NASA History Overview
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is responsible for unique scientific and technological achievements in human spaceflight, aeronautics, space science, and space applications that have had widespread impacts on our nation and the world. Forged in response to early Soviet space achievements, NASA was built on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and other government organizations, as the locus of U.S. civil aerospace research and development.
When NASA opened for business on October 1, 1958, it accelerated the work already started on human and robotic spaceflight. NASA's first high profile program was Project Mercury, an effort to learn if humans could survive in space. This was followed by Project Gemini, which used spacecraft built for two astronauts to perfect the capabilities needed for the national objective of a human trip to the Moon by the end of the 1960s. Project Apollo achieved that objective in July 1969 with the Apollo 11 mission and expanded on it with five more successful lunar landing missions through 1972. After the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz Test Projects of the mid-1970s, NASA's human spaceflight efforts again resumed in 1981, with the Space Shuttle program that continued for 30 years. The Shuttle was not only a breakthrough technology, but was essential to our next major step in space, the construction of the International Space Station.
Over the last 60 years NASA has continued to push the boundaries with cutting edge aeronautics research that has dramatically changed the way we build and fly airplanes. NASA has also completed the reconnaissance of our solar system, with intense investigation of all the planets. Using orbital spacecraft like the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA has also dramatically changed our understanding of the universe around us, as well as our own planet. NASA’s early work on launch vehicles, communication satellites, and weather satellites has fundamentally changed daily life and created whole new industries. As a catalyst for international cooperation, NASA has also changed how and why humanity conducts space exploration. Now, NASA is preparing to take humankind farther than ever before, as it helps to foster a robust commercial space economy near Earth, and pioneers further human and robotic exploration as we venture into deep space.
The NASA History Office Program publishes a quarterly newsletter, as well as an array of books (print and digital), hosts social media, provides fellowships, and runs the Historical Reference Collection (our version of an archive) to assist the public in finding more information on aeronautical and space history. In addition, the staff produces the Aeronautics and Space Report of the President. The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 directs NASA to produce an annual report that includes a “comprehensive description of the programmed activities and the accomplishments of all agencies of the United States in the field of aeronautics and space activities" during the preceding year.
Our staff also assists the public, media, researchers, NASA employees and Congressional staff to find resources within and outside the NASA History Office's Historical Reference Collection.
Mars Science Laboratory
Launched:
7:02 a.m. PST, Nov. 26, 2011
(10:02 a.m. EST)
Launch Vehicle:
United Launch Alliance, Atlas V
Landed:
10:32 p.m. PDT, Aug. 5, 2012
(1:32 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6, 2012)
Landing Site - Gale Crater
Part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, Curiosity is the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars. It launched November 26, 2011 and landed on Mars at 10:32 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5, 2012 (1:32 a.m. EDT on Aug. 6, 2012).
Curiosity set out to answer the question: Did Mars ever have the right environmental conditions to support small life forms called microbes? Early in its mission, Curiosity's scientific tools found chemical and mineral evidence of past habitable environments on Mars. It continues to explore the rock record from a time when Mars could have been home to microbial life.
Surveying Gale Crater
Curiosity explores Gale Crater and acquires rock, soil, and air samples for onboard analysis. The car-size rover is about as tall as a basketball player and uses a 7 foot-long arm to place tools close to rocks selected for study. Curiosity's large size allows it to carry an advanced kit of 10 science instruments. It has tools including 17 cameras, a laser to vaporize and study small pinpoint spots of rocks at a distance, and a drill to collect powdered rock samples. It hunts for special rocks that formed in water and/or have signs of organics.
Strong, Smart and Curious
Curiosity carries the biggest, most advanced instruments for scientific studies ever sent to the Martian surface. The history of Martian climate and geology is written in the chemistry and structure of the rocks and soil. Curiosity reads this record by analyzing powdered samples drilled from rocks. It also measures the chemical fingerprints present in different rocks and soils to determine their composition and history, especially their past interactions with water.
Coming in for a Landing
Mars Science Laboratory arrived at Mars through technological innovations that tested a completely new landing method. The spacecraft descended on a parachute, then during the final seconds before landing, the landing system fired rockets to allow it to hover while a tether lowered Curiosity to the surface. The rover landed on its wheels, the tether was cut, and the landing system flew off to crash-land a safe distance away.
Curiosity is more mobile than any previous rover
It is fit to climb over knee-high obstacles and travels about 100 feet (30 meters) per hour, depending on instrument activity, the terrain, and visibility its cameras have of the path ahead. The rover carries a radioisotope power system that generates electricity from the heat of plutonium's radioactive decay. This electrical power source has already far exceeded its required operating lifespan on Mars' surface of at least one full Martian year (687 Earth days). The generator provides greater mobility and flexibility in operating the rover regardless of season or sunlight. The steady flow of electrical power has enhanced the science payload capability and permitted consideration of landing sites at a greater range of latitudes than was possible on previous rovers.
