List of artificial objects on Mars

The following table is a partial list of artificial objects on the surface of Mars, consisting of spacecraft which were launched from Earth. Although most are defunct after having served their purpose, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers are active. China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft is the most recent artificial object to land safely on Mars.

The table does not include smaller objects, such as springs, fragments, parachutes and heat shields. , there are 14 missions with objects on the surface of Mars. Some of these missions contain multiple spacecraft.

List of landers and vehicles

{| class="wikitable" style="width:20%; text-align:center;"

|+ Key

| style="background:#EFE7B8;" |

| Success

| style="background:#CCFFD9;" |

| Operational

|style="background:#ffbbbb";|

| Failure

{| class="wikitable sortable sticky-header"

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Agency

!Mission

! scope="col" | Object(s)

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Image

! Mass<br>(kg)

! class="unsortable" width=300px| Status

! scope="col" | Location

|-style="background:#ffbbbb"

| align="right" | 1971

| USSR

| Mars 2

| Mars 2 lander and PrOP-M rover

| align=center|80px

| align=right | 1210

| align=center | Failure during descent; crashed on surface

| align=right | Estimated at

|-style="background:#ffbbbb"

| align="right" | 1971

| USSR

| Mars 3

| Mars 3 lander and PrOP-M rover

| align=center|80px

| align=right | 1210

| align=center | Transmission failure 110 seconds after soft landing

| align=right | Estimated at Sirenum Terra

|-style="background:#ffbbbb"

| align="right" | 1973

| USSR

| Mars 6

| Mars 6 lander

| align=center|80px

| align=right | 635

| align=center | Returned corrupted data for 224 seconds during its descent but contact lost before reaching surface

| align=right | Estimated at Margaritifer Terra

|-style="background:#EFE7B8"

| align="right" | 1976

| NASA

|Viking 2

| Viking 2 lander

| align=center|80px

| align=right | 657

| align=center | Operated 1281 sols. Last contact Apr 11, 1980

| align=right | Utopia Planitia

|-style="background:#EFE7B8"

| rowspan="2" align="right" | 1997

| rowspan="2" | NASA

| rowspan="2" |Mars Pathfinder

| Pathfinder (lander)

| rowspan="2" align="center" |80px

| align=right | 360

| rowspan="2" align="center" | Operated 83 sols. Last contact Sep 27, 1997

| rowspan="2" align="right" | Ares Vallis

|-style="background:#EFE7B8"

|Sojourner (rover)

|align="right" |11.5

|-style="background:#ffbbbb"

| align="right" | 1999

| NASA

|Mars Surveyor '98

| Mars Polar Lander and

Deep Space 2 (probes)

| align="center" | 80px

| align="right" | 500

| align="center" | Unknown failure during descent; crashed on surface

| align="right" | Estimated at Ultimi Scopuli

|-style="background:#ffbbbb"

| align="right" | 2003

| ESA

(UK)

|Mars Express

| Beagle 2 (lander)

| align="center" | 80px

| align="right" | 33.2

| align="center" | Landed safely; solar panels failed to deploy

| align="right" | Isidis Planitia

|- style="background:#EFE7B8"

| rowspan="2" align="right" | 2004

| rowspan="2" | NASA

| rowspan="2" |Mars Exploration Rover

| Spirit (rover)

| align="center" | 80px

| align="right" | 185

| align="center" | Operated 2210 sols. Last contact Mar 22, 2010

| align="right" | Gusev crater

|- style="background:#EFE7B8"

| Opportunity (rover)

| align="center" | 80px

| align="right" | 185

| align="center" | Operated 5111 sols. Last contact June 10, 2018

| align="right" | Meridiani Planum

|- style="background:#EFE7B8"

| align="right" | 2008

| NASA

|Phoenix Mars Lander

| Phoenix (lander)

| align="center" |80px

| align="right" | 350

| align="center" | Operated 155 sols. Last contact Nov 2, 2008

| align="right" | Green Valley in Vastitas Borealis

|- style="background:#CCFFD9"

| align="right" | 2012

| NASA

|Mars Science Laboratory

| Curiosity (rover)

| align="center" | 80px

| align="right" | 900

| align="center" | In operation, sols

| align="right" | Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater

|-style="background:#ffbbbb"

| align="right" | 2016

| ESA

Roscosmos

|ExoMars 2016

| Schiaparelli EDM (lander)

| align="center" | 80px

| align="right" | 577

| align="center" | Crashed on impact; transmitted descent telemetry

| align="right" | Meridiani Planum

|- style="background:#EFE7B8"

| align="right" | 2018

| NASA

|InSight

| InSight (lander)

| align="center" | 80px

| align="right" | 358

| align="center" | Reached end of designed lifespan after landing on 19 Dec 2022.

