MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) – The first of the two NATO Viking spacecraft was launched into orbit on August 20, 1975. Later it successfully landed on Mars and analysed its soil.
Below is the timeline of Mars research.
1610
Italian scientist Galileo Galilei conducted the first telescopic observations of Mars.
1656-1666
Dutch physicist and astronomer Christiaan Huygens and Italian scientist Giovanni Domenico Cassini independently made the first drawings of Mars and discovered somewhat unstable structures on its surface as fuzzy dark spots of varying size. By watching their movement against the planet’s visible disc, both astronomers inferred the existence of the planet’s rotation with a period of 24 hours and 40 minutes (modern estimates are 24 hours 37 minutes 23 seconds).
1700
Jacques Philippe Maraldi, an astronomer from the Paris Observatory, discovered white caps on Mars’s poles that were distinctly visible against the reddish or grayish background of the planet’s surface. One of the caps is situated near the southern pole.
1777
British astronomer William Herschel measured the planet’s axial tilt. Herschel’s measurements of the inclination of Mars’s eclipse to the orbital plane equalled 28°42'. The noticeable similarity to the Earth’s tilt (23°27') means the seasons on Mars should come and go at approximately the same intervals as on Earth.
1830
German astronomers Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich Mädler drew the first map of Mars.
1877
Asaph Hall, a professor at the Washington Observatory, discovered the two moons around Mars. The discovery is significant as it has allowed for the calculation of Mars’s exact mass. The value of the mass has made it possible to calculate the average density of the planet (about 4.1 g/cm3).
Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli was the first astronomer to detect dark stripes on Mars crossing the areas of the “continents” and connecting different “seas.” He called them canali, which means “straits” or “channels.” The term was taken literally, contrary to the author’s understanding. Schiaparelli drew a detailed map of Mars’s surface, transferring geographical names existing on the Earth. He also saw Mars as a world of mythological heroes dating back to ancient times. Although during his lifetime theories appeared that the canals were artificial, Schiaparelli was convinced of the geological origin of those features, and he explained their alterations by floods that were the result of melting snow and their subsequent drying.
1894
American scientist Percival Lowell founded a special observatory in the desert in Arizona to observe Mars. The astronomer conducted systematic research into the relationship between changes in the planet’s geological system and seasons, especially in regards to changes in the canal system.
1909
French astronomer Eugène M. Antoniadi demonstrated that the canals were irregular dark stripes composing separate spots of different sizes after he conducted an extensive series of observations using a large telescope and made exact drawings of the planet’s surface.
1934
American astronomer Walter Sydney Adams measured the amount of water vapor and oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars.
1947
American astronomer Gerard Kuiper was the first person to detect carbon dioxide, the prevailing component in the Martian atmosphere.
October 10, 1960
The Molniya 8K78 booster rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Soviet Union, which was aimed at sending the Mars automatic space station to the planet (1960А). This was the first attempt in the history of mankind to reach Mars’s surface. The launch failed due to an accident in the carrier. The launch was repeated a few days later, but it failed again due to a technical failure.
October 24, 1962
The Molniya 8K78 booster rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Soviet Union, which was aimed at sending the Mars-1S (Sputnik-22) Soviet automatic space probe to orbit Mars. The space probe failed to leave the Earth’s orbit due to an explosion of the last stage of the booster. http://galspace.spb.ru/index35.html
November 1, 1962
The Soviet Union launched the Mars-1 space probe, which approached Mars on 19 June 1963 (197,000 km. from Mars according to ballistic estimates). Subsequently, the probe took the solar orbit. Contact with the probe was lost, which made correcting the orbit impossible.
November 4, 1962
The Molniya 8K78 booster rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Soviet Union, carrying the Mars-2A (Sputnik-24) Soviet automatic space station into the orbit around the Earth. The flight towards Mars failed. On 5 November 1962, the probe ceased to exist upon entering the dense layers of the Earth’s atmosphere.
November 5, 1964
The United States launched the Atlas Agena-D missile, which put the Mariner-3 probe into the Martian trajectory. However, the probe was put into the wrong trajectory and failed to reach Mars.
November 28, 1964
The United States launched the Atlas Agena-D carrier, which put the Mariner 4 probe into the Martian trajectory. On 14 July 1965, the Mariner 4 probe passed the planet at a distance of 9,844 km. and sent 22 pictures of Mars, confirming that its thin atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide.
