Missions To Mars - The History of Mars Missions

NASA Mars Exploration Rover

It is exactly the search for that confirmation that has been the catalyst ever since for both NASA and the European Space Agency to rehone their efforts to solve the mysteries of the red planet. NASA setup an Astrobiology unit in California shortly afterwards, which has set the tone for an increasing interest in the quest to find life. NASA's forthcoming Mars Exploration Rover project is due to launch the first of its two rovers on June 8th 2003, and the second on June 25th. If all goes according to plan these will land on Mars on January 4th and January 25th 2004 respectively.

These missions are aimed at understanding the role of water on Mars. Evidence from mars rocks indicates that water was almost certainly present on Mars 1.3 billion years ago, and possibly much more recently, and there are real questions to be answered about the intricate channel systems which at least appear to have been caused either by torrents of water, the movement of glaciers or a combination of both. Whether this is the case or if perhaps there is some other explanation is the primary focus. The Rovers will also have a microscopic capability which will allow them to examine material actually on the surface of mars, which should help to defer criticism that meteorites like ALH84001 are inherently suspect because they have somehow been contaminated by being on Earth. Tellingly, Orlando Figueroa, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters is quoted as saying, "We see the twin rovers as stepping stones for the rest of the decade and to a future decade of Mars exploration that will ultimately provide the knowledge necessary for human exploration". So, it can only be a matter of time before Mars becomes the possible focal point for mans second tentative step onto another planet.

All rights reserved Beagle 2 Simulation of Beagle 2 on the martian surface being powered by its solar panels.

Meanwhile, we have much to look forward to. Beagle 2, appropriately named after the ship that bore Charles Darwin to his discoveries about the origins of life in the 1830s, will arrive first and then share martian planet time with the two NASA missions. Beagle 2, is the brainchild of Colin Pillinger, Professor of Planetary Sciences at the Open University in the UK; and was part funded to the tune of £19.5 million by the British Government. Its focus is to try to answer the question of life on mars, and seeks to take a different approach to the Viking missions by carrying a grinder and drill to get inside rocks (rather then just looking at rocks on or near the surface), because the harsh martian surface (the red colour of which is because of the aggressive interaction between the atmosphere and the surface which makes the iron particles on the surface turn 'rusty' through an oxidising effect. Both the sky and the surface of Mars are actually more a pinkish colour) is likely to wipeout signs of life even if they do exist lower down. It will also aid in the search for the secrets of water on mars, because finding carbon dioxide in large quantities in the rocks would go a long way to proving the existence of water on Mars at some time in the past, and even the tantalising prospect of finding that there is still liquid water somewhere below the surface.