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A Complete History of Mars Exploration: From Mariner 4 to Perseverance — and Beyond
Mars exploration has been extraordinary, as no other planet has received so much attention and discovery for over 60 years, with multiple technologies, rovers and satellite probes.
For
They were built for ninety days. They were given the fuel, the power, and the spare parts for ninety days of operation on the surface of Mars, and when those ninety days were over, mission managers expected to write final reports and move on. Nobody seriously planned for what actually happened.
Spirit operated for six years. Opportunity kept driving for fifteen years and four months, covering a distance of 45.16 kilometres across the face of another world before a planet-wide dust storm finally silenced its transmitters in June 2018. Together, the twin rovers of the Mars Exploration Rover mission redefined what robotic exploration could achieve, and they became, in a way that few scientific instruments ever manage, genuinely beloved.
The two rovers launched separately in the summer of 2003, following trajectories calculated to place them at opposite sides of Mars. Spirit landed on January 4th, 2004, bouncing inside its airbag cocoon across the floor of Gusev Crater — a basin the size of Connecticut that scientists believed might once have held an enormous water lake. three weeks later, on the other side of the planet, in the flat plain of Meridiani Planum.
For
They were built for ninety days. They were given the fuel, the power, and the spare parts for ninety days of operation on the surface of Mars, and when those ninety days were over, mission managers expected to write final reports and move on. Nobody seriously planned for what actually happened.
Spirit operated for six years. Opportunity kept driving for fifteen years and four months, covering a distance of 45.16 kilometres across the face of another world before a planet-wide dust storm finally silenced its transmitters in June 2018. Together, the twin rovers of the Mars Exploration Rover mission redefined what robotic exploration could achieve, and they became, in a way that few scientific instruments ever manage, genuinely beloved.
The two rovers launched separately in the summer of 2003, following trajectories calculated to place them at opposite sides of Mars. Spirit landed on January 4th, 2004, bouncing inside its airbag cocoon across the floor of Gusev Crater — a basin the size of Connecticut that scientists believed might once have held an enormous water lake. three weeks later, on the other side of the planet, in the flat plain of Meridiani Planum.
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Published May 22, 2026
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