List of missions to Mars
This is a list of spacecraft missions relating to the planet Mars, such as orbiters and rovers.
Missions
| Spacecraft | Launch Date | Operator | Mission | Outcome | Remarks | Carrier rocket |
| 1M No.1 | OKB-1 | Flyby | Failed to orbit | Molniya | ||
| 1M No.2 | OKB-1 | Flyby | Failed to orbit | Molniya | ||
| 2MV-4 No.1 | Flyby | Booster stage disintegrated in LEO | Molniya | |||
| Mars 1 | Flyby | Communications lost before flyby | Molniya | |||
| 2MV-3 No.1 | Lander | Never left LEO | Molniya | |||
| Mariner 3 | NASA | Flyby | Payload fairing failed to separate | Atlas LV-3 Agena-D | ||
| Mariner 4 | NASA | Flyby | The first flyby of Mars on 15 July 1965 | Atlas LV-3 Agena-D | ||
| Zond 2 | Flyby | Communications lost before flyby | Molniya | |||
| Mariner 6 | NASA | Flyby | ||||
| 2M No.521 | Orbiter | Failed to orbit | Proton-K/D | |||
| Mariner 7 | NASA | Flyby | Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D | |||
| 2M No.522 | Orbiter | Failed to orbit | Proton-K/D | |||
| Mariner 8 | NASA | Orbiter | Failed to orbit | Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D | ||
| Kosmos 419 | Orbiter | Never left LEO; booster stage burn timer set incorrectly | Proton-K/D | |||
| Mars 2 | Orbiter | Entered orbit on 27 November 1971, operated for 362 orbits | Proton-K/D | |||
| Mars 2 lander | Lander | Deployed from Mars 2, failed to land during attempt on 27 November 1971 | Proton-K/D | |||
| Mars 3 | Orbiter | Entered orbit on 2 December 1971, operated for 20 orbits | Proton-K/D | |||
| Mars 3 lander | Lander | The first lander on Mars, soft landed on 2 December 1971. The first partial image was transmitted. Contact lost 14.5 seconds after transmission start. | Proton-K/D | |||
| Prop-M Rover rover | Rover | Deployment is unknown, due to communication problem because of storm | Proton-K/D | |||
| Mariner 9 | NASA | Orbiter | The first orbiter of Mars. Entered orbit on 14 November 1971, deactivated 516 days after entering orbit | Atlas SLV-3C Centaur-D | ||
| Mars 4 | Orbiter | Failed to perform orbital insertion burn | Proton-K/D | |||
| Mars 5 | Orbiter | Failed after 9 days in Mars orbit; returned 180 frames | Proton-K/D | |||
| Mars 6 | Lander Flyby | Contact lost upon landing, atmospheric data mostly unreadable. Flyby bus collected data. | Proton-K/D | |||
| Mars 7 | Lander Flyby | Separated from coast stage prematurely, failed to enter Martian atmosphere | Proton-K/D | |||
| Viking 1 orbiter | NASA | Orbiter | Operated for 1385 orbits. Entered Mars orbit in 1976 June 19. | Titan IIIE Centaur-D1T | ||
| Viking 1 lander | NASA | Lander | The second lander successfully returning data, deployed from Viking 1 orbiter. Operated for 2245 sols. Landed on Mars in 1976 July 20. | Titan IIIE Centaur-D1T | ||
| Viking 2 orbiter | NASA | Orbiter | Operated for 700 orbits. Entered Mars orbit in 1976 August 7. | Titan IIIE Centaur-D1T | ||
| Viking 2 lander | NASA | Lander | Deployed from Viking 2 orbiter, operated for 1281 sols. Landed on Mars in 1976 September 3. | Titan IIIE Centaur-D1T | ||
| Phobos 1 | Orbiter | Communications lost before reaching Mars; failed to enter orbit | Proton-K/D-2 | |||
| Phobos 2 | Orbiter Phobos lander | Orbital observations successful, communications lost before landing | Proton-K/D-2 | |||
| Mars Observer | NASA | Orbiter | Lost communications before orbital insertion | Commercial Titan III | ||
| ' | NASA | Orbiter | Operated for seven years | Delta II 7925 | ||
| Mars 96 | Rosaviakosmos | Orbiter Penetrators | Never left LEO | Proton-K/D-2 | ||
| Mars Pathfinder | NASA | Lander | Landed at 19.13°N 33.22°W on 4 July 1997, Last contact on September 27, 1997 | Delta II 7925 | ||
| Sojourner | NASA | Rover | The first rover on another planet', operated for 84 days | Delta II 7925 | ||
| Nozomi | ISAS | Orbiter | Ran out of fuel before reaching Mars | M-V | ||
