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
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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 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