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Hi, my name is Jacie Chandler, and on this episode of Cultivate
Curiosity, we'll be discussing the space
exploration of Mars in honor of the
Mars Seven Soviet spacecraft being
launched today, August 9.
In 1973, there were many spacecraft
missions to explore Mars.
So today we will go through just
a few of the successful missions that
helped us get a better understanding of
the planet.
The first mission that I've been talking
about is the Mariner Four, which was
launched on November 20, 864, by NASA.
The Mariner Four was the fourth in
a series of spacecraft intended for
planetary exploration in a flyby mode.
It was designed to conduct closeup
scientific observations of Mars and to
transmit these observations to Earth.
Launched on November 28, 1964, mariner
Four performed the first successful flyby
of the planet Mars.
Returning the first closeup pictures of
the Martian surface.
It captured the first images of another
planet ever returned from deep space.
Their depiction of a cratered dead planet
largely changed the scientific community's
view of life on Mars.
Other mission objectives were to perform
field and particle measurements in
interplanetary space in the vicinity of
Mars and to provide experience in and
knowledge of engineering capabilities for
interplanetary flights for a long
duration.
Initially expected to remain in space for
eight months, mariner Four's mission
lasted about three years in solar orbit.
On December 20, 167, communications with
mariner four were terminated.
The next one I want to talk
about is Mars Two, which was launched
on May 19, 1971, by the Soviet
Union.
The Mars Two was an uncrewed space
probe of the Mars program, a series
of uncrewed Mars landers and orbiters
launched by the Soviet Union beginning May
19, 1971.
The Mars Two and Three missions consisted
of identical spacecraft, each with an
orbiter and an attached lander.
The lander of Mars Two became the
first human made object to reach the
surface of Mars.
Although the landing system failed and the
lander was lost on Mars, the next
one I want to talk about is
Mariner Nine, launched May 30, 1971, again
by NASA.
Mariner Nine was a robotic spacecraft that
contributed greatly to the exploration of
Mars and was part of the NASA
Mariner program.
Mariner Nine was launched toward Mars on
May 30, 1971 at Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, Florida and reached the
planet on November 14 of the same
year becoming the first spacecraft to
orbit another planet only narrowly beating
the Soviet probes Mars Two and Mars
Three which both arrived at Mars only
weeks later after the occurrence of dust
storms on the planet.
For several months following its arrival,
the orbiter managed to send back clear
pictures of the surface.
Mariner Nine successfully returned 7329
images over the course of its mission,
which concluded in October of 1972.
The next one I want to talk
about is Mars Seven, launched August 1973.
Also from the Soviet Union, mars Seven
was a Soviet spacecraft launched on August
1973 to explore Mars a three MP
bus spacecraft which comprised the final
mission of the Mars program.
It consisted of a lander and a
coast stage with instruments to study Mars
as a flu pass.
Due to a malfunction, the lander failed
to perform a maneuver necessary to enter
the Martian atmosphere, missing the planet
and remaining in heliocentric orbit.
Along with the coast stage, Mars Seven
spacecraft carried an array of instruments
to study Mars.
The lander was equipped with a thermometer
and a barometer to determine the surface
conditions, an accelerometer and radio
Ultimeter for descent, and instruments to
analyze the surface material including a
mass spectrometer.
The co stage or bus carried a
magnetometer, plasma traps, cosmic ray and
micrometeoroid detectors, stereo antenna,
and an instrument to study proton and
electron fluxes from the sun.
Built by Levoshkin, Mars Seven was the
second of two three MP spacecraft launched
to Mars in 1973.
Mars Six was the first one launched
before it two orbiters.
Mars Four and Mars Five were launched
earlier in the 1973 Mars launch window
and were expected to relay data for
the two landers.
However, Mars Four failed to enter orbit
and Mars Five failed after a few
days in orbit.
The next one I want to talk
about is Viking One, launched August 20,
1975 from NASA.
Viking One was the first of two
spacecraft along with Viking Two, each
consisting of an orbiter and a lander
sent to Mars as part of NASA's
Viking program.
The lander touched down on Mars on
July 20, 1976, the first successful Mars
lander in history.
Viking One operated on Mars for 2307
days over six years, or
2245 Martian solar days, the longest Mars
surface mission until the record was
broken by the Opportunity rover on May
19, 2010.
Another one from NASA is the Mars
Pathfinder.
Launched December 4, 1996.
Mars Pathfinder is a robotic spacecraft
that landed a base station with a
Roving probe on Mars in 1997.
It consisted of a lander renamed the
Carl Sagan Memorial Station and a
lightweight, about 23 pounds wheeled
robotic Mars rover named Sojuner, the
first rover to operate outside the Earth
moon system.
The mission carried a series of scientific
instruments to analyze the Martian
atmosphere, climate, geology, and the
composition of its rocks and soil.
Lastly, I want to talk about Mars
2020.
Launched July 30, 2020 by NASA.
Mars 2020 is a Mars rover mission
that includes the rover Perseverance, the
small robotic helicopter Ingenuity, and
associated delivery systems as part of
NASA's Mars exploration program.
Mars 2020 was launched from Earth on
July 30, 2020, and confirmation of
touchdown in the Martian crater Jezero was
received on February 18, 2021.
The helicopter Ingenuity had the first
aerodynamic flight on another planet.
As of August 7, 2023, perseverance and
Ingenuity have been on Mars for 900
total days, or two years and 170
days.
Perseverance is investigating an
astrobiological relevant ancient
environment on Mars for its surface
geological processes and history, and
assessing its past habitability, the
possibility of past life on Mars, and
the potential for preservation of
biosignatures within accessible geological
materials.
On April 30, 2021, Perseverance became the
first spacecraft to hear and record
another spacecraft, the Ingenuity
helicopter, on another planet.
So there are many missions that are
still ongoing, including the Mars 2020,
and there are also many missions under
development or proposed that will allow us
to learn even more about Mars.
To learn more about the different missions
from the past, present and future launched
by NASA, you can visit mars NASA
gov.
We'll also have that linked in our
description for the podcast, but I hope
you have enjoyed learning a little bit
about the different missions we've sent
from space as humans, both from the
Soviet Union, NASA, and there's many other
people that have also sent probes and
other missions up to Mars.
So definitely do some more research if
you find this interesting.
But thank you guys so much for
listening and we will see you guys
in two weeks.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's
episode of Cultivate Curiosity.
If you have any questions, feel free
to email us at socialmedia@ecscience.org.
Tune in for our next episode in
two weeks.