Mars Exploration - another success by NASA

With the arrival of Curiosity there are now five active missions on or around Mars.  Four of the current operating missions are from NASA, Mars Express is from ESA

• Mars Odyssey has been in orbit around the plant since February 19th 2002
• Mars Express has been in orbit since December 25th 2003
• Opportunity has been roving Mars since Janaury 25th 2004
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been orbiting since March 10th 2006
• Curiosity landed yesterday

A total of 17 missions have either orbited or landed on Mars since the first successful orbit by Mariner 9 in 1971.  13 are NASA, 3 are Soviet and 1 ESA.   Only NASA has managed to land anything on the planet.

Longest operating missions - bold are landers, red are Soviet, green is ESA, underlined are current missions

1. Odyssey 3940 2001-current
2. Global Surveyor 3344 1997-2006
3. Express 3148 2003-current
4. Opportunity 3117 2004-current
5. Spirit 2635 2004-2011
6. Reconnaissance Orbiter 2342 2006-current
7. Viking 1 2308 1976-1982
8. Viking 1 Orbiter 1490 1976-1980
9. Viking 2 1317 1976-1980
10. Viking 2 Orbiter 691 1976-1978
11. Mariner 9 350 1971-1972
12. Mars 2 270 1971-1972
13. Mars 3 265 1971-1972
14. Phoenix 170 2008
15. Pathfinder 86 1997
16. Mars 5 9 1974
17. Curiosity 2 2012-current

From 1988 to 1999 there were 10 missions to Mars launched and only two successes.   Since 2001 there have been 10 missions to Mars with only three failures, all three of those were not NASA missions.   There has been a lot more success in the last decade than at anytime before when it comes to Mars exploration.

2013 should see the launch of two orbiters, one by India and one by NASA.  2016 could see as many as four more missions launched.

Number of missions active in years in which there have been active Mars missions

• 1971 3
• 1972 3 
• 1974 1
• 1976 4
• 1977 4
• 1978 4
• 1979 3
• 1980 3
• 1981 1
• 1982 1
• 1983-1996 0
• 1997 2
• 1998 1
• 1999 1
• 2000 1
• 2001 2
• 2002 2
• 2003 3
• 2004 5
• 2005 5
• 2006 6
• 2007 5
• 2008 6
• 2009 5
• 2010 5
• 2011 4
• 2012 5