The Mars Science Laboratory mission represents a huge step in Mars exploration because it has:
demonstrated the ability to land a very large, heavy rover to the surface of Mars
demonstrated the ability to land more precisely in a 12.4-mile (20-kilometer) landing area
demonstrated long-range mobility on Mars for studying diverse environments and analyzing samples found in different settings.
EARTH MARS
Average Distance from Sun 93 million miles 142 million miles
Average Speed in Orbiting Sun 18.5 miles per second 14.5 miles per second
Diameter 7,926 miles 4,220 miles
Tilt of Axis 23.5 degrees 25 degrees
Length of Year 365.25 Days 687 Earth Days
Length of Day 23 hours 56 minutes 24 hours 37 minutes
Gravity 2.66 times that of Mars 0.375 that of Earth
Temperature Average 57 degrees F Average -81 degrees F
Atmosphere nitrogen, oxygen, argon, others mostly carbon dioxide, some water vapor
Number of Moons 1 2
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the seventh largest:
Planet Profile
orbit: 227,940,000 km (1.52 AU) from Sun
diameter: 6,794 km
mass: 6.4219e23 kg
History of Mars
Mars (Greek: Ares) is the god of War. The planet probably got this name due to its red color; Mars is sometimes referred to as the Red Planet. (An interesting side note: the Roman god Mars was a god of agriculture before becoming associated with the Greek Ares; those in favor of colonizing and terraforming Mars may prefer this symbolism.) The name of the month March derives from Mars.
Mars has been known since prehistoric times. Of course, it has been extensively studied with ground-based observatories. But even very large telescopes find Mars a difficult target, it's just too small. It is still a favorite of science fiction writers as the most favorable place in the Solar System (other than Earth!) for human habitation. But the famous "canals" "seen" by Lowell and others were, unfortunately, just as imaginary as Barsoomian princesses. viking landing site
pathfinder landing site
The first spacecraft to visit Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. Several others followed including Mars 2, the first spacecraft to land on Mars and the two Viking landers in 1976. Ending a long 20 year hiatus, Mars Pathfinder landed successfully on Mars on 1997 July 4. In 2004 the Mars Expedition Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" landed on Mars sending back geologic data and many pictures; they are still operating after more than three years on Mars. In 2008, Phoenix landed in the northern plains to search for water. Three Mars orbiters (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Express) are also currently in operation.
Mars' orbit is significantly elliptical. One result of this is a temperature variation of about 30 C at the subsolar point between aphelion and perihelion. This has a major influence on Mars' climate. While the average temperature on Mars is about 218 K (-55 C, -67 F), Martian surface temperatures range widely from as little as 140 K (-133 C, -207 F) at the winter pole to almost 300 K (27 C, 80 F) on the day side during summer.
Though Mars is much smaller than Earth, its surface area is about the same as the land surface area of Earth. Olympus Moons
Mars has some of the most highly varied and interesting terrain of any of the terrestrial planets, some of it quite spectacular:
Olympus Mons: the largest mountain in the Solar System rising 24 km (78,000 ft.) above the surrounding plain. Its base is more than 500 km in diameter and is rimmed by a cliff 6 km (20,000 ft) high.
Tharsis: a huge bulge on the Martian surface that is about 4000 km across and 10 km high.
Valles Marineris: a system of canyons 4000 km long and from 2 to 7 km deep (top of page);
Hellas Planitia: an impact crater in the southern hemisphere over 6 km deep and 2000 km in diameter.
Much of the Martian surface is very old and cratered, but there are also much younger rift valleys, ridges, hills and plains. (None of this is visible in any detail with a telescope, even the Hubble Space Telescope; all this information comes from the spacecraft that we've sent to Mars.)
martian craters
The southern hemisphere of Mars is predominantly ancient cratered highlands somewhat similar to the Moon. In contrast, most of the northern hemisphere consists of plains which are much younger, lower in elevation and have a much more complex history. An abrupt elevation change of several kilometers seems to occur at the boundary. The reasons for this global dichotomy and abrupt boundary are unknown (some speculate that they are due to a very large impact shortly after Mars' accretion). Mars Global Surveyor has produced a nice 3D map of Mars that clearly shows these features.