| Mars Climate Orbiter | NASA | Orbiter | Approached Mars too closely during orbit insertion attempt due to a software interface bug involving different units for impulse and burned up in the atmosphere | Delta II 7425 | ||
| Mars Polar Lander | NASA | Lander | Failed to land | Delta II 7425 | ||
| Deep Space 2 | NASA | Penetrator | Deployed from MPL, no data returned | Delta II 7425 | ||
| Mars Odyssey | NASA | Orbiter | Expected to remain operational until 2025. | Delta II 7925 | ||
| Mars Express | ESA | Orbiter | Enough fuel to remain operational until 2026. | Soyuz-FG/Fregat | ||
| Beagle 2 | ESA | Lander | No communications received after release from Mars Express. Orbital images of landing site suggest a successful landing, but two solar panels failed to deploy, obstructing its communications. | Soyuz-FG/Fregat | ||
| Spirit | NASA | Rover | Landed on January 4, 2004. Operated for 2208 sols | Delta II 7925 | ||
| Opportunity | NASA | Rover | Landed on January 25, 2004. Operated for 5351 sols | Delta II 7925H | ||
| Rosetta | ESA | Gravity assist | Flyby in February 2007 en route to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko | Ariane 5G+ | ||
| Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | NASA | Orbiter | Entered orbit on March 10, 2006 | Atlas V 401 | ||
| Phoenix | NASA | Lander | Landed on May 25, 2008. End of mission November 2, 2008 | Delta II 7925 | ||
| Dawn | NASA | Gravity assist | Flyby in February 2009 en route to 4 Vesta and Ceres | Delta II 7925H | ||
| Fobos-Grunt | Roskosmos | Orbiter | Never left LEO | Zenit-2M | ||
| Yinghuo-1 | CNSA | Orbiter | To have been deployed by Fobos-Grunt | Zenit-2M | ||
| Curiosity'' | NASA | Rover | Landed on August 6, 2012 | Atlas V 541 | ||
| Mars Orbiter Mission | ISRO | Orbiter | Entered orbit on 24 September 2014. Mission extended till 2020. | PSLV-XL | ||
| MAVEN | NASA | Orbiter | Orbit insertion on September 22, 2014 | Atlas V 401 | ||
| ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter | ESA/Roscosmos / | Orbiter | Entered orbit on October 19, 2016 | Proton-M/Briz-M | ||
| Schiaparelli EDM lander | ESA | Lander | Carried by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Although the lander crashed, engineering data on the first five minutes of entry was successfully retrieved. | Proton-M/Briz-M | ||
| InSight | NASA | Lander | Landed on November 26, 2018. | Atlas V 401 | ||
| MarCO | NASA | Two CubeSats flyby supporting InSight | Flyby November 26, 2018. Last contact Feb 2019 | Atlas V 401 | ||
| Emirates Mars Mission | 19 July 2020 | MBRSC | Orbiter | Arrives February 2021. | H-IIA | |
| Tianwen-1 orbiter | 23 July 2020 | CNSA | Orbiter | Proposed orbit insertion: 11-24 February 2021 | Long March 5 | |
| Tianwen-1 lander/rover | 23 July 2020 | CNSA | Lander/rover | Proposed landing: 23 April 2021 | Long March 5 | |
| Perseverance rover | 30 July 2020 | NASA | Rover | Proposed landing: 18 February 2021 | Atlas V 541 | |
| Ingenuity helicopter | 30 July 2020 | NASA | Helicopter | Proposed landing: 18 February 2021 To be deployed from the Perseverance rover. | Atlas V 541 |
Locations of selected Mars landers and rovers
There are a number of derelict orbiters around Mars whose location is not known precisely; there is a proposal to search for small moons, dust rings, and old orbiters with the Optical Navigation Camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.There should be 8 derelict Mars orbiters barring unforeseen events if they have not decayed as of 2016. One example is Mariner 9, which entered Mars orbit in 1971 and is expected to remain in orbit until approximately 2022, when the spacecraft is projected to enter the Martian atmosphere and either burn up or crash into the planet's surface. The Viking 1 orbiter is predicted not to decay until at least 2019. One orbiter that is confirmed to have undergone Mars atmospheric entry is Mars Climate Orbiter.
