| Opportunity, the Mars rover, resumed moving across the Martian surface after scientists on Earth freed it from a sand dune where it had been stuck for almost five weeks. NASA officials announced the resumption of movement on the part of the rover. Engineers at the command center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory cheered the news. The rover cost over $400 million to build according to Jim Erickson, project manager. He said he would like to wear the rover out rather than have it stuck and useless.
Successfully completed Mars missions:
Mariner-4 in 1964.
Mariner-6 and Mariner-7 in 1969
Mariner-9 in 1971.
Mars 2 was launched on May 19, 1971 at 16:22:44 UTC. Man made objects landed for the first time on the surface of Mars on 27th November 1971.
Mars-3 was launched on May 28, 1971 at 15:26:30 UTC. On December 2, 1971 soft landing on the Martian surface was recorded for the first time in the history of space exploration. Mission was considered to have been accomplished partially.
Mars-4 in 1974. First pictures of the surface were received from the flyby trajectory.
Mars-5 February, 12, 1974. It entered the orbit very close to Mars.
Mars-6 March 12, 1974. The lander arrived at the surface of Mars. Mission accomplished partially.
Mars-7 in 1974;
Space probes Viking-1 and Viking-2, 1976-1982;
Space probe Phobos-2 in 1988, mission was partially executed
Mars Global Surveyor from 1996 to 2006;
Mars Pathfinder 1996.
Phoenix 2007
Aborted missions:
Beagle-2 in 2003. (Lander Mars Express. Could not be contacted after landing);
Deep Space 2. 1999. (Lost communication after entering the atmosphere);
Mars Polar Lander in 1999. (Crashed while landing);
Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999. (Crashed while trying to enter into the orbit of Mars);
Nozomi 1998. (Failed to enter the orbit of Mars);
Mars-96 in 1996. (Booster stage didnt work);
Mars Observer in 1992. (Lost communication) ;
Space probe Phobos-2 in 1988. (Was placed into the orbit of Mars. Lost Communication);
Space probe Phobos-1, 1988. (Lost communication);
Cosmos-419 1971. (Booster stage didnt work);
Mariner in August 1971. (Booster accident);
Mars 1969B 1969. (Booster accident);
Mars 1969A 1969. (Booster accident);
Probe Zond-2 1964. (Missed to reach Mars);
Mariner-3 1964. (Missed to reach Mars);
Mars 1962B 1962. (Booster stage didnt work);
Mars-1 1962. (Lost communication);
Mars 1962A 1962. (Booster stage didnt work);
Mars 1960B 1960. (Booster accident);
Mars 1960A 1960. (Booster accident)
Current missions:
There are three space probes at the moment active in the orbit of Mars:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ;
European space agency (ESA) Mars Express with radar Marsis;
Mars Odyssey
There are two rovers active on the surface of the planet:
Spirit rover;
Opportunity rover
Upcoming missions:
Phobos-Grunt - Launch to the satellite Phobos of Mars with landing on the surface in 2011; will for the first time return to Earth with soil samples.
Mars Science Laboratory launch planned for 2011.
Mars Science Orbiter - launch scheduled for November 28, 2013.
MAVEN - Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN spacecraft by NASA, planned to be launched in 2013 for studying its atmosphere.
Interesting facts:
Mariner valley is the largest known canyon in the solar system. Its total length is about 4500 km, with a maximum width of 600 km, and depth - 7 km. Canyon, which was discovered by the spacecraft Mariner 9 in 1971, could occupy the entire territory of the United States, from ocean to ocean.
Mount Olympus - the highest mountain and largest volcano in the solar system. Height of Mount Olympus is 27 km from its base and 25 km from the average level of Martian surface.
Mars Probe Phoenix, launched from Earth in August 2007 and landed in the region of North Pole of Mars in May 2008, brought a digital library of science fiction to the Red Planet.
Radio communication with Mars is delayed by 3-4 minutes in each direction when the planets approach closest to each other (face-off of Mars from the Earths point of view is repeated every 780 days), and by about 20 minutes when the planets are at farthest distance (conjunction of Mars with the Sun).
Flight time to Mars (with current technologies) during the period of face-off (approaching of Mars to Earth) is about 7 months, which usually takes 11-12 months.
Since 1903 more than 80 films have been released including feature, documentary, and animation films.
In the fiction world of Warhammer 40,000, Mars is a world-capital for Adeptus Mechanicus to support scientific and technical thought of Imperium of Man.
Video game Martian Gothic: Unification has all its actions dramatized on Mars, and all the developments take place at the foothills of volcano Olympus.
In video game DOOM 3, site of action is also the Red Planet.
Another popular video game Red Faction 1.3, the action is happening also at the Red Planet Mars.
In the world of Mass Effect, artifacts concerning long-extinct aliens are found at the south pole of Mars, and their deciphering allows humans to explore the galaxy.
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(and yes, it makes little to no sense at all if you're not familar with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.)
