mars exploration: an overview of indian and international

Taurian Innovative Journal/Volume 1/ Issue 1

Corresponding Author: Nayama Valsa Scariah 66

Mars exploration: An overview of Indian and

International Mars Missions

NayamaValsa Scariah1, Dr. Mili Ghosh2, Dr.A.P.Krishna3

Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi

Abstract- Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. It is

also known as red planet because of its iron oxide

content. There are lots of missions have been launched to

mars for better understanding of our neighboring planet.

There are lots of unmanned spacecraft including

orbiters, landers and rovers have been launched into

mars since early 1960. Sputnik was the first satellite

launched in 1957 by Soviet Union. After seven failure

missions to Mars, Mariner 4 was the first satellite which

reached the Martian orbiter successfully. The Viking 1

was the first lander reached on Mars on 1975. India

successfully launched a spacecraft, Mangalyan (Mars

Orbiter Mission) on 5th November, 2013, with five

payloads to Mars. India was the first nation to

successfully reach Mars on its first attempt. It was really

a proud moment for all the Indians. India is the fourth

planet to reach Mars after United States, Europe and

Soviet Union. India may put a lander on Mars in 2021 or

2022. MOM(Mars Orbiter Mission) has five payloads

such as LAP(Lyman Alpha photometer), MSM(Methane

Sensor for Mars), MENCA(Mars Exospheric Neutral

Composition Analyser), TIS(Thermal Infrared Imaging

Spectrometer), MCC(Mars Color Camera). LAP is used

to measure the relative abundance of deuterium and

hydrogen in the upper atmosphere. Deuterium/hydrogen

ratio will allow an estimation of the amount of water loss

to the atmosphere. MENCA is used for analyzing the

neutral composition of particles. MSM is used to

measure methane in the Martian atmosphere. MCC

gives images and information about the surface features

and composition of the Martian surface. Temperature

and emissivity can be measured by using TIS data.

There are lots of studies have been carried out in Mars

such as mineral exploration, morphological analysis,

climatic variation, assessment of environmental

conditions ever been favorable for microbial conditions

etc. The curiosity rover, which was launched on 2011 by

NASA gave more salient information regarding the

evidence of water in Mars.

1. Introduction

Mars is also known as red planet, because of the

reddish iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a

reddish appearance. It is the fourth planet from sun.

The term sol is used to define duration of solar day on

Mars. A mean Martian solar day or sol is 24 hours 39

minutes and 34.244 seconds. Many space missions to

Mars have been planned and launched for Mars

exploration (Table:1) but most of them failed without

completing the task specially in early attempts

whereas some NASA missions were very

successful(such as the twin Mars Exploration Rovers,

MER-A Spirit and MER-B Opportunity).There are lots

of unmanned spacecraft including orbiters, landers

and rovers which have been launched since early 1960

for the better understanding of our neighboring planet.

Marsnik 1 (USSR) launched Oct. 10, 1960, was the

first satellite on an intended Mars flyby. After seven

failure missions to Mars, Mariner 4 was the first

satellite which reached the Martian orbiter successfully

on July 14, 1965, and sent 21 photos back to Earth.The

Viking 1 was the first lander reached on Mars on 1975.

India successfully launched a spacecraft, Mangalyan

(Mars Orbiter Mission) on 5th November 2013, with

five payloads to Mars. India was the first nation to

successfully reach Mars on its first attempt. It was

really a proud moment for all the Indians. India is the

fourth country to reach Mars after United States,

Europe and Soviet Union. India may put a lander on

Mars in 2021 or 2022. There are lots of studies have

been carried out in Mars such as mineral exploration,

morphological analysis, climatic variation, assessment

of environmental conditions ever been favorable for

microbial conditions etc. The curiosity rover, launched

in 2011 by NASA, gave more salient information

regarding the evidence of water in Mars.



