveyor is designed for a 2-year mapping mission. September 27. Contact with Pathfinder/Sagan Memorial Station and Sojourner, which have continued to transmit data for more than a month longer than planned, is lost. American rock artist and former Van Halen member Sammy "the Red Rocket" Hagar releases the album Marching to Mars containing a song of the same name. The documentary Mission to Mars is released featuring narrator Charlie Sheen. 1998July 3. The Japanese launch Nozomi (Planet B) to orbit Mars. It is scheduled to arrive at Mars in October 1999. December 21. Japan's Nozomi fails to gain enough speed during an Earth flyby. The spacecraft has also used much more fuel than predicted, so, in an effort to conserve fuel, plans are reformulated to send the craft on a slower route. It is now slated to arrive in December 2003. December 11. The US launches Mars Climate Orbiter to orbit the Red Planet and study its weather systems and search for signs of water. Mars Climate Orbiter is the first part of the two-spacecraft Mars Surveyor '98 program and will act as a communications relay for Mars Polar Lander, in addition to monitoring the Red Planet. 1999January 3. The US launches Mars Polar Lander, the second component of the Mars Surveyor '98 program, to land on the Red Planet and study the ice caps at its South Pole. The spacecraft also carries Deep Space 2 (Amundsen & Scott), two penetrators, and a microphone. The two microprobes are designed to separate from Mars Polar Lander's cruise stage just before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere. The probes are to fall to the surface, hitting the ground at speeds of 160-200 meters/second. Their heat shields will shatter on impact, and the probes will penetrate the ground by as much as a meter, depending on the composition of the soil. Data from the probes is to be sent to the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor, which will then relay the data back to Earth. The microphone will be turned on as Mars Polar Lander lands.
March. Mars Global Surveyor finally begins the science portion of its mission. March 5. NASA accepts The Planetary Society's Red Rover Goes To Mars project as an educational experiment to be carried on the proposed Mars Surveyor 2001. Surveyor is later canceled. July 27. The German band Tangerine Dream releases the album Mars Polaris to celebrate NASA's Mars Polar Lander mission. The album contains songs titled "Mars Mission Counter" and "Tharsis Manuever." September 23. Mars Climate Orbiter is lost. A mathematical conversion error places the spacecraft too close to Mars at the time of orbital insertion. December 3. Mars Polar Lander arrives at Mars and turns its antenna away from Earth to prepare for its entry into the Martian atmosphere. This is the last time controllers hear from the spacecraft. A review board determines that the most likely cause for the loss of mission is a faulty software system that may have triggered the retro-rockets to turn off early, causing the lander to crash instead of gently touch down on the surface. No signal is ever received from the Deep Space 2 penetrators that were to have separated from the main spacecraft. My Favorite Martian -- This major motion picture adaptation of the popular 1960s TV show is directed by Donald Petrie and stars Christopher Lloyd as the Martian, Jeff Daniels as the Earthling who takes him in, and Daryl Hannah and Elizabeth Hurley as Daniel's good-girl and bad-girl crushes. TV's Martian, Ray Waltson, also appears as a secret agent alien hunter. Escape from Mars -- Directed by Neill Fearnley, this made-for-TV movie details the adventures of the first five astronauts to travel to Mars. 2000May 22. In response to the failures of Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, NASA cancels the 2001 Mars Surveyor mission and reorganizes its Mars exploration program. November 6. NASA accepts The Planetary Society's Red Rover Goes To Mars project as an educational experiment on the Mars Exploration Rover mission slated to launch in 2003. Red Planet, directed by Antony Hoffman and starring Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Carrie Ann Moss, and Terrence Stamp, takes viewers to the year 2050. Earth is hopelessly polluted, and the first expedition is sent to Mars to scout out sites for a colony that will save humanity. Mission to Mars lands on movie screens. This high-budget film, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, and Don Cheadle, portrays a search-and-rescue operation sent to determine the outcome of the first Mars mission, which encountered trouble and lost communication. Although the rusty red Martian landscape is realistically reproduced, the decision to show a robotic alien creature unintentionally turns the movie into something of a farce. 2001February 1. Mars Global Surveyor completes its primary mission. It is now well into its extended mission and continues to return images and data from Mars.