November 30, 1964
The Soviet Union launched the Molniya 8K78 space carrier from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with the Zond-2 probe towards Mars. Contact with the probe was lost on 4-5 May 1965.
February 24, 1969
The United States launched the Atlas missile with the Mariner-6 probe to Mars. On 31 July 1969, the probe flew at an altitude of 3,437 km. over the planet’s equatorial area.
March 27, 1969
The United States launched the Atlas SLV 3C Centaur D carrier from Cape Canaveral, which sent the Mariner-7 probe towards Mars. On 5 August 1969, the Mariner-7 flew at an altitude of 3,551 km. over the southern pole of Mars.
The Mariner-6 and Mariner-7 measured the temperature of the planet’s surface and atmosphere, and conducted a molecular analysis of the surface and the atmospheric pressure.
Additionally, they sent over 200 images. The measured temperature of the southern polar cap turned out to be very low ( 125° С). The Mariner-7 is now orbiting the Sun.
March 27, 1969
The Soviet Union launched a Proton-K/D space carrier from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which was aimed at sending a Mars probe to a trajectory towards Mars. The launch failed due to a carrier failure.
April 2, 1969
An accident occurred as the Soviet Mars 1969B probe launched onto the Earth’s orbit.
May 8, 1971
The United States launched an Atlas SLC-3C Centaur-D carrier, which was aimed at sending the Mariner-8 probe to Mars. Due to a failure during the carrier’s second stage, the probe fell into the Atlantic Ocean about 900 miles off Cape Canaveral.
May 10, 1971
A Proton-K carrier missile with a D upper stage launched the Kosmos-419 probe into the Earth’s orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. However, it failed to transfer into Mars’s flight trajectory. On 12 May 1971, the probe entered into the atmosphere and burnt down.
May 19, 1971
The Soviet Union launched a Proton-K with a D upper stage space carrier from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which put the Soviet Mars-2 probe into the Martian trajectory. However, during the final stage of the journey, a glitch with the onboard computer led the probe to enter the Martian atmosphere at a larger angle than calculated. On 27 November 1971, it crashed into the surface. The probe carried the Soviet pendant.
May 28, 1971
The Soviet Union launched a Proton-K space carrier with a D upper stage from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which sent the Mars-3 probe towards Mars. On 2 December 1971, the Mars-3 descent module made the first soft landing on Mars and began sending a video signal to the Earth. The broadcast lasted for 20 seconds and was interrupted sharply. The information received could not be decoded and no more signals from the Mars-3 landing module followed. The orbital module sent data to the Earth until August 1972.
May 30, 1971
The United States launched the Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D carrier, which sent the American probe Mariner-9 towards Mars. The space probe reached Mars on 3 November 1971 and entered the Martian orbit 24 November 1971. At the time of the arrival, a dust storm raged on the planet. Most experiments were put on hold until the storm subsided. The probe made the first high resolution photos of the Martian moons Deimos and Phobos. Relief features were discovered on the planet’s surface, which resembled rivers and canals. The probe sent out 7,329 photos from 13 November 1971 to 27 October 1972.
July 21, 1973
The Soviet Union launched a Proton-K space carrier with a D upper stage, which sent the Soviet Mars-4 probe to Mars. On 10 February 1974, the probe approached Mars, but the retrorockets failed to operate. That’s why the probe flew at an altitude of 1,844 km. over the middle radius of the planet. The only thing that the device did was to turn on a photo and TV apparatus with Vega-3MSA short focal lenses following a command from the Earth and took a 12-pictrure swath. Single-line optical mechanical scanners also sent out two panoramic images of the planet in the orange and red-infrared band.
July 25, 1973
The Soviet Union launched a Proton-K space carrier with a D upper stage from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with the Mars-5 probe. On 12 February 1974, Mars-5 entered the Martian orbit. However, soon afterwards, telemetric data indicated the depressurization of the orbiting probe’s apparatus section containing units of service systems and research equipment. The research program was launched in a rush. The probe sent photo and TV images of Mars with a resolution of up to 100 meters. A series of research studies as to the planet’s atmosphere and surface was conducted. In total, 15 normal pictures were received from Mars-5 taken by a photo and TV camera with Vega-3MSA short focal lenses and 28 pictures taken with Zufar-2SA long-focal lenses. Five TV panoramic views were obtained. The last contact with the probe occurred 28 February 1974 when a Mars TV panorama was sent.