The interior of Mars is known only by inference from data about the surface and the bulk statistics of the planet. The most likely scenario is a dense core about 1700 km in radius, a molten rocky mantle somewhat denser than the Earth's and a thin crust. Data from Mars Global Surveyor indicates that Mars' crust is about 80 km thick in the southern hemisphere but only about 35 km thick in the north. Mars' relatively low density compared to the other terrestrial planets indicates that its core probably contains a relatively large fraction of sulfur in addition to iron (iron and iron sulfide).
Like Mercury and the Moon, Mars appears to lack active plate tectonics at present; there is no evidence of recent horizontal motion of the surface such as the folded mountains so common on Earth. With no lateral plate motion, hot-spots under the crust stay in a fixed position relative to the surface. This, along with the lower surface gravity, may account for the Tharis bulge and its enormous volcanoes. There is no evidence of current volcanic activity. However, data from Mars Global Surveyor indicates that Mars very likely did have tectonic activity sometime in the past. martian valley network
There is very clear evidence of erosion in many places on Mars including large floods and small river systems. At some time in the past there was clearly some sort of fluid on the surface. Liquid water is the obvious fluid but other possibilities exist. There may have been large lakes or even oceans; the evidence for which was strenghtened by some very nice images of layered terrain taken by Mars Global Surveyor and the mineralology results from MER Opportunity. Most of these point to wet episodes that occurred only briefly and very long ago; the age of the erosion channels is estimated at about nearly 4 billion years. However, images from Mars Express released in early 2005 show what appears to be a frozen sea that was liquid very recently (maybe 5 million years ago). Confirmation of this interpretation would be a very big deal indeed! (Valles Marineris was NOT created by running water. It was formed by the stretching and cracking of the crust associated with the creation of the Tharsis bulge.)
Early in its history, Mars was much more like Earth. As with Earth almost all of its carbon dioxide was used up to form carbonate rocks. But lacking the Earth's plate tectonics, Mars is unable to recycle any of this carbon dioxide back into its atmosphere and so cannot sustain a significant greenhouse effect. The surface of Mars is therefore much colder than the Earth would be at that distance from the Sun.
Mars has a very thin atmosphere composed mostly of the tiny amount of remaining carbon dioxide (95.3%) plus nitrogen (2.7%), argon (1.6%) and traces of oxygen (0.15%) and water (0.03%). The average pressure on the surface of Mars is only about 7 millibars (less than 1% of Earth's), but it varies greatly with altitude from almost 9 millibars in the deepest basins to about 1 millibar at the top of Olympus Mons. But it is thick enough to support very strong winds and vast dust storms that on occasion engulf the entire planet for months. Mars' thin atmosphere produces a greenhouse effect but it is only enough to raise the surface temperature by 5 degrees (K); much less than what we see on Venus and Earth. Mars south polar cap
Early telescopic observations revealed that Mars has permanent ice caps at both poles; they're visible even with a small telescope. We now know that they're composed of water ice and solid carbon dioxide ("dry ice"). The ice caps exhibit a layered structure with alternating layers of ice with varying concentrations of dark dust. In the northern summer the carbon dioxide completely sublimes, leaving a residual layer of water ice. ESA's Mars Express has shown that a similar layer of water ice exists below the southern cap as well. The mechanism responsible for the layering is unknown but may be due to climatic changes related to long-term changes in the inclination of Mars' equator to the plane of its orbit. There may also be water ice hidden below the surface at lower latitudes. The seasonal changes in the extent of the polar caps changes the global atmospheric pressure by about 25% (as measured at the Viking lander sites). HST view of Mars
Recent observations with the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed that the conditions during the Viking missions may not have been typical. Mars' atmosphere now seems to be both colder and dryer than measured by the Viking landers (more details from STScI).
The Viking landers performed experiments to determine the existence of life on Mars. The results were somewhat ambiguous but most scientists now believe that they show no evidence for life on Mars (there is still some controversy, however). Optimists point out that only two tiny samples were measured and not from the most favorable locations. More experiments will be done by future missions to Mars.
A small number of meteorites (the SNC meteorites) are believed to have originated on Mars.
On 1996 Aug 6, David McKay et al announced what they thought might be evidence of ancient Martian microorganisms in the meteorite ALH84001. Though there is still some controversy, the majority of the scientific community has not accepted this conclusion. If there is or was life on Mars, we still haven't found it.
Large, but not global, weak magnetic fields exist in various regions of Mars. This unexpected finding was made by Mars Global Surveyor just days after it entered Mars orbit. They are probably remnants of an earlier global field that has since disappeared. This may have important implications for the structure of Mars' interior and for the past history of its atmosphere and hence for the possibility of ancient life.
