Science and Astronautics

Chapter 1 Introduction

1 .1 Human Investigation Mars - Overview

Mars , the fourth planet in the solar system in regard to distance from the Sun and the seventh in size and mass , occupied a specific position in human investigation of the close Universe . First , this tiny reddish spherical mass composed of dark and light is easily observed from the earth due to the cloud-free atmosphere (Shipman 194 ) with the naked eye not to speak about telescopes . Second , since the beginning of the 20th century scientific community has been conceptualizing the dark areas on

br martian surface as the co-called canals (Shipman 198 , 204-207 . The concept of martian canals made scientists suppose that life should exist on the neighboring planet

NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory designed the first Martian flyby Mariner 4 , by 1965 to get the photographs of the Red Planet (Shipman 198 also mentioned in Handberg 43 and in Missions to Mars . The Mariner program included dual flybys (Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 , 1969 , in Missions to Mars , which analyzed the atmosphere and surface over the martian equator and south polar regions with remote sensors and photo cameras and dual orbiters (Mariner 8 and 9 , 1971 , in Shipman 198 see also Missions to Mars , which sent images of giant volcanoes

The next NASA 's project to research Mars included the orbiters / landers Viking 1 (launched on August 20 , 1975 arrived on June 19 , 1976 ) and Viking 2 (launched on September 9 , 1975 arrived on August 7 , 1976 , in Missions to Mars ) equipped with the life detection package (Handberg 79 . A robotic Mars Pathfinder was launched to Mars on December 4 , 1996 It reached the planet 's surface on July 4 , 1997 , to demonstrate how an independent robotic rover could operate there ( Missions to Mars

The investigation did not run smoothly . Since 1975 , there was a 17-year gap in Mars ' research . Besides , Mars Observer mission , launched on September 25 , 1992 , failed on August 22 , 1993 (in Missions to Mars Another three missions were not completed : Mars Climate Orbiter was lost on arrival on September 23 , 1999 (Handberg 8 Missions to Mars the same happened to Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 on December 3 , 1999 ( Missions to Mars

The Mars Global Surveyor satellite (launched on November 7 , 1996 arrived on September 12 , 1997 - in Lauerman , ed . 4 Missions to Mars ) became the successful mission amidst a long period of failures so far it managed to take some high-resolution photographs of the red planet . They refreshed the scientific argument on the of life on Mars (Lauerman , ed . 4 . Two newest powerful Mars rovers , Spirit and Opportunity , launched on June-July , 2003 , and arrived on January , 2004 ( Missions to Mars . On June 2003 , NASA jointly with the European Space Agency and the Italian Mars Express space agency launched Mars Express spacecraft to explore the Martian atmosphere and surface from polar orbit ( Missions to Mars . Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched in 2005 being provided with zoom-cameras and a sounder to search for subsurface water and...