4+-+5


 * Category 5 – Mars/Venus **
 * Mars Global Surveyor || JPL Past

Views of the [|Mars Polar Lander] landing zone were essential to the selection of a safe place for the December 3, 1999, landing to occur. The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) took its first pictures of the landing zone in [|December 1997] and [|January 1998.] The south polar region was not accessible to the camera until June 1999, when the south polar winter was ending and the sun began to dawn on this region once again. Since the beginning of June 1999, a period of imaging has been conducted over the landing zone so that a safe site could be found. || Pathfinder was originally designed to demonstration technology for inexpensive entry and landing on Mars, as a precursor to a network of landers called Mars Environmental Survey, or MESUR. Because Pathfinder was the first mission it fell into what was then considered a "Discovery" mission class - that is it had to be done for less than $150M in 1992 dollars. The MESUR Network missions were never funded, but Pathfinder is now a technology demonstration for landers in the Mars Surveyor program. || April 2004: two mobile robots named Spirit and Opportunity successfully completed their primary three-month missions on opposite sides of Mars. These twin vehicles of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover project continued their pursuit of clues about whether parts of Mars formerly had environments wet enough to be hospitable to life. || Mariner 6 and 7 were the second pair of Mars missions in NASA's Mariner series of solar system exploration in the 1960s and early 1970s.
 * Mars Pathfinder || JPL Past
 * Mars Exploration Rovers || JPL & NASA Current
 * Mariner || JPL Past

In 1969, Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 completed the first dual mission to Mars, flying by over the equator and south polar regions and analyzing the Martian atmosphere and surface with remote sensors, as well as recording and relaying hundreds of pictures. By chance, both flew over cratered regions and missed both the giant northern volcanoes and the equatorial grand canyon that was discovered later. Their pictures did, however, show that the dark features on the surface long seen from Earth were not canals, as once decades before. ||
 * Magellan || JPL Past

1990 to 1994: NASA's Magellan spacecraft used an imaging radar to make highly detailed maps of Venus during its years in orbit. || 2001; designed to determine the composition of the planet's surface, to detect water and shallow buried ice, and to study the radiation environment. || The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took these images of the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos, on March 23, 2008. "Phobos is of great interest because it may be rich in water ice and carbon-rich materials," "But the HiRISE images are higher quality, making the new data some of the best ever for Phobos," said Bridges. "The new images will help constrain the origin and evolution of this moon." || **when:** March 2006 "This is the first direct measurement of the depth of these deposits," RIGHT-CLICK on these links to "Open in a new window"
 * Mars Odyssey || JPL Current
 * Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter || JPL Current
 * Phoenix || JPL & NASA Current
 * when:** Scheduled to set down on the Northern plains of Mars on May 25, 2008.
 * what/why/how:** In the continuing pursuit of water on Mars, the poles are a good place to probe, as water ice is found there. This mission is flying a high-latitude lander to Mars. It will dig with a robotic arm to a layer containing water ice, and analyze samples of soil and ice. ||
 * Mars Express || NASA Current
 * what:** Mars Express has been collecting data on the Medusae Fossae Formation deposits using its Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (Marsis). Between March 2006 and April 2007, Mars Express flew over the Medusae Fossae Formation deposits many times, taking radar soundings as it went.
 * why:** The Medusae Fossae deposits intrigue scientists because they are associated with regions that absorb certain wavelengths of Earth-based radar. This had led to them being called "stealth" regions, because they give no radar echo ||

JPL PAST Missions http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past_missions.cfm JPL CURRENT Missions http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/index.cfm NASA PAST Missions http://www.nasa.gov/missions/past/index.html NASA CURRENT Missions http://www.nasa.gov/missions/current/index.html>