Mars Missions Exploration Timeline

[aldo12xu]

I recently put together a page listing all Mars exploration missions, right from the 1960s to the present and those planned for the next decade. I've included a lander location map for both successful and failed missions, along with the most favoured landing sites for the Phoenix and MSL missions. There are also links to historical spacecraft photos and Mars images.<br /><br />Hope it proves to be a useful reference.<br /><br />--Aldo--

 

[harmonicaman]

A remarkable effort! Very nicely done; I hope you can keep it current and even expand its content from time to time (but not too much more, or navigation will become cumbersome...)<br /><br />How hard is it to find with Google?

 

[3488]

Thought that the landing site for Mars Phoenix Lander had not been decided yet?? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[aldo12xu]

None of the future landing sites have been finalized. My location map includes what seem to be the most favoured sites. The Phoenix landing site is covered by 3 overlapping "boxes":<br /><br />Box 1: 66º to 68º N 225º to 234º West<br />Box 2: 66º to 68º N 224º to 227º West<br />Box 3: 70º to 71º N 220º to 227º West<br /><br />My location point is somewhere near the center of all 3 boxes.<br /><br />And, of course, the MSL site selection process has only just begun. <br /><br /><br /><br />

 

[aldo12xu]

"How hard is it to find with Google?"<br /><br />Do you mean my site? Search for Mars geology and it shows up on the first page. If you meant the historcal spacecraft images, I found most of them through NSSDC site mentioned at the bottom of the page. <br /><br />By the way, I forgot about Russia's Phobos Grunt mission. How close is it to actually becoming reality? Is it fully funded? Should I put on my list of future missions?<br />

 

[harmonicaman]

Cool! Using Google search terms Mars+geology finds it on the first page!

 

[qso1]

aldo12xu:<br />By the way, I forgot about Russia's Phobos Grunt mission. How close is it to actually becoming reality? Is it fully funded? Should I put on my list of future missions?<br /><br />Me:<br />You could put it on your list and then show it as canceled if that happens at some future date. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>