April 7. The US launches 2001 Mars Odyssey to orbit and produce a complete map of the Red Planet. October 24. Mars Odyssey reaches the Red Planet. Its mapping mission is under way. It is capturing images of the Martian surface at resolutions between those of Viking and Mars Global Surveyor and is making both daytime and nighttime observations of the surface in thermal infrared wavelengths at resolutions higher than ever before. July 20. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin renames the Viking 2 landing site the Gerald Soffen Memorial Station in honor of a lead scientist for the Viking project who had recently passed away. Ghosts of Mars -- Directed by horror meister John Carpenter, this sci-fi flick provides another dark vehicle for Ice Cube and further launches the career of Natasha Henstridge, although it does little for the planet. "Terror," the movie's tagline goes, "is the same on any planet." 2002April 21. Nozomi is hit by powerful solar flares while approaching Earth for the gravity assist maneuver. The power and communications systems are damaged, and the hydrazine fuel aboard the spacecraft freezes as a result of an electrical short. The fuel gradually thaws as the spacecraft moves closer to the Sun, and the first gravity assist maneuver proceeds as planned. 2003June 2. The European Space Agency launches the Mars Express orbiter. The spacecraft includes the Beagle 2 lander, named after the ship of British naturalist Charles Darwin. The countries involved in the mission include France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Spain, Japan, and the United States. June 10. The US launches Spirit (MER-A), the first Mars Exploration Rover. June 19. JAXA's Nozomi flies a mere 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) from Earth for a second gravity assist maneuver. Due to the spacecraft's proximity to the Sun, the previously frozen hydrazine fuel has thawed. July 7. The US launches Opportunity (MER-B), the second Mars Exploration Rover. August 27. At 9:46 a.m. GMT, Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in 59,619 years, passing at a distance of 55.718 million kilometers (or 34,623 million miles). It will not come this close again for 284 years. December 9. After two Earth swingbys and a delay of more than 4 years, Japan's Nozomi approaches Mars. But a trajectory correction maneuver designed to place Nozomi on course for Mars orbit insertion fails, and hope for the mission's success is finally abandoned. December 14. Nozomi flies by Mars at a distance of 860 kilometers (535 miles) and enters solar orbit.
December 19. The Beagle 2 lander is ejected from Mars Express. On the surface, Beagle 2 will search for signs of life, monitor weather and climate, and analyze the geology and composition of the landing site. Beagle is supposed to land on December 25, but is in fact never heard from again. December 25. Mars Express begins orbiting Mars in a highly elliptical capture orbit. It is expected to operate for at least one Martian year (687 days) to accomplish the following objectives: (1) "image the entire surface at high resolution, (2) produce a map of mineral composition, (3) map the atmosphere and determine its global circulation, (4) determine the structure of the sub-surface to a depth of a few kilometers, (5) determine the effect of the atmosphere on the surface, (6) determine the interaction of the atmosphere with the solar wind." The newly formed Pendragon Pictures version of The War of the Worlds premiers at Cannes 2003. Described as a noncampy, live-action production, the film is directed by Timothy Hines and produced by Susan Goforth. The movie claims to be "the first authentic movie adaptation of the 1898 H. G. Wells classic novel." Eyes on Mars, a documentary video on the upcoming rover missions and past Mars missions, is released. 2004January 4. Mars Express alters its orbit to a polar one to allow for more complete coverage of the Martian surface. The spacecraft will assume its permanent orbit of 11,000 by 300 kilometers (7,000 by 170 miles) by the end of January. January 4. Using a heat shield, parachutes, retro-rockets, and air bags, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit bounces to a landing within Gusev crater on Mars (at 14° 34´ S 175° 29´ E) and returns images of a rock-strewn landscape. Its nominal mission is to last 90 days. Spirit and its sister rover, Opportunity, are designed to use a variety of onboard equipment to achieve seven scientific objectives: (1) search for and characterize a variety of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity; (2) determine the distribution and composition of minerals, rocks, and soils surrounding the landing sites; (3) determine what geologic processes have shaped the local terrain and influenced the chemistry; (4) perform "ground truth" -- calibration and validation -- of surface observations made by Mars orbiter instruments; (5) search for iron-containing minerals and identify and quantify relative amounts of specific mineral types that contain water or were formed in water; (6) characterize the mineralogy and textures of rocks and soils and determine the processes that created them; and (7) search for geologic clues to the environmental conditions that existed when liquid water was present and assess whether those environments were conducive to life.
