Over the past 60 years, both the United States and the USSR have launched various missions to observe and explore the planet Mars. These have included fly-by missions by spacecraft, and also landers and rovers sent from Earth. In recent years, ground missions by NASA have yielded an incredible trove of knowledge about the Martian system.
The following presentation by PBS chronicles some of the pivotal pieces photographic evidence gathered by these missions, and charts the trajectory of our learning curve of the habitat and origins of Mars. Watch:
In total, there have now been five successful rover missions on the surface of Mars, Sojourner (1997), Opportunity (2004), Spirit (2004), Curiosity (2012), and the latest, Perseverance, landing on February 18th of this year. These missions have enabled scientists to learn about the ancient environment of the Red Planet, including a deeper understanding of its geological and water history. Watch:
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