As every year passes there are more and more advances made in technology. As long as technology advances, so does science. The people at NASA have continued to come up with quicker, cheaper, and more efficient ways to study planets such as Mars. So what is the next step? Well, NASA reports that there may be airplanes and balloons to view Mars from the Martian sky, a viewpoint we have never seen before. Also to come are subsurface explorers and sample returns; searching below the surface of Mars and sample returns to bring Martian material back to Earth to study closer in our own laboratories. What about human missions?? There are many issues and concerns about sending humans to Mars because of the risks of long missions such as these. Compared to the 3 days it took the astronauts to reach the moon, it will take approximately 3 months to get to mars. There are a few missions developing, one of them being a 900+ day mission which would hold a lot of risk, not to mention being a VERY costly mission. A successful human mission to Mars would take the idea of terraforming Mars to the next level.
Past Missions
(From left to right)Mariner 4, Viking Lander, Viking Orbiter, Pathfinder.
Missions in action
(From left to right) 2003 Exploration rovers, 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Global Surveyor.
Future Missions
(From left to right) Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Phoenix.
