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Mars Exploration: an Overview of Indian and International Mars Missions Nayamavalsa Scariah1, Dr Taurian Innovative Journal/Volume 1/ Issue 1 Mars exploration: An overview of Indian and International Mars Missions NayamaValsa Scariah1, Dr. Mili Ghosh2, Dr.A.P.Krishna3 Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi Abstract- Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. It is 1. Introduction also known as red planet because of its iron oxide content. There are lots of missions have been launched to Mars is also known as red planet, because of the mars for better understanding of our neighboring planet. reddish iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a There are lots of unmanned spacecraft including reddish appearance. It is the fourth planet from sun. orbiters, landers and rovers have been launched into mars since early 1960. Sputnik was the first satellite The term sol is used to define duration of solar day on launched in 1957 by Soviet Union. After seven failure Mars. A mean Martian solar day or sol is 24 hours 39 missions to Mars, Mariner 4 was the first satellite which minutes and 34.244 seconds. Many space missions to reached the Martian orbiter successfully. The Viking 1 Mars have been planned and launched for Mars was the first lander reached on Mars on 1975. India exploration (Table:1) but most of them failed without successfully launched a spacecraft, Mangalyan (Mars completing the task specially in early attempts th Orbiter Mission) on 5 November, 2013, with five whereas some NASA missions were very payloads to Mars. India was the first nation to successful(such as the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, successfully reach Mars on its first attempt. It was really MER-A Spirit and MER-B Opportunity).There are lots a proud moment for all the Indians. India is the fourth of unmanned spacecraft including orbiters, landers planet to reach Mars after United States, Europe and Soviet Union. India may put a lander on Mars in 2021 or and rovers which have been launched since early 1960 2022. MOM(Mars Orbiter Mission) has five payloads for the better understanding of our neighboring planet. such as LAP(Lyman Alpha photometer), MSM(Methane Marsnik 1 (USSR) launched Oct. 10, 1960, was the Sensor for Mars), MENCA(Mars Exospheric Neutral first satellite on an intended Mars flyby. After seven Composition Analyser), TIS(Thermal Infrared Imaging failure missions to Mars, Mariner 4 was the first Spectrometer), MCC(Mars Color Camera). LAP is used satellite which reached the Martian orbiter successfully to measure the relative abundance of deuterium and on July 14, 1965, and sent 21 photos back to Earth.The hydrogen in the upper atmosphere. Deuterium/hydrogen Viking 1 was the first lander reached on Mars on 1975. ratio will allow an estimation of the amount of water loss India successfully launched a spacecraft, Mangalyan to the atmosphere. MENCA is used for analyzing the neutral composition of particles. MSM is used to (Mars Orbiter Mission) on 5th November 2013, with measure methane in the Martian atmosphere. MCC five payloads to Mars. India was the first nation to gives images and information about the surface features successfully reach Mars on its first attempt. It was and composition of the Martian surface. Temperature really a proud moment for all the Indians. India is the and emissivity can be measured by using TIS data. fourth country to reach Mars after United States, There are lots of studies have been carried out in Mars Europe and Soviet Union. India may put a lander on such as mineral exploration, morphological analysis, Mars in 2021 or 2022. There are lots of studies have climatic variation, assessment of environmental been carried out in Mars such as mineral exploration, conditions ever been favorable for microbial conditions morphological analysis, climatic variation, assessment etc. The curiosity rover, which was launched on 2011 by of environmental conditions ever been favorable for NASA gave more salient information regarding the evidence of water in Mars. microbial conditions etc. The curiosity rover, launched in 2011 by NASA, gave more salient information regarding the evidence of water in Mars. Corresponding Author: Nayama Valsa Scariah 66 Taurian Innovative Journal/Volume 1/ Issue 1 Spacecraft Agency Launched Mission Outcome Remark on Type Marsnik1 USSR 1960 Mars flyby Launch Failed to orbit failure Marsnik2 USSR 1960 Mars flyby Launch Failed to orbit failure Sputnik22 USSR 1962 Mars flyby Launch Booster stage ("Block failure L") disintegrated in LEO Mars1 USSR 1962 Mars flyby Spacecraft Communications lost failure before flyby Sputnik 24 USSR 1962 Lander Launch Never left LEO failure Mariner 3 NASA 1964 Mars flyby Launch Payload fairing failed failure to seperate Mariner 4 NASA 1964 Mars flyby Successful Closest approach at 01:00:57 UTC on 15 July 1965 Zond 2 USSR 1953 Mars flyby Spacecraft Communications lost failure before flyby Mariner 6 NASA 1969 Mars flyby Successful Mars M-69 USSR 1969 Orbiter Launch Failed to orbit No:521 failure Mariner 7 NASA 1969 Mars flyby Successful Mars M-69 USSR 1969 