CHRONOLOGY OF US & USSR/RUSSIAN UNSTAFFED MARS PROBES 10/24/62 THROUGH 08/26/93 By: Elizabeth Orne Mars Information Network (214) 904-0338 N/8/1 2400/4800/9600 (214) 904-0529 Voice As excerpted from NASA Mars Observer press kit September, 1992 COUNTRY LAUNCHED MISSION ARR MARS KEY RESULTS ------- -------- ------- -------- ------------------------------------- USSR 10/24/62 Sputnik 22 .. Spacecraft and final stage blew up during ascent. USSR 11/01/62 Mars 1 .. Contact lost when onboard antenna could no longer be turned toward Earth. USSR 11/04/62 Sputnik 24 .. Disintegrated during attempt to move from parking orbit into Mars trajectory. US 11/05/64 Mariner 3 .. Shroud failed to jettison properly, spacecraft did not encounter Mars. Transmissions ceased 9 hours after launch. Enter solar orbit. US 11/28/64 Mariner 4 07/14/65 Mars flyby; Provided the first close-range images of Mars, confirming the existence of surface craters. Entered solar orbit. USSR 11/30/64 Zond 2 .. Passed by Mars; failed to return data. Entered into solar orbit. US 02/24/69 Mariner 6 07/31/69 Mars flyby; Provided high- resolution photos of the Martian surface, concentrating on the equatorial region. Entered solar orbit. US 03/27/69 Mariner 7 08/05/69 Mars flyby; Provided high- resolution photos of the Martian surface, concentrating on the southern hemisphere. Entered soar orbit. US 05/08/71 Mariner 8 .. Centaur stage malfunctioned shortly after launch. USSR 05/10/71 Cosmos 419 .. First use of Proton launcher for planetary mission. Stranded in Earth orbit when fourth stage failed to seperate. Page 1 USSR 05/19/71 Mars 2 11/27/71 Orbiter and Lander. Landing capsule separated from spacecraft and made first, unsuccessful attempt to softland. Orbiter continued to transmit data. USSR 05/28/71 Mars 3 12/02/71 Orbiter and Lander. Landing capsule seperated from spacecraft and landed in southern hemisphere. Onboard camera transmitted for only 20 seconds. Orbiter transmitted for 3 months. US 05/30/71 Mariner 9 11/13/71 Mars orbiter. First interplanetary probe to orbit another planet. During nearly a year of operations, obtained detailed photographs of the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, and mapped 100 percent of the Martian surface. USSR 07/21/73 Mars 4 & 02/10/74 Orbiters and Landers. Mars 4 USSR 07/25/73 Mars 5 02/12/74 retro rockets failed to fire, preventing orbit insertion. As it passed the planet, Mars 4 returned one swath of pictures and some radio occultation data. Mars 5 was successfully placed in orbit, but operated only a few days, returning photographs of a small portion of southern hemisphere of Mars. USSR 08/05/73 Mars 6 & 03/12/74 Orbiters and Landers. Mars 6 USSR 08/09/73 Mars 7 03/09/74 lander module transmitted data during descent, but transmissions abruptly ceased when the landing rockets were fired. Mars 7 descent module was seperated from the main spacecraft due to a problem in the operation of one of the onboard sub-systems, and passed by the planet. US 08/20/75 Viking 1 06/19/76 Mars orbiter and lander. First Orbit US attempt to soft land a space- 07/20/76 craft on another planet. Landed Landed on the Plain of Chryse. Both orbiters (Viking 1 & 2) took a total of 52,000 images during their mission; approximately 97 percent of the surface was imaged. Viking 1 orbiter continued to operate until 08/07/80; Viking lander operated until 11/13/82. US 09/09/75 Viking 2 80/07/76 Mars orbiter and lander. Landed Page 2 Orbit on the plain of Utopia. Discovered 09/03/76 water frost on the surface at the Landed end of the Martian winter. The two landers (Viking 1 & 2) took 4,500 images of the surface and provided over 3 million weather reports. Viking 2 orbiter continued to operate until 07/25/78; Viking 2 lander operated until 11/13/82. USSR 07/07/88 Phobos 1 & 01/89 International project to study USSR 07/12/88 Phobos 2 01/89 Mars and its moon phobos. Phobos 1 was disabled by a ground control error. Phobos 2 was successfully inserted into Martian orbit in January 1989 to study the Martian surface, atmosphere and magnetic field. On March 27, 1989, communications with Phobos 2 were lost and efforts to contact the spacecraft were unsuccessful. US 09/25/92 Mars .. Mars Orbiter; Spacecraft took 1 Observer photo of Mars approx 20 days prior to MOI (Mars orbital insertion). Communications were lost at 6:00 p.m. 08/21/93, 3 days prior to MOI. As of 08/28/93 no reason can be found for the loss of contact. Visions of Phobos 2 ?? END CHRONOLOGY Page 3