History of Exploration of Mars

The first probe to visit Mars was Marsnik 1, which came within 193,000 km of Mars on June 19, 1963, but it failed to send information.

In 1965, Mariner 4 became the first to transmit from near the planet. Mariner 6 and 7 reached Mars in 1969 but only managed to see a planet full of craters, similar to the Moon.

Mariner 9 was the first probe to be placed in Martian orbit. It made observations in the midst of a spectacular dust storm. It was the first to glimpse a network of channels on Mars that appeared to be water, and it saw water vapor in the atmosphere, suggesting a different past for Mars.

The first spacecraft that landed on Mars was the Soviet Marsnik 3, which touched the surface at 45 º S and 158 ° W at 13:50:35 GMT on December 2, 1971, but shortly afterwards ceased to operate.

Viking 1 and Viking 2 landed in 1976. NASA concluded that biological experiments proved that there had never been life on Mars.

However, in 2007 Doctor Borda of the Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina concluded that the experiments of the Viking I and Viking 2 were consistent with the presence of microbial life on the planet's surface, and proposed a taxonomy to accommodate the existence of Martian organisms. The proposed taxonomy is not recognized by experts in the field.

On July 4, 1997 the Mars Pathfinder landed successfully on Mars and proved it was possible that a small robot to traverse the planet.

In 2004, in a more ambitious scientific mission, two robots, Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in two diametrically opposite areas to analyze the rocks in search of water, finding evidence of an ancient sea or salt lake.

The European Space Agency (ESA) Mars Express probe launched in June 2003 and is currently orbiting Mars. The artificial satellite of Mars joins the NASA spacecraft Mars Odyssey, which has been in orbit around Mars since October 2001.

On August 12, 2005, NASA launched its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter probe. It reached orbit around Mars on March 10, 2006. Its main goals are searching for past or present water and studying climate.

On May 25, 2008, the Phoenix probe landed near the north pole of Mars. Its primary objective was to prospect underground, determine whether there was or could have been life on Mars, characterize the climate Mars, study the geology of Mars and conduct studies of the geological history of water, which is a key to understanding the planet's past climate changes.