NASA and Mars

Chapter 1 · 1957 – 1958 An agency born of a shock

NASA was not born of a Martian dream, but of a surprise: a small Soviet satellite circling the Earth.

October 4, 1957

That day the Soviet Union put Sputnik 1 into orbit. It was a sphere 58 centimeters across, about the size of a beach ball, weighing 83.6 kilograms, and it circled the Earth in about 98 minutes. The United States was also preparing a satellite for the International Geophysical Year, the Navy’s Vanguard project, but its payload was to weigh only about three and a half pounds. On November 3, Sputnik 2 carried a dog, Laika. On December 6, the American Vanguard TV-3 rocket exploded on its launch pad.

On Capitol Hill, analyst Eilene Galloway would recall years later, it was “almost as if a bomb had fallen.” The Senate opened hearings in November 1957, chaired by Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson. Galloway was asked to summarize the testimony; her report recommended, among other options, a new civilian agency.

A civilian administration

Meanwhile, Wernher von Braun’s Army team at Redstone Arsenal was preparing another satellite. On January 31, 1958, Explorer 1, the first American satellite, reached orbit; its instruments revealed the radiation belts that bear the name of James Van Allen.

Scientists pushed President Dwight D. Eisenhower to put space under a civilian body, fearing that military control would limit research to defense priorities. On April 2, 1958, Eisenhower sent Congress a draft law creating a civilian agency built on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, NACA. Eilene Galloway successfully argued for an “Administration” rather than an “Agency,” to give it broader authority. Congress passed the bill on July 16; Eisenhower signed it on July 29, 1958. This was the National Aeronautics and Space Act. It set eight objectives for the new NASA, among them expanding human knowledge of the atmosphere and space, cooperating with other nations, and applying its results peacefully.

October 1, 1958

On August 8, Eisenhower nominated T. Keith Glennan, president of the Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, as NASA Administrator, and Hugh L. Dryden, director of NACA, as Deputy Administrator. They were sworn in at the White House on August 19. NASA officially opened for business on October 1, 1958. Its headquarters first occupied temporary offices in the Dolley Madison House in Washington.

Sources: NASA, “The Dawn of the Space Age” (Sputnik 1: 58 cm, 83.6 kg, about 98 minutes; Vanguard and its 3.5-pound payload; Sputnik 2 and Laika on November 3; failure of Vanguard TV-3 on December 6, 1957; Explorer 1 on January 31, 1958, von Braun’s team, Van Allen belts); NASA, “President Eisenhower Signs NASA into Existence,” July 29, 2018 (Eilene Galloway’s quotation from a 2000 interview, hearings chaired by Lyndon B. Johnson, draft law of April 2, 1958, “Administration” rather than “Agency,” passage on July 16 and signature on July 29, 1958, eight objectives, nominations of August 8, swearing-in on August 19, opening on October 1, 1958 at the Dolley Madison House).

Chapter 2 · 1952 – 1972 The first Mars plans

Even before landing a man on the Moon, NASA’s engineers were drawing up expeditions to Mars. None of them flew.

Von Braun’s fleet

The first serious plan predates NASA. In 1952, Wernher von Braun published Das Marsprojekt in Germany; it appeared in English the following year. He imagined ten 4,000-ton ships and 70 crew members. Assembling this flotilla in orbit would require 950 flights of winged ferry rockets. To give a sense of scale, von Braun compared the propellant needed with the fuel burned during the Berlin Airlift.

EMPIRE and its critics

In May–June 1962, the Future Projects Office at the Marshall center in Huntsville launched the EMPIRE study, devoted to crewed expeditions that would fly past Mars or enter orbit around it. According to historian David Portree, this study opened the most intense period of crewed Mars mission planning in NASA’s history. The Italian engineer Gaetano Crocco had proposed an Earth-Mars-Venus-Earth journey using a departure window in June 1971.

Not everyone was convinced. In February 1963, Maxime Faget, principal designer of the Mercury capsule, co-wrote an article arguing that a crewed Mars flyby would demand the least energy but would also have the least scientific value: its data would be little better than those of a “properly operating” robotic probe. The caveat mattered: in 1962, American probes had not yet proven themselves.

The 1969 apogee

On February 13, 1969, President Richard Nixon asked a Space Task Group to propose the future of the space program after Apollo. The group met from March 7. In August 1969, a few weeks after the first steps on the Moon, von Braun presented a Mars plan to the group and to Congress: two ships of 800 tons each, pushed by NERVA nuclear rocket stages, would carry two six-person crews. Departure from Earth orbit was set for November 12, 1981, for a Mars landing in 1982.

The great ebb

That plan never flew. Budgets tightened: Administrator Thomas Paine cancelled Apollo 20, and the robotic Viking mission was postponed, to a 1975 launch and a 1976 landing. For the next two decades, Mars would remain for NASA a matter of robotic probes.

