Mars exploration database

All Missions

Every mission ever sent to the Red Planet: orbiters, landers, rovers and the helicopter that flew. Filter, explore the chronology and open each file.

64MissionsLaunched
8ActiveWorking now
50%Success rateReached their goal
7Rovers
13Landers
30Orbiters
1Helicopters

Chronology of Mars exploration

Drag, scroll or use the arrows. The bars show how many missions launched each year: they cluster around the launch windows that open every 26 months.

ActiveCompletedFailedUpcoming
All64 Active8 Completed25 Failed28 Upcoming5
All Orbiter30 Lander13 Rover7 Flyby14 Helicopter1 Sample return1
More filters

Showing 8 of 8 missions

Clear filters
Operating · extended mission
NASA

Perseverance (Mars 2020)

Perseverance (Mars 2020), launched by NASA on July 30, 2020, is a rover designed to search for signs of ancient microbial life in Jezero crater, characterize Martian geology, and collect samples for a future return to Earth. Equipped with advanced scientific instruments and the Ingenuity technology helicopter, the mission remains operational and in an extended phase, breaking distance records on the Martian surface.

Rover
Operating in orbit
CNSA

Tianwen-1 (Orbiter)

Part of Zhurong

Tianwen-1 is China's first comprehensive interplanetary mission to Mars, consisting of an orbiter, a lander, and the Zhurong rover. Launched in July 2020, it reached Martian orbit in February 2021 and successfully delivered its payload to Utopia Planitia. The orbiter continues to gather advanced geological, atmospheric, and mineralogical data.

Orbiter
Operating · extended mission
UAESA

Hope (Al Amal)

The UAESA Hope probe revolutionized Martian meteorology through a high elliptical orbit that enabled continuous modeling of the global atmosphere across all local time zones. Its key achievements include discovering the sinuous discrete aurora, patchy proton aurora, confirming Deimos's planetary basaltic origin, and intercepting the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.

Orbiter
Operating in orbit
ESA

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO)

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), launched in March 2016 by ESA and Roscosmos, is an orbital mission dedicated to studying the Martian atmosphere and searching for trace gases such as methane. Following a long aerobraking process, it began its scientific phase in April 2018 and remains operational, combining atmospheric research with its work as a communications relay.

Orbiter
Operating on the surface
NASA

Curiosity (MSL)

Launched in 2011, the Curiosity (MSL) mission revolutionized Martian exploration by using the "Sky Crane" landing system to deposit a 900 kg nuclear-powered rover in Gale Crater in 2012. The mission confirmed that Mars once hosted ancient freshwater lakes and complex organic molecules, validating that the planet held habitable conditions in the past. It remains operational after more than 12 years.

Rover
Operating in orbit
NASA

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

NASA's MRO mission, launched in 2005, has successfully operated for over 15 years. Using instruments like HiRISE and SHARAD, it has discovered vast subsurface ice deposits at mid-latitudes and serves as the primary communications relay for surface rovers.

Orbiter
Operating in orbit
ESA

Mars Express

Launched in 2003 aboard a Soyuz-Fregat, Mars Express is ESA's first planetary mission. The orbiter achieved a successful insertion and has operated for over two decades. It has revolutionized our understanding of Mars by confirming subsurface water ice, detecting methane, and mapping hydrated minerals that prove a habitable past.

Orbiter
Operating · extended mission
NASA

2001 Mars Odyssey

The 2001 Mars Odyssey mission (NASA) is a Mars orbiter designed to map the elemental and mineralogical composition of the surface, search for water ice, and act as a communications relay. Launched in April 2001, it confirmed the presence of vast underground ice deposits and remains active after multiple extensions.

Orbiter