All Missions

ESA

Hera

The Hera probe successfully completed its Mars and Deimos flyby on March 12, 2025, using gravity assist to optimize its route to Didymos. The deep-space campaign validated its optical, hyperspectral, and thermal sensors through unprecedented analysis of the far side of Deimos.

NASA

Psyche

NASA's Psyche spacecraft successfully completed its hyperbolic Mars flyby at an altitude of 4,609 km, utilizing gravity assist to correct its orbital plane and gain 447 m/s in velocity. The maneuver overcame a propulsion xenon line anomaly and provided high-precision calibration for its science payload.

NASA

Ingenuity

The Ingenuity helicopter validated controlled flight in the thin Martian atmosphere by completing 72 autonomous missions over three years. Its visual-inertial navigation system suffered a fatal loss of optical flow over uniform dunes during Flight 72, causing horizontal drift and a terminal impact that fractured its rotors.

CNSA

Tianwen-1 (Lander)

Part of Zhurong

The CNSA's Tianwen-1 mission marked China's first successful landing on the Martian surface with a lander and the Zhurong rover in Utopia Planitia. After exceeding its designed lifespan and completing its scientific objectives on geology and the subsurface, the primary surface mission concluded successfully.

NASA

InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport)

InSight was a NASA stationary lander designed to investigate the deep interior and internal structure of Mars. Launched in May 2018, it deployed seismological and thermal instruments in Elysium Planitia, successfully mapping the planet's crust, mantle, and core for the first time. The mission concluded in December 2022 after its power was depleted due to dust accumulation.

NASA

MAVEN

MAVEN concluded its mission on June 3, 2026. Over 11 years, it quantified Martian atmospheric erosion, establishing that 66% of primordial argon was lost via sputtering. Despite the loss of control in December 2025, its scientific and operational legacy for the rovers is fundamental.

NASA

Dawn

NASA's Dawn mission used a gravity assist flyby of Mars in February 2009 to modify its trajectory toward the asteroids Vesta and Ceres. After completing its primary objectives in the main belt, the mission concluded in November 2018 due to propellant exhaustion.

NASA

Phoenix (Mars Phoenix Lander)

Phoenix, launched by NASA in August 2007, was the first mission to successfully land on the arctic polar plains of Mars. It touched down in Vastitas Borealis in May 2008, confirming the presence of subsurface water ice and detecting perchlorates in the regolith during its extended mission before ceasing operations in November 2008.

ESA

Rosetta

In February 2007, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta mission performed a gravity-assist flyby of Mars to modify its trajectory toward comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. During the close encounter, the spacecraft analyzed the Martian atmosphere and captured high-resolution images before continuing its journey toward its main destination in deep space.

NASA

Opportunity

Launched on a Delta II Heavy in 2003, Opportunity (MER-B) landed on Meridiani Planum, Mars, in January 2004. Designed for 90 days, it operated for nearly 15 years, traversing 45.16 km (a record). It confirmed past liquid acidic water by discovering hematite and jarosite. A global dust storm in 2018 depleted its batteries, ending the mission in 2019.

NASA

Mars Exploration Rover A (Spirit)

Spirit (MER-A) was one of two twin rovers sent by NASA in 2003 to explore the Martian surface. It landed in Gusev crater in January 2004, vastly exceeding its nominal lifespan of 90 sols and confirming a watery past in the region. After becoming immobilized in a sand trap in 2009, the last communication was received in March 2010 and the mission was officially concluded in 2011.

NASA

Mars Pathfinder

Launched in 1996, Mars Pathfinder was the first completed mission under NASA's "faster, better, cheaper" philosophy. It pioneered the use of an airbag landing system and successfully deployed the first rover on Mars, Sojourner. The mission landed in Ares Vallis, returned over 17,000 images, and performed in-situ chemical analysis of rocks and soil, far exceeding its expected operational lifespan.