Sources: D. S. F. Portree, Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning, 1950–2000, NASA SP-2001-4521, February 2001 (Das Marsprojekt of 1952 and its translation, ten 4,000-ton ships, 70 crew, 950 ferry flights, comparison with the Berlin Airlift; EMPIRE launched in May–June 1962 by Marshall’s Future Projects Office; Crocco’s proposal; Faget’s article of February 1963; Nixon’s memo of February 13, 1969 and meetings from March 7; August 1969 presentation, two 800-ton ships, NERVA, crews of six, departure planned for November 12, 1981; Paine’s cancellation of Apollo 20; Viking’s postponement).

Chapter 3 · 1964 – 1999 Robots first

It was probes that revealed Mars. Their history is one of world firsts and bitter failures.

Mariner 4 and the ghoul

Mariner 4 was launched in November 1964. It had a twin, Mariner 3, whose faulty payload shroud prevented its solar panels from deploying. Mariner 4 flew past Mars on July 14, 1965 and returned 22 black-and-white images. They showed a cratered, Moon-like terrain and dashed hopes of a habitable world. The string of failures, American and Soviet, led engineer John Casani of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to a joke that caught on: the “Great Galactic Ghoul,” an imaginary monster preying on spacecraft bound for Mars. In 1969, when contact with Mariner 7 was suddenly lost as it approached the planet, controllers jokingly feared a ghoul attack; the spacecraft resumed communications and completed its flyby along with its twin, Mariner 6.

Mariner 9 and Viking

In 1971, Mariner 8 was lost at launch. Its twin, Mariner 9, became on November 13, 1971 the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. It operated until October 1972 and mapped 85% of the surface, finely enough to choose the next landing sites. In the summer of 1976, Viking 1 and Viking 2 arrived: each combined an orbiter and a lander equipped with instruments to look for signs of life in the soil. The results of those experiments remain inconclusive, but all four spacecraft far outlived their planned lifetimes. The last, the Viking 1 lander, stopped on November 11, 1982.

The return, and its setbacks

Six years without a Mars mission followed. In 1992, NASA launched Mars Observer, its first mission to Mars since Viking. Contact was lost three days before the planned orbit insertion on August 24, 1993; engineers believe a faulty valve caused an explosion.

On July 4, 1997, Mars Pathfinder landed, cushioned by airbags: the first Mars landing in twenty-one years. It deployed Sojourner, a small 23-pound rover, the first wheeled vehicle to roam the planet. For the first time, the public followed the images almost in real time through a new medium, the Internet. Since that day, at least one spacecraft has studied Mars at all times, on the surface or in orbit. Mars Global Surveyor, in orbit from September 12, 1997, would work there for more than nine years and return more than 240,000 images.

1999 was a dark year. On September 23, Mars Climate Orbiter lost contact 49 seconds earlier than expected as it passed behind the planet: a confusion between metric and English units in the navigation had brought it far too low into the atmosphere. On December 3, Mars Polar Lander separated from its cruise stage to descend toward the south polar region; it was never heard from again, nor were the two small Deep Space 2 probes it carried.

Sources: J. Uri, “25 Years of Continuous Robotic Mars Exploration – From Pathfinder to Perseverance,” NASA, September 13, 2022 (Mariner 3 and 4, July 14, 1965, 22 images, John Casani’s Great Galactic Ghoul, Mariner 6 and 7, Mariner 8 and 9, November 13, 1971, 85%, Viking, end of the Viking 1 lander on November 11, 1982, Mars Observer, Pathfinder on July 4, 1997, 23-pound Sojourner, the Internet, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Climate Orbiter on September 23, 1999, Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 on December 3, 1999); NASA, “November 1964 – Mariner 4 Launched” (month of Mariner 4’s launch).

Chapter 4 · 1989 – 1993 The Space Exploration Initiative

In 1989, an American president set Mars as the horizon. Three years later, the effort was dismantled. Yet it left ideas that still matter.

July 20, 1989

On the twentieth anniversary of the first steps on the Moon, President George H. W. Bush announced the Space Exploration Initiative, SEI: return to the Moon, then go to Mars. NASA responded with a study carried out in ninety days, the 90-Day Study. Two rival plans were soon on the table, NASA’s and that of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In December, Bush asked the National Research Council to examine the studies. The committee chaired by H. Guyford Stever, former science advisor to Presidents Nixon and Ford, released its report on March 7, 1990.

The agency then widened the consultation. A Synthesis Group gathered ideas from everywhere: NASA ran newspaper advertisements and set up toll-free numbers for the public. About 900 concepts reached the Rand Corporation by early September 1990; in all, the group had about 2,000 inputs by the end of that month.

