Mars+Exploration+Program

Mars Exploration Program by Hannah McCarthy and Paul Kovacko

//**MARS: AN INTRO**//
The planet Mars has always been a fascination to humankind. Named after the god of war, probably because its bright red colour (seen even without a telescope) was reminiscent of blood, some of the earliest written descriptions of the planet were by Aristotle in the 4th century BCE. In the 1600s, upon the invention of the telescope, interest in Mars simply escalated now that people could make out planet's features more easily. In the 1800s, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli claimed to see “canals” on the surface of Mars, which to many people suggested that there was life on the red planet, be it vegetation growing along waterways, or intelligent creatures that had built their canals as we build our roads. But it wasn’t until the second half of the 20th century, until technology advanced and public interest peaked to the point that missions to Mars were possible.

//**PAST MARS MISSIONS:**//

The earliest missions to Mars were flybys - probes that were simply meant to fly by the planet and observe it from space, rather than land on the planet to observe from the surface. The Marsnik Program, carried out in 1960, was the Soviet Union’s first attempt of unmanned interplanetary exploration. Both of the spacecraft developed for the mission, //Mars 1960A// and //Mars 1960B//, failed to launch successfully, their thrusters not strong enough to lift them. Two more attempts made in 1962, //Mars 1962A// and //Mars 1962B//, also failed to launch. Just after the Marsnik Program, the Soviet Union attempted the Mars Probe Program, another flyby mission. This probe, //Mars 1//, was launched successfully, and was meant to, among other things, take images of the planet surface. However, communication with the spacecraft ceased before the mission could be completed. The Zond Program in 1962 resulted in two more failures for the Soviet, the first spacecraft failing to launch, and the second going off-course and losing communication. NASA made two attempts to reach Mars in 1964 as part of the Mariner Program. //Mariner 4// was successful, and photographed the planet’s surface as it passed. //Marine 6// and //Mariner 7// were both unsuccessful, as was //Mariner 8//. However, //Mariner 9// not only reached the planet, but also entered orbit around it.

//**LANDINGS**//

Landings are when the spacecraft actually touch down on the planet’s surface, rather than simply flying by. The first Mars landing was part of the Mars Probe Program in 1972, where two spacecraft sent back data over a period of several months, including pictures and information on the planet’s gravitational pull and magnetic fields. In 1976, two more spacecraft were sent to Mars as part of the Viking Program. They both landed successfully, and sent back the first colour images of the red planet. It was on this mission that the “Face of Mars” was first seen. Due to the rock's resemblance to a human face, many people believed that some intelligent life form had once inhabited the planet. Even though more recent, higher resolution pictures of the Face of Mars have shown that it's resemblance to a human face was simple caused by the lighting in picture, ideas of Martians still persist.

In 1988 the Soviet Union attempted two landings as part of the Phobos Program. Each of the landings failed, both due to communications. The Mars Global Surveyor was a US mission to mars in 1996-1997. This mission returned more data regarding the surface and atmosphere than any of the previous missions had. This mission also showed evidence of water once flowing on the planet surface. The Mars Pathfinder was launched just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor, analyzed the composition of the soil and returned over 17,000 images of the Red Planet. A picture of the Face of Mars

//**CURRENT MARS MISSIONS**//

Nasa, in 2001,launched an orbiter called Mars Odyssey, which has been in orbit since then, will a tentative ending date, somewhere is September of 2010. The Odyssey made the discovery of supple amounts of hydrogen in rocks on Mars, hinting that there was once water on Mars, and if so, the possibility of small water-breeding organisms. Soon after the Mars Odyssey launch, the European Space Agency, in return, launched the Mars Express Craft, a two- part machine, consisting of the Mars Express Orbiter and a lander craft, Beagle 2. Beagle 2 failed, and was lost in space in February 2004. The Orbiter, however, reached its’ destination and the European Space Agency was proud to announce that it had detected traces of methane in Mars’ atmosphere, as well as aurora, the same substance as in the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights). Once again, in competition, NASA launched twin exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Both rovers also found signs that there had once been water on Mars. The lifespan of both rovers were surprisingly increased, when Martian dust devils would clean the solar panels on the exploration technology. The latest exploration device sent to Mars is the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, by NASA. Its task is to observe the weather on Mars. The Orbiter recorded the first images of an active avalanche on Mars. In early 2009, the Dawn spacecraft landed on Mars on its way to explore Vesta and Ceres, two large objects in the atmosphere.

A picture of the Odyssey.

//**FUTURE MARS MISSIONS**//

Some of the expected future missions to Mars are the Phobos-Grunt mission and Yinghupo 1 mission in 2009, the Mars Science Laboratory in December 2011, and the MAVEN and 2013 Mars Science Orbiter in 2013. Some of these missions will analyze soil samples, and possibly bring some back to earth for study. Currently, actual manned missions exist only in science fiction, but over the years there have been many propositions for one. Although many think manned missions are risky and unnecessary, the European Space Agency and NASA are both in the preliminary stages for a possible attempt in the 2030s.

A picture of Phobos- Grunt

//**MARS: AN OUTRO**//

Mars is the fourth closest planet to the Sun. It is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is the god of war in the atmosphere, the big Red Planet, true to its name. For years the idea of life on this big planet has been discussed and debated. Pictures and experiments have shown that Mars once held water, meaning that there is a possibility that it once was home to microscopic organisms, a reason to believe in bigger things. Mars Exploration Programs will continue through out the years, and each one will come back with new and exciting information.


 * //CITATIONS//**

[] [] [] [|http://en.wikipedia.org] [] [] [] []