Spacecraft Agency Launched on

Mission Type

Outcome Remark

Marsnik1 USSR 1960 Mars flyby Launch

failure

Failed to orbit

Marsnik2 USSR 1960 Mars flyby Launch failure

Failed to orbit

Sputnik22 USSR 1962 Mars flyby Launch

failure

Booster stage ("Block

L") disintegrated in LEO

Mars1 USSR 1962 Mars flyby Spacecraft failure

Communications lost before flyby

Sputnik 24 USSR 1962 Lander Launch

failure

Never left LEO

Mariner 3 NASA 1964 Mars flyby Launch failure

Payload fairing failed to seperate

Mariner 4 NASA 1964 Mars flyby Successful Closest approach at

01:00:57 UTC on 15 July 1965

Zond 2 USSR 1953 Mars flyby Spacecraft

failure

Communications lost

before flyby

Mariner 6 NASA 1969 Mars flyby Successful

Mars M-69

No:521

USSR 1969 Orbiter Launch

failure

Failed to orbit

Mariner 7 NASA 1969 Mars flyby Successful

Mars M-69

No:522

USSR 1969 Orbiter Launch

failure

Failed to orbit

Mariner 8 NASA 1971 Orbiter Launch

failure

Failed to orbit

Kosmos 419 USSR 1971 Orbiter Launch

failure

Never left LEO;

booster stage burn

timer set incorrectly

Mars 2 USSR 1971 Orbiter Mostly

successful

Entered orbit on 27

November 1971,

operated for 362 orbits. Mapping

operations

unsuccessful due to

dust storms on the surface

Mars 2 Lander USSR 1971 Lander Spacecraft

failure

Deployed from Mars

2, failed to land during attempt on 27

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit



November 1971

Mars 3 USSR 1971 Orbiter Mostly

successful

Entered orbit on 2

December 1971,

operated for 20 orbits. Mapping operations

unsuccessful due to

dust storms on the surface

Mars 3 Lander USSR 1971 Lander Partial

failure

Deployed from Mars

3; landed at 13:52

UTC on 2 December 1971; contact lost

14.5 seconds after

transmission start

Prop-M Rover USSR 1971 Rover Spacecraft failure

Failed to deploy

Mariner 9 NASA 1971 Orbiter Successful Entered orbit on 14

November 1971, deactivated 516 days

after entering orbit

Mars 4 USSR 1973 Orbiter Spacecraft

failure

Failed to perform

orbital insertion burn

Mars 5 USSR 1973 Orbiter Partial

failure

Failed after 9 days in

Mars orbit; returned

180 frames

Mars 6 USSR 1973 Lander

Flyby

Spacecraft

failure

Contact lost upon

landing, atmospheric

data mostly unreadable. Flyby bus

collected data

Mars 7 USSR 1973 Lander

Flyby

Spacecraft

failure

Separated from coast

stage prematurely, failed to enter Martian

atmosphere

Viking 1

Orbiter

NASA 1975 Orbiter Successful Operated for 1385

orbits

Viking 1 Lander

NASA 1975 Lander Successful Deployed from Viking 1 orbiter,

operated for 2245 sols

Viking 2

Orbiter

NASA 1975 Orbiter Successful Operated for 700

orbits

Viking 2

Lander

NASA 1975 Lander Successfu Deployed

from Viking 2 orbiter, operated for 1281 sols



Phobos 1 USSR 1988 Orbiter

Phobos

Lander

Spacecraft

Failure

Communications lost

before reaching Mars;

failed to enter orbit

Phobos 2 USSR 1988 Orbiter

Phobos

Lander

Partial failure

Orbital observations successful,

communications lost

before landing

Mars Observer NASA 1992 Orbiter Spacecraft failure

Lost communications before orbital

insertion.