The end

SEI funding stayed meager year after year. NASA disbanded its Headquarters Exploration Office in late 1992; the Johnson center’s Exploration Directorate closed a few months later. The poorly attended Case for Mars V conference, in May 1993, became, in Portree’s words, SEI’s wake. As a space program, he concludes, the initiative failed; as an idea generator, it succeeded.

Mars Direct and the reference mission

The most fruitful idea came from industry engineers. On April 20, 1990, Robert Zubrin and David Baker, of Martin Marietta, presented the Mars Direct plan at the Marshall center. An uncrewed ship would leave first, land, and make the return propellant on site from Martian air, using a chemical reaction described in 1897 by the French chemist Paul Sabatier. The crew would leave only once that propellant was ready.

In 1993, a NASA team took up this logic in a Design Reference Mission: six astronauts, long surface stays, early use of Martian resources. The main difference: instead of returning directly, the crew would climb to orbit in a small ascent vehicle and join a roomier return ship there.

Sources: D. S. F. Portree, Humans to Mars, NASA SP-2001-4521, chapters 9 and 10 (announcement of July 20, 1989, 90-Day Study, rival Lawrence Livermore plan, referral to the National Research Council in December, Stever Committee and report of March 7, 1990, Synthesis Group, advertisements and toll-free numbers, about 900 concepts at Rand in September, about 2,000 inputs; Exploration Office disbanded in late 1992, closure of the Johnson directorate, Case for Mars V of May 1993; verdict on SEI; Mars Direct presented on April 20, 1990 at Marshall, Sabatier reaction of 1897; reference mission, six astronauts, ascent vehicle and return ship).

Chapter 5 · 2001 – 2025 A permanent presence

After the failures of 1999, NASA set up around Mars and on its surface a fleet that would never leave. Each mission prepared the next.

Following the water

On October 21, 2001, Mars Odyssey joined Mars Global Surveyor in orbit. It imaged the surface, relayed data from spacecraft on the ground and, by 2008, had mapped the distribution of water below the surface. In January 2004 two twin rovers arrived, Spirit and Opportunity, designed for ninety days. Spirit explored Gusev Crater for 2,208 Martian days and drove 4.8 miles instead of the planned 0.4, before falling silent on March 22, 2010. Opportunity roamed Meridiani Planum for more than fourteen years and covered 28 miles; a planet-wide dust storm ended its mission on June 10, 2018.

On March 10, 2006, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter entered orbit to study geology and climate, select future landing sites and relay communications. On May 25, 2008, Phoenix landed in the north polar region, farther north than any spacecraft before it. It found water ice, confirming Odyssey’s observations, and operated until November 2, when the Martian winter deprived it of light.

The great roving laboratories

On November 26, 2011, NASA launched the Mars Science Laboratory. On August 6, 2012, the Curiosity rover landed in Gale Crater. It confirmed that liquid water had flowed on Mars in a much wetter era, then began climbing Mount Sharp. On September 22, 2014, the MAVEN orbiter arrived to study how the Martian atmosphere escapes into space. On November 26, 2018, the InSight lander touched down to probe the planet’s interior; it would record several marsquakes.

On February 18, 2021, Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater. It carried a small helicopter, Ingenuity, which on April 19, 2021 made the first flight in the thin Martian atmosphere. Another of the rover’s experiments, MOXIE, made oxygen from the carbon dioxide in the air: the first demonstration of using the resources of another planet. Above all, Perseverance filled small tubes with rock, soil and air, setting them aside for a future mission to bring back to Earth.

“Sapphire Canyon”

In July 2024, in an ancient river valley called Neretva Vallis, Perseverance came upon an arrowhead-shaped rock about a meter long that the team named “Cheyava Falls.” It bore spots the team called “leopard spots.” The rover took a sample from it, “Sapphire Canyon.” On September 10, 2025, a paper in the journal Nature announced that the sample contains a “potential biosignature”: two iron-rich minerals, vivianite and greigite, which on Earth often form around decaying organic matter or through the action of microbes. They can also form without life. As project scientist Katie Stack Morgan noted, claims of this kind require extraordinary evidence. Settling the question would require studying the sample in a laboratory on Earth.

Sources: J. Uri, “25 Years of Continuous Robotic Mars Exploration,” NASA, September 13, 2022 (Mars Odyssey on October 21, 2001 and water map by 2008; Spirit, 2,208 sols, 4.8 miles instead of 0.4, end on March 22, 2010; Opportunity, more than fourteen years, 28.06 miles, end on June 10, 2018; MRO on March 10, 2006; Phoenix on May 25, 2008, water ice, end on November 2; MSL launched on November 26, 2011, landed on August 6, 2012; MAVEN on September 22, 2014; InSight on November 26, 2018; Perseverance on February 18, 2021, Ingenuity and its first flight on April 19, MOXIE, cached samples); NASA, release 25-061, “NASA Says Mars Rover Discovered Potential Biosignature Last Year,” September 10, 2025 (Cheyava Falls, July 2024, Neretva Vallis, 1 m by 0.6 m, leopard spots, Sapphire Canyon, Nature, vivianite and greigite, possible non-biological origins, Katie Stack Morgan’s remarks).