January 6. The Spirit landing site is renamed the "Columbia Memorial Station" to honor the astronauts who died in the space shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003. The seven astronauts aboard were Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel B. Clark, Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, and Ilan Ramon. January 15. US President George W. Bush announces a plan to return to the Moon by 2020. Bush plans to use the Moon as a stepping-stone for Mars. Sources within the White House report that the earliest date for a crewed mission to Mars would be 2030. January 16. NASA's Spirit and ESA's Mars Express work together to observe the atmosphere from the bottom up and the top down simultaneously. As Mars Express flies overhead and peers down through the atmosphere with four instruments, the rover peers upward, using its infrared spectrometer to determine the temperature of the air. The simultaneous observations provide the most direct "ground truth" observations yet to compare orbital and lander data. January 23. The Mars Express team announces the detection of water ice and carbon dioxide ice in the southern polar ice cap. January 25. The second Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, bounces to a landing within Meridiani Planum (at 1° 57´ S, 354° 28´ E). Its first images are of a landscape no one has ever seen before: the interior of a small impact crater, in the walls of which are exposed intact layers of what scientists will later determine are wind- and water-laid sediments.
January 28. In memory of the seven astronauts who perished in the Challenger explosion exactly eighteen years ago, NASA Administrator Seen O'Keefe names the Opportunity landing site the "Challenger Memorial Station." The seven astronauts aboard STS 51-L were Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Gregory B. Jarvis, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, Francis R. Scobee, and Michael J. Smith. February 6. After more than a month of searching from both Earth and Mars, ESA declares Beagle 2 lost. February 6. NASA and ESA create "the first working international communications network around another planet" when the orbiting Mars Express communicates with Spirit.
February 9. The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity discovers "blueberries" of hematite in the Eagle Crater rock outcrop. Principal Investigator Steve Squyres reports, "Embedded in [the rock] like blueberries in a muffin are these little spherical grains... This is wild looking stuff. The rock is being eroded away and these spherical grains are dropping out." March 18. Mars Exploration Rover scientists discover that the "blueberries" are made of hematite -- the mineral identified from orbit by Mars Global Surveyor that brought Opportunity to Meridiani Planum in the first place. March. Mars Express discovers hundreds of square kilometers of permafrost surrounding the South Pole. The water ice was previously undetectable because it was mixed with soil, but the OMEGA instrument aboard the orbiter is able to use infrared readings to detect the water. The data show that the 85% of the south polar region is highly reflective carbon dioxide ice, whereas the remaining 15% is water ice. June 25. The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit detects hematite in a strangely shaped rock named Pot of Gold, half a world away from Opportunity. 2005Tom and Jerry Blast Off to Mars -- This 75-minute film features the famous cat and mouse team as accidental stowaways on a spaceship bound for the Red Planet. As participants in the first manned mission to Mars, Tom and Jerry "battle a monstrous robot and brave a shower of asteroids to save the Earth." Voices by Brad Garret and Billy West. January. Opportunity discovers the first meteorite to be found on another planet. The nickel-iron meteorite is found near remnants of the rover's heat shield. February. Italian scientist Vittorio Formisano, principal investigator on the Mars Express Planetary Fourier Spectrometer, detects methane and formaldehyde in the Martian atmosphere. The significant aspect of the discovery is that because methane is short-lived, the gas would have to be constantly replaced to remain in the atmosphere. The two theories for the constant production of methane are geologic-volcanic processes and methane-producing microbes. Formisano remains cautious by announcing that his results "should not be taken as a statement that there is life on Mars today, because we need to go there, to drill the soil, take samples, and analyze them before possibly concluding that life is there." March 2. The Mars Exploration Rover team announces that they have detected