Mars Global Suveyor

NASA 1996 Orbiter Successful Operated for seven years

Mars 96 Rosaviak-

osmos

1996 Orbiter

Penetrators

Launch

failure

Never left LEO

Mars pathfinder NASA 1996 Lander Successful Landed at 19.13°N 33.22°W on 4 July

1997

Sojourner NASA 1996 Rover Successful Operated for 84 days

Nazomi ISAS 1998 Orbiter Spacecraft

failure

Ran out of fuel before

reaching mars

Mars climate

Orbiter

NASA 1998 Orbiter Spacecraft

failure

Approached Mars too

closely during orbit insertion attempt due

to unit conversion

error and burned up in the atmosphere

Mars Polar

Lander

NASA 1999 Lander Spacecraft

failure

Failed to land

Deep Space 2 NASA 1999 Penetrator Spacecraft failure

Deployed from MPL, no data returned

Mars Odyssey NASA 2001 Orbiter Operational Expected to remain

operational until 2025

Mars express ESA 2003 Orbiter Operational Enough fuel to remain operational until 2026

Beagle 2 ESA 2003 Lander Lander

failure

Deployed from Mars

Express. Successful

landing, but two solar panels failed to

deploy, obstructing its



communications

Spirit NASA 2003 Rover Successful Landed on January 4,

2004.

Operated for 2208 sols

Opportunity NASA 2003 Rover Operational Landed on January 4,

2004. Operated for

2208 sols

Rosetta ESA 2004 Gravity

assist

Successful

Mars

reconnaissance Orbiter

NASA 2005 Orbiter Operational Entered orbit on

March 10, 2006

Phoenix NASA 2007 Lander Successful Landed on May 25,

2008. End of mission

November 2, 2008

Dawn NASA 2007 Gravity

assist

Successful

Fabos-Grunt Roskosm

os

2011 Orbiter

Phobos

sample

Spacecraft

failure

Yinghuo-1 CNSA 2011 Orbiter Failure

Curiosity NASA 2011 Rover Operational

Mars Orbiter

Mission

ISRO 2013 Orbiter Operational

MAVEN NASA 2013 Orbiter Operational

ExoMars Trace

Gas Orbiter

ESA

Roskosm

os

2016 Orbiter Operational

Schiaparelli EDM lander

ESA 2016 Lander Partial failure

InSight NASA 2018 Lander En route

2. Spacecraft classification

Spacecrafts are the machine or vehicle designed to

fly in outer space. There are different types of

spacecrafts are available such as flyby spacecraft,

orbiter spacecraft, Atmospheric spacecraft, Lander

spacecraft, Rover spacecraft, Penetrator spacecraft,

Observatory spacecraft and communication

spacecraft. The Mars flyby is a movement of

spacecraft passing in the vicinity of the planet Mars,

but not entering the orbit or landing on it.

A spacecraft designed to travel to a distant planet

and enter into orbit is known as orbiter spacecraft

(Figure 1.). Atmospheric spacecraft are designed for

a relatively short mission to collect data about the

atmosphere of a planet or satellite. Lander spacecraft

(Figure2.) are designed to reach the surface of a

planet and survive long enough to telemeter data

back to Earth. Surface penetrators have been

designed for entering the surface of a body, such as a

comet, measuring, and telemetering the properties of

the penetrated surface. Rover moves (Figure 3.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExoMars_Trace_Gas_Orbiter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExoMars_Trace_Gas_Orbiter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiaparelli_EDM_lander

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiaparelli_EDM_lander



across the surface of a planet. An observatory

spacecraft does not travel to a destination to explore

it. Instead, it occupies an Earth orbit or a solar orbit

from where it can observe distant targets free of the

obscuring and blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere.

Figure 1. Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft

Figure 2. Viking Lander

Figure 3.Curiosity rover moving in Gale crater, Mars

3. Indian Mars Exploration

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) also called

Mangalyan mission launched on November 5th

2013 by PSLV C-25 got inserted into Martian

orbit on September 24, 2014 in its first attempt.

Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft orbiting Mars in

a highly elliptical orbit characterized by nearest

point to Mars (periapsis) at around 300km and

farthest point (apoapsis) at 7000km. It has five

payloads such as LAP (Lyman Alpha

photometer), MSM(Methane Sensor for Mars),

MENCA(Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition

Analyser), TIS(Thermal Infrared Imaging

Spectrometer), MCC(Mars Color Camera). LAP is

used to measure the relative abundance of

deuterium and hydrogen in the upper atmosphere.