Chapter 6 · 2023 – 2026 Bringing Mars to Earth

Perseverance’s tubes are waiting on Mars. Bringing them back would be, in the words of NASA’s own administrator, one of the most complex missions the agency has ever undertaken.

Too expensive, too late

Returning Martian samples has been a goal of international planetary exploration for two decades. The plan requires landing near the tubes, loading them into a small rocket, launching that rocket from the surface of another planet, which has never been done, then capturing the container in Mars orbit and bringing it back to Earth. In September 2023, an independent review board delivered its report on the program. On April 15, 2024, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson drew the conclusion publicly: an $11 billion budget was too expensive, and a 2040 return date too far away. The agency asked its centers and industry for ideas to do it more simply, more cheaply and faster.

Two options

In September 2024, NASA received eleven studies. A team led by Maria Zuber reviewed them. On January 7, 2025, the agency announced it would study in parallel two ways of landing the platform carrying the return rocket: either the “sky crane” already used for Curiosity and Perseverance, or a commercial lander. In both cases, radioisotope power would replace solar panels, to ride out the dust-storm season; thirty tubes would be loaded into the container; the return orbiter would be European, supplied by ESA. NASA expected to confirm the program and its design in the second half of 2026.

As of this book’s verification date, we have not found the announcement of that decision in the sources consulted. We prefer to say nothing rather than put forward an unverified outcome.

Sources: NASA, release 24-056, “NASA Sets Path to Return Mars Samples, Seeks Innovative Designs,” April 15, 2024 (goal for two decades, “one of the most complex missions,” independent review board report of September 2023, Bill Nelson’s remarks on $11 billion and 2040, first launch from another planet, call for proposals); NASA, release 25-001, “NASA to Explore Two Landing Options for Returning Samples from Mars,” January 7, 2025 (eleven studies received in September 2024, Maria Zuber’s team, sky crane or commercial lander, radioisotope power system, thirty tubes, ESA return orbiter, confirmation expected in the second half of 2026).

Chapter 7 · 2022 – 2026 From the Moon to Mars

Half a century after Apollo, NASA sent astronauts around the Moon again. It presents this program, Artemis, as the first step toward Mars.

Objectives before rockets

NASA acknowledges it itself: since the end of Apollo, it has studied many architectures for returning to the Moon or going to Mars, but that interest did not translate into flight missions until Artemis. In September 2022, after consulting industry, academia, international partners and its own workforce, it published its “Moon to Mars Objectives.” The method was new: define the “what” and the “why” first, before the “how,” that is, before choosing a rocket or a technology. The objectives fall into ten areas, from planetary science to human biology and lunar infrastructure. Each year, a review updates the architecture that follows from them.

Artemis II

On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, at 6:35 p.m. Eastern time, the SLS rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At the top, the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, carried four astronauts: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialist Christina Koch of NASA, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency. The two solid rocket boosters, each 177 feet tall, provided most of the thrust during the first two minutes. A little later, Orion’s four solar array wings unfolded from the European Service Module.

The journey around the Moon lasted nearly ten days. On April 10, at 7:53 p.m. Eastern time, Orion hit the upper atmosphere at thirty-five times the speed of sound. The parachutes opened one after another. At 8:07 p.m., the capsule splashed down in the Pacific off San Diego. Navy divers and NASA teams approached in inflatable boats; about an hour later, the four astronauts had been extracted, hoisted into helicopters and flown to the USS John P. Murtha.

What it prepares

Artemis II did not touch the Moon; it was a crewed test flight. But it showed that NASA can once again send humans far from Earth and bring them back. For Mars, much more remains to be done: a journey of several months, the landing of vehicles far heavier than any landed so far, a stay, a liftoff, a return.

Sources: NASA, “Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives” (historical context, objectives published in September 2022, consultation, objectives-based approach, ten areas, annual review); NASA, “Artemis II Launch Day Updates,” April 1, 2026 (liftoff at 6:35 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39B, Orion Integrity, crew, 177-foot boosters, solar array wings and European Service Module); NASA, “Artemis II Flight Day 10: Live Re-Entry Updates,” April 10, 2026 (mission of nearly ten days, atmospheric entry at 7:53 p.m. EDT at Mach 35, parachutes, splashdown at 8:07 p.m. EDT off San Diego, extraction and transfer to the USS John P. Murtha).