-
Probes sent to Mars
In the year 1958, the first probes were sent to Mars. -
Mars 3 Makes Soft Landing
Mars 3 was the first lander to successfully reach the surface of Mars. It worked for only 20 seconds, but was able to relay messages to its orbiter. -
Viking 1 and 2 Landers
Viking 1 lander touched down on the Chryse Planitia aka Golden Plain. Viking 2 landed on Septemever 3, 1976. They searched for micro-organisms and returned full color photographs of the surface. -
Pathfinder Launches
The Mars Pathfinder mission was launched on December 2nd 1996, along with the Sojourner and touched down on Mars on July 4, 1997. Carl Sagan was the lander for this rover. The Mars Pathfinder gathered nearly 2.3 billion bits of information, including information on wind and weather, more than 16,500 photos as well as 15 chemical rock and soil data. The data collected led scientists to believe that at one time Mars was wet and warm, with water existing in a liquid state and a thicker atmosphere. -
Pathfinder Delivers First Rover to Mars
The first rover on Mars was a micro rover named Sojourner. She was able to move on the surface of Mars. This 6-wheeled rover is about 11 inches tall, by 2 feet long and 19 inches wide. They tested the Sojourner in their "Mars Yard" before they sent it to Mars, The Mars Yard is a big piece of land that is covered in rocks! There were drivers for the Sojourner whose names were Brian Cooper and Jack Morrison. It was launched on December 2, 1996 along with it's trusty friend the Pathfinder. -
Mars Exploration Rover Program
The rovers Spirit and Opportunity were part of the Mars Exploration Program. They were also known as MER-A and MER-B. Spirit landed first on January 3, 2003. Opportunity landed on January 24, 2004.These rovers were equipped with miniature thermal emission spectrometers used to help provide temperature profiles of the atmosphere. These two rovers were prepared for a 90-day mission, but they worked so well that their mission lasted years longer. -
NASA loses contact with Spirit
NASA considers the Spirit rover "dead" since they had been unable to communicate with the rover for a long period of time. -
Curiosity
NASA launched it's newest space rover called Curiosity on November 26, 2011. The Curiosity rover is equipped with 10 specialized instruments for evaluating Mars' surface. Some of these include the rock abrasion tool which is used to remove dust and weathering for observation. Magnets are used to help collect magnetic dust particles and an alpha particle x-ray spectrometer helps scientists examine rocks and soils more closely. Laser beams and robotic arms are used to help gather the elements.