When it is in the night time sky, Mars is easily visible with the unaided eye. Mars is a difficult but rewarding target for an amateur telescope though only for the three or four months each martian year when it is closest to Earth. Its apparent size and brightness varies greatly according to its relative position to the Earth. There are several Web sites that show the current position of Mars (and the other planets) in the sky. More detailed and customized charts can be created with a planetarium program.
Mars' Satellites
Mars has two tiny satellites which orbit very close to the martian surface:
Distance Radius Mass
Satellite (000 km) (km) (kg) Discoverer Date
--------- -------- ------ ------- ---------- ----
Phobos 9 11 1.08e16 Hall 1877
Deimos 23 6 1.80e15 Hall 1877
("Distance" is measured from the center of Mars).
More about Mars, Deimos, and Phobos
more Mars images
Beware the Mars Hoax
Mars Global Surveyor high resolution mosaic and map
first images from Mars Global Surveyor
selected images from Pathfinder
Life on Mars?
info and pictures from NASA NSSDC
prerelease of "Search for Past Life on Mars: Possible Relic Biogenic Activity in Martian Meteorite ALH84001" by David S. McKay et al
more on the meteorites page
Life on Mars!, another opinion on the Viking results by Dr. Gilbert V. Levin
On the Question of the Mars Meteorite from LPI
bacterial remains in the Nakhla meteorite?
SNC Meteorites
Mars Meteorites from Ron Baalke at JPL (lots of images!) part of Valles Marineris
The Planet Mars: A History of Observation and Discovery, by William Sheehan (a complete online book!)
The Geological History of Mars
The Surface of Mars from LANL
MGS images of layered terrain ( more)
Martian Volcanoes from LANL
Martian Clouds from LANL
Comparative Terrestrial Planet Thermospheres
from NSSDC
a Martian dust storm seen by HST; another from MGS; 2001 global storm
Mars Atlas and Viking Orbiter image-finder (access high-res images of the entire surface of Mars!)
Mars Explorer, allows you to get an image map of any area on Mars
PDS Mars Explorer for the Armchair Astronaut
albedo map with features labeled (from ALPO)
Mars Page from Malin Space Science Systems
Marslink Essays by Mike Caplinger
more Mars links by Hartmut Frommert
Mars Today: html; ~100k gif
Viking lander images
Mars' Chaotic Climate
The Daily Martian Weather Report from Mars Global Surveyor Radio Science Team at Stanford
Mars Global Climate Modeling
Mars Nomenclature Table
The original "MARS" by Percival Lowell, 1895.
Mars exploration:
A Crewed Mission to Mars, a case study by NASA
Mars Pathfinder, new images from the surface!
Center for Mars Exploration
The Martian Chronicle, The Electronic Newsletter for Mars Exploration at JPL
The Rational for Exploring Mars by Dr. Michael Duke of NASA
An Exobiological Strategy for Mars Exploration
Mars Mission Launch Sequence, a catalog of all Mars missions
Mars Watch, Linking Amateur and Professional Mars Observing Communities for Observational Support of the Mars Pathfinder Mission
Exploring Mars, many resources from LPI
The Mars Society
Mars Drive
The Face on Mars
"The Face" on Mars":
2006 images from Mars Express
April 2001 images from MGS
detailed analysis from MSSS; (another copy of it at LANL)
debunking Richard Hoagland's Nonsense
images of the "Happy Face" from Viking and a higher res image from MGS
raw MGS image, which to no one's surprise, doesn't look like a face at all
Mars in the Arts:
Mars in the Mind of Earth; links to Mars related fiction
Mars Bibliography, science fiction about Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Gods of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Warlord of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs' Thuvia, Maid of Mars
H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds
Study guide to Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles
C. K. Anderson's A Step Beyond
more references
Mars in Popular Culture
Mars FAQ for amateur astronomers (what to expect to see with a small telescope)
lots more Mars links
Open Issues
Why are the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars so different? Why are the northern and southern polar caps different? dunes
What is the structure of Mars's interior? What is it composed of, and which parts are molten or solid? Is there still active volcanism on Mars?
What exactly caused the erosion patterns that look so much like stream beds on Earth? How old are they?
How much subterranean ("sub-martian"?) water is/was there on Mars? There's growing evidence, (eg, here: APOD) but it's not yet definitive; much more work is needed.
Mars remains at the top of the list of possible life-bearing planets. The Viking probes found little evidence of life on Mars. But they sampled only two isolated locations. Is there life elsewhere or was there life at some time in the past on Mars? The recent meteoric evidence needs to be confirmed. Ultimately, a sample return mission will be necessary.
The future of Mars exploration is more hopeful than for the other planets. Three orbiters and three landers are now in operation at Mars. Several more robotic missions are planned by NASA and others. But no one seems willing to put any real money toward a manned expedition.