jarosite on Mars. The mineral, which can form only in dilute sulfuric acid in groundwater, is detected in the Eagle Crater outcrop by the Opportunity rover. March 7. Spirit observes the first Martian meteor. The annual meteor shower from Comet Wiseman-Skiff peaks four days later, on March 11. March. A team of researchers led by Livio Tornabene detects four definitive ray craters and three probable ray craters on Mars. Previously, only one ray crater had been identified. These craters, which are relatively recent, are the most likely source for the Martian meteorites found on Earth. March. A team led by James Head of Brown University finds evidence of glacial activity in the Hellas Basin region of Mars. The team believes that Mars is in an "interglacial" period and that glacial formation is connected to the changing axial tilt of the planet. Linking the implications of the discovery to the search for life, Head reports, "We're now seeing geological characteristics on Mars that could be related to life, but we're a long way from knowing that life does indeed exist." March. In what Principal Investigator Steve Squyres calls a "miracle cleaning event," Spirit receives a significant boost in power when its solar panels are cleaned off by a passing dust devil. April 26. Despite earlier success traversing dunes, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity gets stuck in a foot-high sand dune as it explores Meridiani Planum. The rover will struggle to escape from "Purgatory Dune" until June 4.
June. The latest remake of the H. G. Wells classic War Of The Worlds premieres. Directed by Steven Spielberg, this version stars Tom Cruise as father Ray Ferrier and focuses on the fate of one family as the Martians invade Earth. July. Scientists David Schuster of Caltech and Benjamin Weiss of MIT analyze the amount of argon-40 left in Martian meteorites to determine the maximum temperature to which the rocks have been exposed. Their findings show that the meteorites "have been very cold for a very long time." In particular, meteorite ALH84001, which sparked the debate about life on Mars, "could not have been above freezing for more than a million years during the past 3.5 billion years." August 12. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter lifts off at 7:43 AM EDT from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will reach Mars in March 2006 and lower its orbit to a 250 by 320-kilometer (160 by 200-mile) polar science orbit over a period of 4 to 6 months. The spacecraft is designed to spend one Martian year orbiting the planet and accomplishing the following objectives: (1) characterize the present climate of Mars and its physical mechanisms of seasonal and interannual climate change; (2) determine the nature of complex layered terrain on Mars and identify water-related landforms; (3) search for sites showing evidence of aqueous and/or hydrothermal activity; (4) identify and characterize sites with the highest potential for landed science and sample return by future Mars missions; and (5) return scientific data from Mars landed craft during a relay phase. September. A team of Mars Express scientists led by Gerhard Neukum, the principal investigator for the High Resolution Stereo Camera, announces that the Martian volcanoes "may be active." The team has discovered a field of 50-100 volcanic cones at the North Pole of Mars. Due to the absence of wind-related features or cratering, the team believes that the cones are relatively recent. September. Mary Bourke of the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona discovers that Martian dunes contain large amounts of water. Bourke has developed her theory by comparing water content maps with geologic maps of Mars. In the northern hemisphere of Mars, dunes appear to contain 40-50 percent water by mass. September. A team of scientists led by Jacques Laskar of the Paris Observatory in France has discovered evidence for an "ice belt" that circled the Martian equator approximately 5 million years ago. The team theorizes that the belt formed when Mars' axial tilt was as high as 35 degrees. (The axial tilt of Mars varies radically from 0 to 60 degrees.) The ice band, which could have been up to several hundred meters thick, would have been deposited as snow formed and the polar ice caps shrank. September 20. The camera team for the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor discovers new gullies on a sand dune found in a crater west of the Hellas Basin region. It is imaged on July 17, 2002 and April 27, 2005. The gullies are visible only in the more recent image. September 20. Mars Global Surveyor images reveal that mesas of dry ice at the South Pole are