August 5, 1973
The Proton-K launch system with a D upper stage was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Soviet Union. The carrier rocket placed the Mars-6 space probe into the trajectory towards Mars. On 12 March 1974, the Mars-6 flew past Mars about 1,600 km. from its surface. Immediately before the pass, a lander separated from the flyby bus and encountered the planet’s atmosphere. At an altitude of 20,000 km. from Mars, the parachute opened. Before the probe reached the ground at 24° S 25° W, radio connection was lost.
Mars-6 was collecting data from the landing probe as it continued to move along the heliocentric orbit, with a closest approach of 1,600 km. and forwarded it to the Earth.
August 9, 1973
The Proton-K launch system with a D upper stage was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Soviet Union. The carrier rocket placed the Soviet Mars-7 space probe into the trajectory towards Mars. On 9 March 1974 (before Mars-6), Mars-7 flew by Mars approaching it at 1,300 km. The lander separated from the spacecraft and was supposed to land on the surface. However, due to an onboard system failure, the probe passed by the planet and went into the heliocentric orbit. As a result, the task was not completed.
August 20, 1975
The Titan-3E launcher started from Cape Canaveral in the United States and placed Viking-1 into orbit. Viking-2 was successfully launched 9 September 1975. The two unmanned spacecraft, Viking-1 and Viking-2, landed on Mars in 1976 and took the first color photos of the planet’s surface. One of the mission’s major achievements was the data it obtained on Martian soil. The samples contained abundant silicon and iron, substantial amounts of magnesium, aluminum, calcium and titanium. The amount of potassium was five times lower than the average in the Earth’s soil.
July 7, 1988
The Proton-8К82К launch system with a D2 upper stage was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Soviet Union to place Phobos-1 into its trajectory towards Mars to study Mars’s moon Phobos. On 2 September 1988, Phobos-1 was lost on its way to Mars due to a command error.
July 12, 1988
The Proton-8К82К launch system was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Soviet Union to place Phobos-2 into Mars’s orbit on 9 January 1989. The mission transmitted 38 images of Phobos with a resolution of up to 40 metres and measured the surface temperature of Mars’s moon. The connection with the probe was lost on 27 March 1989. The descent module could not be sent to Phobos.
September 25, 1992
The Titan-3 launcher was sent from the United States to place Mars Observer into its trajectory to Mars with the USS Thomas O. Paine module. The spacecraft was aimed at conducting scientific observations during its four-year mission in Mars’s orbit. Contact with Mars Observer was lost on 21 August 1993, only three days before reaching the orbit.
November 7, 1996
The Delta-2 rocket was launched with the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter and captured a highly elliptical orbit on 12 September 1997. Mars Global Surveyor was designed to orbit Mars for two years and collect data on the planet’s surface, its geometry, composition, gravity, atmosphere dynamics and magnetic field. The spacecraft operated until 2006.
November 16, 1996
The Proton-8К82К launch system with a D2 upper stage was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Soviet Union to place Mars-8 (also known as Mars-96) into the Earth’s low orbit. Mars-8 consisted of an orbiter, two surface stations and two penetrators. They were supposed to reach Mars in September 1997 to explore its soil. Due to the failure of the upper stage, the spacecraft was not placed into its departure trajectory. The station remained in the Earth’s low orbit and left it 24 hours later and burned in the earth atmosphere.
December 4, 1996
Within the NASA Discovery Program to explore Mars, the Delta-2 booster launched Mars Pathfinder, a spacecraft that delivered the first Mars rover Sojourner to the Martian surface. Sojourner spent nearly three months on Mars. The last data transmission took place on 27 September 1997, after which the robot only sent undecipherable gibberish. The mission’s managers tried to restore communications until March 1998 but the attempts were unsuccessful.
July 3, 1998
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched its Nozomi orbiter on the third M-V launch vehicle to explore the conditions on Mars. The spacecraft was moving below its operating velocity and reached Mars in December 2003 instead of October, 1999, as expected. The orbiter approached the planet at 1,000 km., but did not enter the orbit and drifted away into space.
