June's_Past+Space+Missions

 Mars Exploration Program


 * Past Missions in Mars **

There have been several past missions that have occurred in Mars because scientists believe there is a greater possibility of life forms there than on any other planet other then Earth.

In 1962-1973, 10 spacecrafts all named Mariner were designed and created by NAS A’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. They were built to explore within our solar system while visiting Venus, Mars, and Mercury for the very first time in the progress.  Each Mariner was reasonably small and they were sent to space in an Atlas rocket. The Mariner 4 was the very first spacecraft to record pictures of Mars taken from a tape recorder and to send them back to Earth. The Mariner 4 survived longer then it’s original expired date by three years and was helpful in obtaining other data for studies related to the solar wind environment.  While in Mars’ orbit Mariner 9 observed a great dust storm that lasted for a month. This dust storm had altered Mar’s surface emphasizing Mar’s Grand volcanoes and of ancient riverbed remains. Mariner 9 also was the first spacecraft to reveal images relating to Mars’ two moons: Phobos and Deimos.  Viking 1 was dispatched on August 20, 1975 and arrived June 19, 1976. Viking 2 was dispatched on September 9, 1975 and arrived August 7, 1976. These two spacecrafts were a Lander and orbiter built together that later separated as the spacecraft entered Mar’s orbit. After separation the Lander would then descend to Mar’s atmosphere. In addition to Viking 1 and Viking 2 being used to take farther images they were also used to perform three biology experiments relating to possibly signs of life. Viking 1 and Viking 2 (orbiter and Lander) functioned far passed its expected lifetime. In this time, Viking 1 & 2 orbiters discovered the “Face on Mars” to learn more about the “Face on Mars” click on the link: June’s_Face on Mars On September 25, 1992, the Mars observer was launched by the United States. The Mars Observer was intended to be another Mars orbiter used to study geology, geophysics and climate of Mars, but shortly after the spacecraft entered Mar’s orbit, the connection was lost. The Mars Global Surveyor was dispatched on November 7, 1996 and arrived on September 12, 1997. It was the first to successfully complete a mission in about two decades. The Mars Global Surveyor using a device called the  Mars Orbital Camera  was able to provide a series imagery allowing us to learn about the Mar’s repeatable weather patterns and its changing meteorological conditions. With the <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Mars Global Surveyor we were capable of learn and study many things. Scientists were provided the first 3-D illustration of this red planet’s north polar ice cap with the help of the spacecraft’s built in <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">laser altimeter. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Launched on December 4, 1996, the Mars Pathfinder was created to transport another two technology pieces to the surface of Mars: a Lander, formally named the Carl Sagan Memorial Station and a Rover, named the Sojourner. The Mars Pathfinder accomplished its purpose by entering Mar’s atmosphere with a parachute and airbags to reduce the impact. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> This mission was quite successful in accumulating further data because both the Lander and Rover lived passed their expected expiry. In total the two gathered 2.3 billion bits of information. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Mars Climate Orbiter was designed as a satellite that assisted in the interpretation of Mars’ interplanetary weather patterns. This spacecraft was lost on September 23, 1999. Engineers believe this was due to the orbiter drifted too low near Mars’ atmosphere resulting in the satellite getting burnt to a crisp. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This spacecraft was designated to collect samples of water ice from the polar ice cap found on Mars using a robotic arm. Launched on January 3, 1999, the Mars Polar Lander carried two probes called the Deep Space 2. These probes were intended to assist in the collection of the water ice samples. Unfortunately their mission was unsuccessful; both went missing at arrival on December 3, 1999. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Phoenix was launched on August, 2007. It is our most recent mission to Mars, arriving on May 25, 2008. The Phoenix was built to resume the mission that the Mars Polar Lander did not complete. This is why the Phoenix contains various scientific instruments that the Mars Polar Lander once had. This time the Phoenix will settle farther north of the polar ice caps. It will dig into Mars’ surface and analyze the soils using a robotic arm. <span style="display: block; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; text-align: right; msobidifontfamily: Arial; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msofareastlanguage: EN-US; msobidilanguage: AR-SA; msobidifontweight: bold;">Past Space Missions Bibliography
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Mariner **
 * <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Mariner 3 & 4 **<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> were specifically designed to closely observe Mars without landing or orbiting on the planet (also called a flyby). On November 5, 1964, Marine 3 was sent to space, but failed to reach [[image:mariner4.gif width="362" height="291" align="left" caption="Mariner 4 source:http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/martianchronicle/ martianchron2/issue2images/mariner4.jpeg "]]Mars. On November 28, 1964, three weeks later, Mariner 4 was launched. It was successful in reaching Mars and arrived on July 14, 1965 (eight-months later).
 * <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Mariner 6 & 7: **<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Mariner 6 was dispatch on February 24, 1969 and Mariner 7 followed 3 days after. In the same year these two spacecrafts were the first to carry out a dual mission to Mars. They’re mission was to analyze Mars’ atmosphere using remote sensor and recording more images using the flyby method.
 * <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Mariner 8 & 9 **<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">were designed to be the planet’s first orbiter and to gather data in this way instead of the flyby method. On May 8, 1971, Mariner 8 was supposed to be discharged but was unsuccessful. <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> On May 30, 1971 Mariner 9 was release into space and arrived successfully on November 13, 1971 becoming Mars’ first artificial satellite.
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Viking 1 &2 **
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: FR-CA;">Mars Observer **
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Mars Global Surveyor **
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Mars Pathfinder **
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: FR-CA;">Mars ****<span style="font-size: 13pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Climate ****<span style="font-size: 13pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: FR-CA;"> Orbiter **
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: FR-CA;">Mars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2 **
 * <span style="font-size: 13pt; color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Phoenix **