shrinking by approximately 3 meters per Martian year. Images from 1999 show more relief than those taken in 2005. The changes are cited as evidence for continuing climate change on Mars. October 10. Data from the magnetometer aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor is used to produce a new map of Mars' ancient magnetic field. The map, which is the first high-resolution magnetic field map of the entire planet, reveals evidence of past plate tectonics, according to its creator, Norman Ness of the Bartol Research Institute at the University of Delaware, Newark. December 14. OMEGA, the visible and infrared mineralogical mapping spectrometer aboard ESA's Mars Express, detects "deposits of clay minerals and other phyllosilicates" on the Martian surface. The clay deposits are located in older areas of the planet, while the sulfate deposits are found in the younger areas. The minerals are cited as evidence for a hydrologic cycle on an early Mars.
December 21. Researchers announce the possible detection of the crashed Beagle 2 lander in images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. 2006January: Spirit and Opportunity complete two years of successful operation on Mars, having traveled a total of five kilometers (three miles). Spirit heads to the rugged lands to the South of Columbia Hills and Opportunity travels toward "Victoria Crater," a huge depression 800 meters in diameter. January 10: Spirit encounters intriguing white soil at a target called Arad. The spot turns out to be the saltiest place found to date on Mars and another clue to the existence of past water at Gusev Crater. The soil is dominated by iron-bearing sulfates, which may record the past presence of water, as sulfates are most easily mobilized and concentrated in liquid solution.
March 10: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pulls into orbit around Mars after a 493-million kilometer (306-million mile) journey. It thus joins the fleet of orbiters already around Mars- NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and 2001 Mars Odyssey, and the European Space Agency's Mars Express. The $720 million orbiter has the most technically advanced payload ever sent to another planet, including state-of-the-art suites of scientific, engineering, and communications instruments that give it the capability of returning more than 10 times the amount of data returned by all previous Mars missions combined. September 27: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter completes the six-month process of aerobraking to circularize its orbit for the mission's main, 2-year science phase. All six instruments that will be used to study the atmosphere, surface, and subsurface have been checked out and are operational. September 29: Opportunity arrives at Victoria Crater, where it intends to study the sub-surface features of Mars and thereby acquire clues of Mars’ geological history. Spirit, meanwhile, completed the McMurdo Panorama, the largest panorama yet taken on the mission.
October 7: Opportunity, in its first week collecting science at the much-anticipated, once-only-dreamed-about Victoria crater rim is greeted from above by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The state-of-the-art The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera returned an awe-inspiring picture that definitively shows Opportunity near the rim of Victoria crater on Mars with a resolution that actually defines the shape of the roving robot field geologist, as well as reveals its tracks. November 2: A mere five days before its tenth anniversary (from launch), Mars Global Surveyor loses radio contact with Earth due to an onboard malfunction. Plans to capture images of the errant spacecraft from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and to communicate with it using the Mars Exploration Rovers all fail. After several attempts to re-establish contact, scientists lose hope on recovery of the orbiter. December 6: Newly released images from the Mars Global Surveyor show recently formed light-toned deposits that could have been left behind by liquid water flowing on the surface within the few years that the spacecraft surveyed Mars. Scientists had previously announced the discovery of topographic features that must have been carved by water in the last several million years, but this is the first evidence that water has flowed on Mars' surface while humans have been studying it. The images also reveal newly formed small impact craters that could give a new direction to our understanding of both Mars and Earth. Backward to A Mars Timeline: 1700-1959 » Backward to Prehistory to 1698 » |
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