Conquest of Mars: Discover our retrospective in pictures<

Mars, a small red-orange point visible to the naked eye among the stars, intrigues us since certainly the dawn of humanity.The fascination for this "wandering star" which, by its shade of embers and blood, was decked out of the title of divinity of war in several cultures, accelerated from the 19th century, when the observations of this distant world ofonly a few tens of millions of kilometers became more and more detailed.

At that time, by mapping the planet, the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli (the Exomars platform resumed its name in its honor), distinguished on its surface rectilinear structures which it designated as "channels"."Canali" in Italian, which will then (evil) translate by "canals".Some astronomers, like Percival Lowell, were passionate about the subject and postulated that these were artificial works built by a civilization of the Red Planet.Resumed in literature, the myth of the "Martians" has done since Florès, from the War of the Worlds to Mars Attack...

Is there really life on Mars?Have there ever been?Is there water?What does the fourth planet of the solar system look like?In search of answers, humanity sent its first scout missions from the 1960s, before considering setting foot there...Maybe from 2030 or 2035.

1965: Mariner 4, the first probe to fly over March

For many years, the two biggest powers in the World War II which agreed to a competition on Earth and Space -United States and Soviet Union -were the only two to occupy the land of the'Martian exploration (and solar system in general).

The first approach to the red planet was tempted by the Soviets from 1960 with the Missnik 1 and 2 missions.It was unfortunately failures, the first two of a series of unhappy attempts from the USSR which nevertheless took all the shooting windows towards March, between 1960 and 1973, with the exception of 1967.March 2 and 3, in 1971, and March 5, in 1973, will be considered half-scale.

Although left later to discover March, it will ultimately be the Americans who will succeed in the first to reveal it to the whole world.Indeed, on July 15, 1965, the mariner 4 probe, which had managed to reach it unlike mariner 3 23 days earlier, transmitted the black and white images of the planet, taken from less than 10.000 km of the surface.

Mariner 6 and 7, in 1969 and Mariner 9, in 1971 were great successes (alas, not to marinate 8).The latter was the first to succeed in an orbit insertion around another planet.In the space of two months, she was able to photograph Mars from every angle (plus 7.000 images) and allowed to make the discovery of Mont Olympe, the Tharsis channel and Valles Marineris (the Long Canyon will be appointed in his honor).

1976: the ambitious Viking missions

1976 will see the arrival of Viking 1 and 2 missions, each including an orbiter and an landing (Lander).30.000 images were made in 4 years by the first - she inserted himself into an orbit on June 19 - and 20.000 (in two years) for the second, which reached the planet on August 7.Mars la Rouge is mapped in its entirety and its decrypted atmosphere.At the same time, the two moor successfully landed, one in the region of Chrysus Planitia and the other in that of Utopia Planitia, both capture some 4.587 images at the same time that they conduct several experiences on the ground, on the one hand on the rocks and on the other hand, to try to detect possible traces of life.The results are still controversial today.Until 2007, Viking Lander 1 kept the longevity record: 6 years old.He was dethroned by Spirit.His opportunity twin has since doubled, since he already has 12 years of service!

Scarked by the disappointments of its Martian missions, the USSR has retained the adventure after 15 years of absence, with Phobos 1 and 2, in 1988.Only the second will reach March (January 29, 1989) around which it will carry out 52 orbits for almost two months.The contact will be lost while she was about to fly over Phobos, where she was to effect the analyzes and drop a module there.

Tragic destinies of the years 1990-2000

The costly Mars Observer probe had to mark the return of the Americans to the March of March, after 17 years of absence (the explosion of the Challenger shuttle is no stranger to it).Unfortunately, a breakdown just before its insertion in orbit, on August 21, 1993, put an end to this ambitious mission.A little broken in its momentum, NASA will set off again to the Red Planet, two years later, as part of the "Fast, Better, Cheaper" program (faster, better and cheaper).

On the Russian side, the bitter failure of the Mars 96 probe will decide the Roscosmos agency to abandon the exploration of the red planet for many years.Today, she has collaborated with ESA and CNES for certain Exomars elements.

Mars is undoubtedly the planet most visited so far but it is also the one that has accumulated the most lost missions...The United States is not to be outdone with the failures of the Mars Surveyor program: Mars Climate Orbiter will be destroyed during the maneuvers of its insertion in orbit in September 1999, Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 will be missing in 1999.At the same time, the Japanese probe Nozomi launched on July 4, 1998 will reach March...December 14, 2003 after many navigation difficulties.The machine will fail to put in orbit.The British capsule Beagle 2 - which has made the way with Mars Express - will also have a tragic fate, lost since its arrival, in December 2003.

The successes of the last twenty years: Opportunity and Curiosity

In the past 20 years, there has also been a lot of great successes.First Mars Pathfinder, on July 4, 1997, accompanied by Petit Rover Sojourner, the first to roll on Mars (about 100 meters).A few months later, in orbit Mars Global Surveyor arrives, a prolonged mapping mission until 2006.More than 240.000 images were made.

In October 2001, Mars Odyssey entered the Martian scene.Its main objectives: the cartography of the chemical composition of the surface of the planet.

The European mapping probe (topography, geology, etc..), Mars Express arrived in orbit on December 25, 2003.She is still active.

After Sojourner in 1997, his descendants Spirit and Opportunity (Mission Mars Exploration Rover) landed in January 2004.A real triumph for these two robots which were to explore the Martian surface at the start for 3 months.Spirit is bogged down and opportunity, meanwhile, is doing well and continues to investigate.In 2014, he broke the extraterrestrial distance record: 40 km.

Others are still at work as Mars Recognition Orbiter, arrived in March 2006, and, of course, the powerful Rover Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory), deposited in the Crater Gale on August 6, 2012.He is today on the first foothills of Mount Sharp and we owe him important revelations on the past habitability of Mars.

In September 2014, two days apart, Maven (United States) and Mangalyan (India) probes inserted themselves into orbit.Both focus their attention on the atmosphere, certainly very tenuous, of our neighbor.

Now, it is the 2016 Exomars turn, which combines trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the demonstrator SchiaParelli, to leave.Europe then plans to file a rover in 2018 to conduct an investigation into possible traces of life on Mars.Latest news, Insight should leave on May 5, 2018.In 2020, it will be the turn of Curiosity 2.As for the first steps of the man on the red planet, they may be carried out during the 2030s decade...

Find many images of Mars taken by American probes, landing and rovers on the NASA photojournal site.You can select by missions, targets or instruments.