Future missions
In development
Proposals
Missions to the moons of Mars
Missions dedicated to explore the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. Many missions to Mars have also included dedicated observations of the Moons, while this section is about missions focused solely on them. There have been three unsuccessful dedicated missions and many proposals. Because of the proximity of the Mars moons to Mars, any mission to them may also be considered a mission to Mars from some perspectives.There have been at least three proposals in the United States Discovery Program, including PADME, PANDORA, and MERLIN. The ESA has also considered a sample return mission, one of the latest known as Martian Moon Sample Return or MMSR, and it may use heritage from an asteroid sample return mission.
| Proposal | Target | Reference |
| Aladdin | Phobos and Deimos | |
| DePhine | Phobos and Deimos | |
| DSR | Deimos | |
| Gulliver | Deimos | |
| Hall | Phobos and Deimos | |
| M-PADS | Phobos and Deimos | |
| Merlin | Phobos and Deimos | |
| MMSR | Phobos or Deimos | |
| OSRIS-REx 2 | Phobos or Deimos | |
| Pandora | Phobos and Deimos | |
| PCROSS | Phobos | |
| Phobos Surveyor | Phobos | |
| PRIME | Phobos | |
| Fobos-Grunt 2 | Phobos | |
| Phootprint | Phobos | |
| PADME | Phobos and Deimos |
In Japan, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science is developing a sample return mission to Phobos, due to launch in 2024. This mission is called Martian Moons Exploration and is proposed as a flagship Strategic Large Mission. MMX will build on the expertise the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency would gain through the Hayabusa2 and SLIM missions. As of January 2018, MMX is set for launch in September 2024.
| Planned mission | Target | Reference |
| Martian Moons Exploration | Phobos and Deimos |
Three missions to land on Phobos have been launched; the Phobos program in the late 1980s saw the launch of Fobos 1 and Fobos 2, while the Fobos-Grunt sample return mission was launched in 2011. None of these missions were successful: Fobos 1 failed en route to Mars, Fobos 2 failed shortly before landing, and Fobos-Grunt never left low Earth orbit.
| Launched mission | Target | Reference |
| Phobos 1 | Phobos | |
| Phobos 2 | Phobos | |
| Fobos-Grunt | Phobos |
Missions sent to the Martian system have returned data on Phobos and Deimos and missions specifically dedicated to the moons are a subset of missions Mars that often include dedicated goals to acquire data about these moons. An example of this is the imaging campaigns by Mars Express of the Mars moons.
Osiris-Rex 2 was a proposal to make OR a double mission, with the other one collecting samples from the two Mars moons. In 2012, it was stated that this mission would be the both quickest and least expensive way to get samples from the Moons.
The 'Red Rocks Project', a part of Lockheed Martin's "Stepping stones to Mars" program, proposed to explore Mars robotically from Deimos.
Undeveloped concepts
examples only1970s
- Mars 4NM and Mars 5NM – projects intended by the Soviet Union for heavy Marsokhod and Mars sample return. The missions were to be launched on the failed N1 rocket.
- Mars 5M – double-launching Soviet sample return mission planned to 1979 but cancelled due to complexity and technical problems
- Voyager-Mars – USA, 1970s – Two orbiters and two landers, launched by a single Saturn V rocket.
1990s
- Vesta – the multiaimed Soviet mission, developed in cooperation with European countries for realisation in 1991–1994 but canceled due to the Soviet Union disbanding, included the flyby of Mars with delivering the aerostat and small landers or penetrators followed by flybys of 1 Ceres or 4 Vesta and some other asteroids with impact of penetrator on the one of them.
- Mars Aerostat – Russian/French balloon part for cancelled Vesta mission and then for failed Mars 96 mission, originally planned for the 1992 launch window, postponed to 1994 and then to 1996 before being cancelled.
- Mars Together, combined U.S. and Russian mission study in the 1990s. To be launched by a Molinya with possible U.S. orbiter or lander.
- Mars Environmental Survey – set of 16 landers planned for 1999–2009
- Mars-98 – Russian mission including an orbiter, lander, and rover, planned for 1998 launch opportunity as repeat of failured Mars 96 mission and cancelled due to lack of funding
2000s
- Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander – October 2001 – Mars lander
- Kitty Hawk – Mars airplane micromission, proposed for December 17, 2003, the centennial of the Wright brothers' first flight. Its funding was eventually given to the 2003 Mars Network project.
- NetLander – 2007 or 2009 – Mars netlanders
- Beagle 3 – 2009 British lander mission meant to search for life, past or present.
- Mars Telecommunications Orbiter – September 2009 – Mars orbiter for telecommunications
2010s
- Sky-Sailor – 2014 – Plane developed by Switzerland to take detailed pictures of Mars surface
- Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher – 2018 rover concept, cancelled due to budget cuts in 2011. Sample cache goal later moved to Mars 2020 rover.
- Red Dragon – Derivative of a Dragon 2 capsule by SpaceX, designed to land by aerobraking and retropropulsion. Planned for 2018, then 2020. Canceled in favor of the Starship system.
- Tumbleweed rover, wind-propelled sphere