Deuterium/hydrogen ratio will allow an estimation

of the amount of water loss to the atmosphere.

MENCA is used for analyzing the neutral

composition of particles. MSM is used to measure

methane in the Martian atmosphere. MCC gives

images and information about the surface features

and composition of the Martian surface.

Temperature and emissivity can be measured by

using TIS data.



4. Mars color camera (MCC)

Mars Color Camera operates in the visible range of

0.4 to 0.7μm with varying resolution of 20m to 4km.

MCC payload provides data in true colors of Mars

(Fig:4) covering red, green and blue in Bayer

pattern. The main science objectives of MCC are

studying morphology of land forms, wind streaks,

and study related to dust storm and dust devils in

different seasons.

5. Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer

(TIS)

TIS is used to observe thermal emission from

Martian surface. It operates in the thermal region of

7-13μm. The main target of the TIS payloads are to

determine surface temperature and thermal inertia of

Martian surface and used to analyze dynamic

climatic variation over different seasons.

6. Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM)

MSM used to determine the amount of columnar

methane (CH4) in the Martian atmosphere at several

parts per billion (ppb) levels. The possible finding

of Methane in Martian atmosphere will provide

clues about the presence of life on Mars.

7.2 Lyman Alpha Photometer

Lap used to determine Deuterium to Hydrogen(D/H)

abundance ratio of Martian exosphere. Comparison of

past and present D/H ratio helps to determine the

hydrogen content in the atmosphere which gives the

evidence of presence water in Martian atmosphere.

7.3 Mars exospheric Neutral composition Analyzer

(MENCA)

MENCA is used for the in situ study of the composition

of the Martian neutral exosphere.

Figure 4. MCC image of Gale crater, Mars

7. Major findings through different Mars Missions

7.1 Evidence of Life on Mars

The serious hunt for organics on Mars has long

complicated history. It starts with NASA’s twin Viking

lander, which spotted two chlorinated chemicals,

chloromethane and dichloromethane. After analyzing

the results from Viking lander scientists thought that red

planet was dead planet. NASA’s Phoenix lander found

chorine containing chemicals called perchlorates in the

Martian soil. Perchlorates can destroy organics in a

heated sample. The Curiosity rover launched on 2011

and was landed on Gale crater, Mars. From Curiosity

rover data, scientist found that Gale hosted a long-lived,

potentially habitable lake-and-stream system billions of

years ago.

7.4 Morphological Analysis of Mars

Different Martian landforms have been analyzed and

mapped by using different datasets such as MCC,

CTX, HiRISE etc.

7.5 Mineral exploration

Different minerals have been explored by using

different data sets. Two types of phyllosilicates were

identified by using OMEGA datasets. Gamma Ray

Spectrometer of Mars Odyssey Mission is used to

determine the chemical elements such as hydrogen in

Martian environment

Conclusion

In most of the Mars missions have planned for

identifying the possibility of habitable world in Mars

and also help to understand how geologic, climatic and

process have worked to shape Mars and its environment

over time. NASA has planned to send astronaut to Mars

and return back to earth safely.



ISRO plans to next Mars Orbiter Mission on 2020 with

orbiter and rover spacecraft with great scientific

payload

References

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formation, Aeolian Research

[3] Fenton K.L, Joshua L. Bandfield and A. Wesley Ward

(2003), Aeolian processes in Proctor Crater on Mars:

Sedimentary history as analyzed from multiple data sets,

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[4] Hobbs W.S. , David J. Paull, Mary C. Bourke (2010),

Aeolian processes and dune morphology in Gale Crater,

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Spectrometer for Mars Orbiter Mission, Current Science,

Vol. 109 Issue 6, p1097-1105

[6]Tanaka and Hayward (2008), Mars’ north circum-polar

dunes: distribution, sources, and migration history, Planetary

dunes workshop

Corresponding Author: Nayama Valsa Scariah

Institution: BIT, Mesra, Ranchi

E-mail id: [email protected]

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