All Missions

CNSA

Zhurong (Rover)

Part of Zhurong

CNSA's Zhurong rover, part of the Tianwen-1 mission, explored Utopia Planitia starting in May 2021. It surpassed its nominal 90-sol design life and traveled 1,921 meters, revealing complex subsurface stratigraphy and evidence of past aqueous activity before communications ceased in May 2022 due to dust accumulation.

ESA

Schiaparelli EDM

Schiaparelli EDM (Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module), launched on March 14, 2016 as part of the ExoMars mission, was an ESA and Roscosmos technology demonstrator designed to validate entry, descent, and landing systems on Mars. After successfully separating from the TGO orbiter on October 16, the module began its atmospheric descent on October 19, but a saturation in the inertial measurement unit caused an erroneous altitude calculation, premature parachute deployment, and the subsequent fatal impact on the surface of Meridiani Planum.

Roscosmos

Phobos-Grunt

Phobos-Grunt was an ambitious sample return mission by Roscosmos designed to explore the Martian moon Phobos and the Martian environment. Following a successful launch in November 2011, the spacecraft became trapped in low Earth orbit due to a critical failure in the onboard computers. It failed to execute its trans-Mars injection attempt and destructively reentered Earth's atmosphere in January 2012.

CNSA

Yinghuo-1 (YH-1)

The Yinghuo-1 mission was the CNSA's first attempt to send a microsatellite orbiter to the Martian environment. Launched on November 8, 2011, as a secondary payload of the Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, the assembly became stranded in low Earth orbit after the cruise burn failed. The mission formally concluded with its destructive reentry over the Pacific on January 15, 2012.

ESA

Beagle 2

Beagle 2, an ambitious British lander launched in 2003 alongside Mars Express, aimed to search for chemical traces of life in Isidis Planitia. After landing on Christmas Day, complete silence followed. In 2015, orbital images revealed its cruel fate: it landed intact, but its solar panels failed to fully deploy, trapping its radio antenna and condemning the probe to eternal isolation.

NASA

Deep Space 2 (DS2)

Deep Space 2 (DS2), known as the Mars Microprobe Project, consisted of two innovative impact penetrator probes ("Scott" and "Amundsen") launched by NASA to study the Martian subsurface. Following their arrival on December 3, 1999, communication could not be established, and the mission was officially declared a failure on March 13, 2000.

NASA

Mars Climate Orbiter (Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter)

NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter was an orbiter designed to study the climate and atmosphere of Mars and act as a communications relay. The mission failed on September 23, 1999, during orbital insertion due to a navigation error caused by a discrepancy in metric and imperial units, leading to its destruction in the Martian atmosphere.

JAXA

Nozomi (PLANET-B)

Nozomi (PLANET-B), launched on July 3, 1998, by ISAS (predecessor of JAXA), was Japan's first interplanetary mission aimed at studying Mars' upper atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. After suffering severe setbacks during gravity assists and solar flares in its prolonged cruise, the spacecraft was unable to perform the orbit insertion, completing a distant flyby before formally ending its mission on December 31, 2003, in heliocentric orbit.

Roscosmos

Mars 96 (Mars-8)

Roscosmos's ambitious Mars 96 mission, designed to study Mars's evolution and physics through an orbiter, two surface stations, and two penetrators, failed a few hours after launch due to a restart failure of the Proton-K rocket's fourth upper stage.

NASA

Mars Observer

Mars Observer (1992) was an ambitious NASA orbiter designed to conduct a global study of Mars' mineralogy, atmosphere, and magnetic field. After a successful interplanetary cruise phase of nearly a year, the spacecraft suddenly went silent on August 21, 1993, three days before orbital insertion, due to a catastrophic failure in its propulsion system.

Roscosmos

Phobos 2

Phobos 2 was a Soviet orbiter launched in July 1988 with the objective of studying the interplanetary environment, Mars, and the satellite Phobos, incorporating plans to deploy landers. After reaching Martian orbit in late January 1989, the mission gathered valuable scientific data and detailed images until contact was lost on March 27, 1989 due to a critical failure.

Roscosmos

Phobos 1

Phobos 1 was an ambitious Soviet mission designed to study Mars and its moon Phobos using an orbiter and a lander. Launched in July 1988, the probe collected heliosismic and gamma-ray data during the cruise phase, but was prematurely lost in September following a telecommand error that deactivated its attitude control.