Mars special
Race to the red planet2040
1980 2020Mars
missionsA maze of canyons on
the surface of Mars in
an image taken by
NASA’s Viking landerTo find out more
about the race
to Mars, visit
bbc.in/2glgwKM1960
2000(^1965) spacecraft US
Mariner 4 takes the first close-
up photographs of Mars.
(^1971) has its first Mars The Soviet Union
successes with Mars 2 and Mars 3, which
fly around the planet gathering data on
the atmosphere.
(^1976) 1 and 2 are the Nasa’s Viking
first landers to successfully touch
down. They provide information on the
planet’s surface, including strange
chemical activity in the soil, but no clear
evidence of life.
1993 After 17 years,
the US returns to Mars with its
Observer craft but it falls silent before
going into orbit and is never heard
from again.
1996 NASA’s
Mars Global Surveyor is
launched on a mission to map
the red planet. It provides
glimpses of water beneath
the surface.
1997 NASA’s Mars
Pathfinder rover lands and sends back more than
20,000 images, which suggest Mars was once
warm and wet, much like Earth. The mission
is watched on the internet by millions of people
around the world.
2003 The first British-
built probe to explore another planet – the
European Space Agency’s Mars Express – launches
carrying the Beagle 2 lander. The orbiter is
successful but contact with Beagle 2 is lost.
(^2014) Orbiter Mission arrives India’s Mars
in orbit, making India the first nation to
have a spacecraft successfully orbit Mars
on its first attempt.
2020s NASA’s
Space Launch System rocket will
perform a number of unmanned
missions to test technologies and
deliver cargo.
(^2026) send the first humans SpaceX aims to
to land on Mars.
2030sto send its first NASA plans
astronauts to an asteroid orbiting
Mars, aiming for a landing a
decade later.