Abstract
The exploration missions to the red planet were started in 1960 by the Soviet Union, since then the planet has gain attention of all the scientists and explorers worldwide. Several exploration missions have been launched by the space organizations and nations to explore the Martian surface. NASA launched its first exploration mission to Mars in 1964 in the form of Mariner 3. After that, the series of robotic exploration missions have been launched to understand the red planet intensely. The Mars Exploration Program (MEP) was also formed in 1993 to explore the possibilities of the presence of life, climate and natural resources on Mars. The MEP uses the spacecraft, orbiters, landers and rovers to explore the Martian soil. As of present, NASA has launched twenty-five missions to the red planet out of which only five missions were unsuccessful. Some of the significant discoveries have been made in recent years with missions such as Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, MAVEN and InSight. Currently, NASA is making plans to send more robotic explorers on the Martian soil in the upcoming years to make more discoveries and gain scientific information. These robotic missions are the first steps towards the human-crewed missions to Mars. The present paper provides a quick overview of NASA’s past, present and future robotic exploration missions to the red planet.
Highlights
Mars known as Red Planet, is a unique dusty, cold, dry desert world which has been a prime target for all space-faring nations and agencies throughout the world
The Mars Exploration Program (MEP), formerly known as Mars Surveyor Program (MSP) will help us to recognize the potentiality of the red planet to sustain life using spacecraft, orbiters, rovers and landers
As water is a key to the life on any planet, past NASA missions such as Mars Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Phoenix Lander were launched to find a clue of liquid water on Mar's Surface under the MEP science theme 'Follow the water.' NASA's MEP follows four broad goals to seek the potentiality of the planet to sustain life in the past, present, or future
Summary
Mars known as Red Planet, is a unique dusty, cold, dry desert world which has been a prime target for all space-faring nations and agencies throughout the world. The mission so far plotted the distribution of chemicals and minerals present on Mars along with the mapping of hydrogen buried under the surface in the form of water ice. the spacecraft recorded the data of radiation environment in the low orbit of the Martian atmosphere, which would be helpful for future crewed missions to Mars. The MOMA is designed to identify the amount and type of chemicals made up of organic and inorganic compounds present in the Martian rocks and soils (Fig. 20) (Vago, 2017)
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