December 11, 1998
The United States launched the Delta-2 rocket carrier with the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft, which was aimed at studying the climate on Mars, as well as the water and carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere. During the encounter with Mars, a navigation error led to the loss of anticipated altitude and the spacecraft disintegrated.
January 3, 1999
Mars Polar Lander, also known as Mars Surveyor '98 Lander, was launched in the United States as a supplement to Mars Climate Orbiter. The spacecraft sent its last telemetry before entering the atmosphere on 3 December 1999. The signal was lost afterwards.
April 7, 2001
The Mars 2001 Odyssey orbiter was launched in the United States and reached Mars on 24 October 2001. The robot was responsible for mapping minerals and chemicals on the Martian surface. Gamma Ray Spectrometers detected large amounts of hydrogen within several metres of the surface in the area of around 850 km. in diameter at the planet’s South Pole. Scientists believe that it indicates that there could be ice on Mars.
June 2, 2003
The Soyuz-FG rocket with a Fregat upper stage launched Mars Express during the European Space Agency’s first interplanetary mission. Mars Express entered Mars orbit on 25 December 2003. However, it carried the British lander Beagle-2, which crashed during landing.
June 10, 2003
The Delta-2 launched Spirit, one of the Mars rovers sent by the United States as part of the NASA Mars Exploration Rover project. The rover landed on Mars on 3 January 2004 and was to conduct a geological analysis. In 2006, Spirit’s front right wheel broke. On 23 April 2009, the rover was stuck in the location that the scientists named Troy.
In late May 2011, NASA officially announced the end of Spirit’s mission
July 7, 2003
The Delta-2 booster launched the Opportunity Mars rover, one of the two sent by the United States within the NASA Mars Exploration Rover project. On 25 January 2004, the rover landed on Mars. Its mission was to analyze the geological composition. Its onboard control systems were upgraded several times during the mission. It is presently still operating and transmitting new data to the Earth.
August 12, 2005
Atlas V launched the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reconnaissance spacecraft (US), NASA’s multipurpose unmanned interplanetary station. It attained Martian orbit on 11 March 2006, and since then transmitted to the Earth more data about Mars than all the previous missions put together.
In June 2009, the images from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggested that there were traces of a dried lake that existed on Mars 3.4 billion years ago.
August 4, 2007
The Delta-2 launch vehicle started with the Phoenix robotic spacecraft (US) that landed on Mars on 25 May 2008. The spacecraft was designed to search for water on Martian surface. For the first time, Phoenix discovered an intense water exchange between the soil and atmosphere.
During its mission, the spacecraft completed all its tasks and actually operated for two months longer than it was initially planned. The last communication session took place on 2 November 2008. On 10 November, the mission was declared completed.
November 8, 2011
The Zenit-2SB carrier rocket launched the Phobos-Grunt mission, which was aimed at bringing back soil samples from Mars’s moon, Phobos. Due to an emergency, the spacecraft could not leave the Earth and was stranded in the Earth’s low orbit. On 15 January 2012, Phobos-Grunt decayed in the atmosphere.
November 26, 2011
The Atlas V carrier rocket launched the Curiosity Mars rover (US), a key segment of the Mars Science Laboratory. On 6 August 2012, Curiosity, after an eight-month flight, successfully landed in Gale Crater on Mars. Curiosity is equipped with 10 scientific instruments weighing a total of 75 kilogrammes. They are used for conducting detailed studies of geology, geochemistry, and the planet’s atmosphere and climate, and for searching for traces of water and organic elements. The instruments seek to determine if Mars was ever habitable and if there are places that could be habitable now.
The chemical and mineralogical research conducted on the rock samples obtained by Curiosity indicates that the environment of ancient Mars was favourable for microbial life. A large amount of clay minerals was discovered that had resulted from the reaction of volcanic minerals, such as olivine and relatively fresh water. Various types of sulfur compounds discovered during the analysis could have served as sources of energy for microorganisms, as did minerals of varying oxidation.
The isotopic composition of the argon inert gas in Mars’s atmosphere measured by Curiosity indicates that the atmosphere of the planet was several times denser in the past and the environment was favourable for living organisms.
Curiosity also confused scientists. The instruments did not reveal any traces of methane in Mars’s atmosphere. Methane was believed to be a sign of life existing on Mars. Now, scientists have to solve two puzzles. First, where did the Martian methane found in 2003 come from? Second, where did it go?
