1. Missions to Mars Julie A. Rathbun Lowell Observatory

2. Past Missions to Mars (US) Mariner 3 - 5 November 1964 - Attempted Mars FlybyMariner 3 Mariner 4 - 28 November 1964 - Mars FlybyMariner 4 Mariner 6&7 – February & March 1969 - Mars FlybyMariner 6&7 Mariner 8 - 8 May 1971 - Attempted Mars Flyby (Launch Failure)Mariner 8 Mariner 9 - 30 May 1971 - Mars OrbiterMariner 9 Viking 1 - 20 August 1975 - Mars Orbiter and LanderViking 1 Viking 2 - 9 September 1975 - Mars Orbiter and LanderViking 2 Mars Observer - 25 September 1992 – Attempted Mars Orbiter (Contact Lost – 8/22/93) Mars Observer

3. Original Plan – circa 1995 2 missions every launch opportunity

4. Recent & Current Missions

5. What happened? The life of the 2001 Mars rover…. In 1997, NASA asked scientists for proposals for the science instruments for a 2001 sample collection rover Another sample collection rover would be sent in 2003, with a sample retrieving rover sent in 2005 and samples arriving on earth in 2008

6. Athena - original Athena, a suite of instruments proposed by Steve Squyres of Cornell University, was selected Remote science instruments: –Pancam –Mini-TES In-Situ science instruments: –Mini-Corer –Microscopic Imager –APXS –Mossbauer Spectrometer NASA quickly discovered that this mission was too ambitious

7. The 2001 rover was downgraded to APEX, a lander mission with –some Athena instruments on the lander (copy of previous lander) –A Sojurner clone with APXS Pancam APXS Mössbauer Spectrometer Mini-TES APEX – 2001 lander

8. The ’03/’05 plan – “full” Athena

9. The ’03/’05 lander

10. How it was supposed to work

11. Modified Plan – circa 1999 Modified Plan – circa 1999 Same mission timeline Different missions

12. 1999 – Disaster strikes September 23, 1999 – Mars Climate Orbiter lost on arrival December 3, 1999 – Mars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2 lost on arrival

13. And everything falls apart…

14. Now what? The APEX lander was a virtual copy of Mars Polar Lander. With the failure of that spacecraft, APEX was scrapped The 2001 Orbiter Mission is a go – launched April 7, 2001 NASA decides to fly EITHER an orbiter or a rover in 2003 And the winner is…. ROVER

15. Mars Exploration Rovers

17. Current Plan – circa 2001 2001 Mars Odyssey (no lander) 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers (no orbiter) 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (no lander) Beyond 2007 –Smart Lander and Long-range Rover – as early as 2007 –Sample Return – as early as 2011, likely 2014