Timeline Mission Mars One

NASA’s Mariner 4 became the first spacecraft to successfully fly by Mars, transmitting the first close-up photographs of another planet’s surface. The 21 images revealed a heavily cratered, Moon-like landscape and provided key measurements of Mars’s thin atmosphere, reshaping scientific expectations about the planet’s habitability. Mariner 4’s success marked the beginning of detailed robotic exploration of Mars and demonstrated the feasibility of deep-space imaging and telemetry from interplanetary distances.

Mariner 9 achieved Mars orbit, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. Arriving during a global dust storm, it waited out the haze and then mapped the surface, revealing giant volcanoes like Olympus Mons, vast canyons such as Valles Marineris, and dried-out riverbeds. Its comprehensive imaging transformed understanding of Martian geology and climate, provided a global context for future missions, and set a new standard for planetary reconnaissance from orbit.

Viking 1 became the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform operations, returning the first color images from the Martian surface. Its lander conducted biological experiments searching for signs of life, analyzed soil chemistry, and measured meteorology, while its orbiter provided high-resolution mapping. Although the biology results were inconclusive, Viking 1 set the benchmark for safe entry, descent, and landing (EDL) on Mars and for long-duration surface science operations.

NASA’s Mars Pathfinder landed successfully using an innovative airbag system and deployed Sojourner, the first rover to operate on Mars. The mission demonstrated low-cost mission design under the Discovery Program and validated key surface mobility and autonomous navigation technologies. Sojourner’s analyses of rocks and soils, alongside Pathfinder’s meteorology, revitalized public interest in Mars exploration and laid the groundwork for more capable rovers to follow.

The Phoenix lander touched down in the northern plains of Mars and soon exposed and analyzed subsurface material identified as water ice, confirmed by its instruments and by observed sublimation in images. Phoenix characterized the polar soil’s chemistry, including perchlorates, and studied weather and frost cycles. Its direct confirmation of near-surface water ice in the arctic region was a pivotal finding for understanding climate, potential habitability, and resources for future missions.

NASA’s Curiosity rover executed the first sky crane landing on another world, enabling a one-ton laboratory to reach Gale Crater. It discovered ancient fluvial and lacustrine environments with key minerals and chemistry indicating past habitability, detected organic molecules in rocks, and observed seasonal methane variations. Curiosity’s integrated suite of instruments and mobility established a new paradigm for in situ geochemistry and astrobiology investigations on Mars.

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) successfully entered Mars orbit on its first attempt, making India the first Asian nation to reach Mars and the first to do so on a maiden interplanetary mission. MOM provided atmospheric and surface observations while demonstrating cost-effective deep-space navigation and operations. Its success broadened international participation in Mars exploration and showcased innovative mission engineering.

NASA’s InSight lander touched down on Elysium Planitia to perform the first dedicated geophysical study of Mars’s interior. Using its SEIS seismometer, it detected hundreds of marsquakes and, combined with other instruments and radio tracking, helped determine crustal thickness and the size and state of the planet’s core. InSight’s measurements opened a new window into Martian seismology and thermal history; the mission concluded after power loss in December 2022.

NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater to seek signs of ancient life and cache samples for possible return to Earth. It began coring and sealing rock samples and carried the Ingenuity helicopter, which achieved the first powered, controlled flight on another planet in April 2021. Perseverance’s advanced instruments, sample caching system, and terrain navigation represent major advances in astrobiology and pave the way toward Mars Sample Return.