• Russia's Mars 2001. Its mission, not fully defined, will include a rover and/or surface stations. Possible international participation. May be part of US-Russian Mars Together program. It is currently extremely doubtful if this mission will actually take place.

  
  

• Mars Surveyor 2001 orbiter is scheduled to be launched between March 7 and March 27, 2001, and to enter Mars orbit between December 10 and 23, 2001. It is to use and test aerocapture (down to 46 km above Martian surface !) techniques for achieving its circular 400 km Polar orbit after periapsis lifts. If this goes well, it will conduct science from orbit, including mineralogical mapping and radiation measurements, with its main instruments GRS from Mars Observer and THEMIS which is developed under the direction of ASU. The spacecraft is also to serve as communications relay for Mars Surveyor 2001 and possibly 2003 landers. May be part of Mars Together program.
  • NSSDC info on the Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter
  • Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter homepage and Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter info
  • Mars Surveyor 2001 homepage at JPL
  • THEMIS: THermal EMission Imaging Spectrometer (ASU)

  
  

• Mars Surveyor 2001 lander. Originally scheduled to be launched between April 5 and 25, 2001, and to land on Mars in direct approach between January 16 and February 5, 2002, this mission was postponed and rescheduled as Mars Surveyor 2003 Lander, and now cancelled. It will be replaced by one or two rovers without stationary lander.

  The lander was to carry various instruments and experiments, including engeneering experiments to explore possible in-situ resources and utilization technologies; communication via Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter. The Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander had carried a small rover, "Marie Curie".

  The followup mission is based on the originally scheduled larger "Athena" rover, which will be capable to travel tens of miles, but at that time had been cancelled for administrative budgetary reasons, and later rescheduled for 2003.

  • NSSDC info on the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander
  • Mars Surveyor 2001 lander homepage and Mars Surveyor 2001 lander info at JPL
  • Mars Surveyor 2001 homepage at JPL
  • Nasa Press Release 97-51 and 97-260 describe the scheduled Mars Surveyor 2001 space missions.
  Mars Surveyor 2001 Rover links:
  • Mars Surveyor 2001 Rover homepage (JPL)
  • Athena Rover homepage; Apex 2001 (Cornell University)
  • MINITES: Athena Mini Thermal Emission Spectrometer (ASU)
  • Rocky 7, an engeneering project for developing the Mars 2001 Rover.
  
  

• Rosetta: ESA's Mars, Asteroid and Comet mission, to be launched in January, 2003 by Ariane 5. To achieve its more distant targets, it will take a gravity assist during Mars flyby in 2006. It will fly on and pass Earth twice and two asteroids each once, before it reaches Comet Wirtanen in August 2011, and finally should land on it one year later. Rosetta homepage at ESOC/ESA
• Mars Surveyor 2003 Orbiter. Communications; more to be defined. This mission was cancelled (objectives transferred to Mars Express and optionally to Mars Surveyor 2001 orbiter). Mars 2003 and 2005 page (NSSDC)
• Mars Surveyor 2003 Rover (Lander). To be launched May/June 2003. This mission was redefined and now omits a stationary lander, which was to contain imaging system and various instruments to study radiation and soil. Instead, it consists of one or two large rovers (Athena) which are to land similar to Mars Pathfinder in direct approach and airbag buffered. It is to investigate samples from a 10 km range around the landing site, with a sampling arm and store and investigate it. Originally, Athena was to load the samples into a soccer ball-sized container, which would have been blasted into orbit around Mars and picked up and delivered back to Earth by a later mission. Mars 2003 and 2005 page (NSSDC) Mars 2003 Mission Architecture (JPL) Athena Rover Homepage (Cornell University)
• Mars Express (ESA). To be launched between June 1 and 11, 2003. Orbiter and lander "Beagle 2", to be launched with a Russian Soyuz/Fregat rocket, but compatible with a Delta II. See ESA News on Mars Express and RAS press release. Mars Express Homepage (ESA), Mars Express info (NSSDC).

• Mars Surveyor 2005 Orbiter (France). To be launched July/August 2005. Communications relay, orbital observarions, and return of samples gathered by landers. Mars 2003 and 2005 page (NSSDC) Mars 2005 Mission Architecture (JPL)
• Mars Surveyor 2005 Lander. To be launched July/August 2005. Mars sample return to Earth. Possibly take over samples previously collected by Mars Surveyor 2001 or 2003 rover/lander. Details to be defined. Mars ISRU Sample Return (MISR) mission; Mars 2003 and 2005 page (NSSDC) Mars 2005 Mission Architecture (JPL)

For the time after 2005, a continuation of the research missions is planned. Possible options are to repeat the 2003-2005 orbiter/lander/sample return missions in 2007-2009 and 2011-2013. Detailed plans are still to be worked out, and should utilize the newly acquired knowledge of the current and scheduled Mars missions. Nasa officials have expressed their intention that these efforts should eventually be leading to a Mars mission with a human crew to be launched in 2018 (and to arrive at Mars in 2019), and to begin an era of permanent human presence on our neighbor planet. Moreover, this date is continuously under discussion with the aim to do the mission sooner; the earliest (now outdated) proposition was a crewed mission as early as 2007, while CNN has reported plans for a crewed mission in 2012 !

As of 26 Feb 1999, 13:00 MET

Last Modification: April 8, 2001