Orbiter Launch Failed to orbit No:522 failure Mariner 8 NASA 1971 Orbiter Launch Failed to orbit failure Kosmos 419 USSR 1971 Orbiter Launch Never left LEO; failure booster stage burn timer set incorrectly Mars 2 USSR 1971 Orbiter Mostly Entered orbit on 27 successful November 1971, operated for 362 orbits. Mapping operations unsuccessful due to dust storms on the surface Mars 2 Lander USSR 1971 Lander Spacecraft Deployed from Mars failure 2, failed to land during attempt on 27 Corresponding Author: Nayama Valsa Scariah 67 Taurian Innovative Journal/Volume 1/ Issue 1 November 1971 Mars 3 USSR 1971 Orbiter Mostly Entered orbit on 2 successful December 1971, operated for 20 orbits. Mapping operations unsuccessful due to dust storms on the surface Mars 3 Lander USSR 1971 Lander Partial Deployed from Mars failure 3; landed at 13:52 UTC on 2 December 1971; contact lost 14.5 seconds after transmission start Prop-M Rover USSR 1971 Rover Spacecraft Failed to deploy failure Mariner 9 NASA 1971 Orbiter Successful Entered orbit on 14 November 1971, deactivated 516 days after entering orbit Mars 4 USSR 1973 Orbiter Spacecraft Failed to perform failure orbital insertion burn Mars 5 USSR 1973 Orbiter Partial Failed after 9 days in failure Mars orbit; returned 180 frames Mars 6 USSR 1973 Lander Spacecraft Contact lost upon Flyby failure landing, atmospheric data mostly unreadable. Flyby bus collected data Mars 7 USSR 1973 Lander Spacecraft Separated from coast Flyby failure stage prematurely, failed to enter Martian atmosphere Viking 1 NASA 1975 Orbiter Successful Operated for 1385 Orbiter orbits Viking 1 NASA 1975 Lander Successful Deployed Lander from Viking 1 orbiter, operated for 2245 sols Viking 2 NASA 1975 Orbiter Successful Operated for 700 Orbiter orbits Viking 2 NASA 1975 Lander Successfu Deployed Lander from Viking 2 orbiter, operated for 1281 sols Corresponding Author: Nayama Valsa Scariah 68 Taurian Innovative Journal/Volume 1/ Issue 1 Phobos 1 USSR 1988 Orbiter Spacecraft Communications lost Phobos Failure before reaching Mars; Lander failed to enter orbit Phobos 2 USSR 1988 Orbiter Partial Orbital observations Phobos failure successful, Lander communications lost before landing Mars Observer NASA 1992 Orbiter Spacecraft Lost communications failure before orbital insertion. Mars Global NASA 1996 Orbiter Successful Operated for seven Suveyor years Mars 96 Rosaviak- 1996 Orbiter Launch Never left LEO osmos Penetrators failure Mars pathfinder NASA 1996 Lander Successful Landed at 19.13°N 33.22°W on 4 July 1997 Sojourner NASA 1996 Rover Successful Operated for 84 days Nazomi ISAS 1998 Orbiter Spacecraft Ran out of fuel before failure reaching mars Mars climate NASA 1998 Orbiter Spacecraft Approached Mars too Orbiter failure closely during orbit insertion attempt due to unit conversion error and burned up in the atmosphere Mars Polar NASA 1999 Lander Spacecraft Failed to land Lander failure Deep Space 2 NASA 1999 Penetrator Spacecraft Deployed from MPL, failure no data returned Mars Odyssey NASA 2001 Orbiter Operational Expected to remain operational until 2025 Mars express ESA 2003 Orbiter Operational Enough fuel to remain operational until 2026 Beagle 2 ESA 2003 Lander Lander Deployed from Mars failure Express. Successful landing, but two solar panels failed to deploy, obstructing its Corresponding Author: Nayama Valsa Scariah 69 Taurian Innovative Journal/Volume 1/ Issue 1 communications Spirit NASA 2003 Rover Successful Landed on January 4, 2004. Operated for 2208 sols Opportunity NASA 2003 Rover Operational Landed on January 4, 2004. Operated for 2208 sols Rosetta ESA 2004 Gravity Successful assist Mars NASA 2005 Orbiter Operational Entered orbit on reconnaissance March 10, 2006 Orbiter Phoenix NASA 2007 Lander Successful Landed on May 25, 2008. End of mission November 2, 2008 Dawn NASA 2007 Gravity Successful assist Fabos-Grunt Roskosm 2011 Orbiter Spacecraft os Phobos failure sample Yinghuo-1 CNSA 2011 Orbiter Failure Curiosity NASA 2011 Rover Operational Mars Orbiter ISRO 2013 Orbiter Operational Mission MAVEN NASA 2013 Orbiter Operational ExoMars Trace ESA 2016 Orbiter Operational Gas Orbiter Roskosm os Schiaparelli ESA 2016 Lander Partial EDM lander failure InSight NASA 2018 Lander En route 2. Spacecraft classification Spacecrafts are the machine or vehicle designed to and enter into orbit is known as orbiter spacecraft fly in outer space. There are different types of (Figure 1.). Atmospheric spacecraft are designed for spacecrafts are available such as flyby spacecraft, a relatively short mission to collect data about the orbiter spacecraft, Atmospheric spacecraft, Lander atmosphere of a planet or satellite. Lander spacecraft spacecraft, Rover spacecraft, Penetrator spacecraft, (Figure2.) are designed to reach the surface of a Observatory spacecraft and communication planet and survive long enough to telemeter data spacecraft. The Mars flyby is a movement of back to Earth. Surface penetrators have been spacecraft passing in the vicinity of the planet Mars, designed for entering the surface of a body, such as a but not entering the orbit or landing on it.
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