| align="right" | Elysium Planitia

|- style="background:#CCFFD9"

| rowspan="2" align="right" | 2021

| rowspan="2" | NASA

| rowspan="2" |Mars 2020

| Perseverance (rover)

| align="center" | 80px

| align="right" | 1024

| align="center" | In operation, sols

| align="right" | Jezero crater

|- style="background:#EFE7B8"

| Ingenuity (helicopter)

| align="center" | 80px

| align="right" | 1.8

| align="center" | Operated sols.

| align="right" | Wright Brothers Field

|- style="background:#EFE7B8"

| rowspan="3" align="right" | 2021

| rowspan="3" |CNSA

| rowspan="3" |Tianwen-1

|style="background:#EFE7B8" |Tianwen-1 (lander)

| rowspan="3" align="center" | frameless|100x100px

|style="background:#EFE7B8" align="right" | 1285<br>

|style="background:#EFE7B8" align="center" | Reached end of designed lifespan after landing on 14 May 2021.

| rowspan="3" align="right" | Utopia Planitia

|- style="background:#EFE7B8"

| Zhurong (rover)

| align="right" | 240

| align="center" | Inactive due to sandstorm. Operated for sols.

|- style="background:#EFE7B8"

| Tianwen-1 Remote camera

| align="right" | <1

| align="center" | Reached end of designed lifespan after mission completion on 1 June 2021.

Other objects

thumb|An example of an additional object from a spacecraft landing is the metal shroud ejected by the [[Viking 2 lander, as seen in this 1977 view of Mars. The shroud covered the surface sampler instrument and could be seen in images taken by the lander while it was active on the surface.]]

Each mission left debris according to its design. For example, the Schiaparelli EDM lander likely exploded on impact, creating an unknown number of fragments at one location. At another location, there may be a lower heat shield, and at another location, a parachute and upper heat shield. Another example is the counterweights ejected by MSL during its descent. In some cases, the nature and location of this additional debris has been determined and, in other cases, even the location of the main spacecraft has remained unknown. The identification of Beagle 2 after 11 years is one of the greatest breakthroughs yet, since prior to that, it could not be confirmed what had happened. Spacecraft that have not been precisely located include Mars 2, Mars 3, Mars 6, Mars Polar Lander, and the two Deep Space 2 probes.
Orbiters whose orbit could eventually decay and impact the surface, include: Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Global Surveyor, Phobos 2, Mars 2, Mars 3, and Mars 5 orbiters, and Mariner 9. (See also List of Mars orbiters)
The fate of Mars Climate Orbiter (1999) is unknown, but it is thought to have burnt up in the atmosphere before impacting.
Mariner 9, which entered Mars orbit in 1971, is expected to remain in orbit until approximately 2022, when the spacecraft is projected to enter the Martian atmosphere and either burn up or crash into the planet's surface.

Gallery

From surface

PIA05117 Empty Nest.jpg|MER-A Spirit rover lander

Opportunity heat shield Sol335B P2364 L456-B339R1.jpg|MER-B Opportunitys heat shield

PIA20844-MarsCuriosityRover-SelfPortrait-Sol1466-20160920.jpg|MSL Curiosity self-portrait, 2016

</gallery>

From orbit

PSP 001521 2025 RED VL-1 lander.png|Viking 1 lander in 2006 (HiRise)

PSP 001501 2280 RED VL-2 lander.png|Viking 2 lander in 2006 (HiRise)

Phoenix Lander from HiRISE.JPG|Phoenix lander and heat-shield in 2009 (HiRise)

MPT Hardware on the Surface MRO picture.jpg|Mars Pathfinder seen from space by the MRO HiRISE

</gallery>

Oppland02a.jpg|MER-B Opportunity lander in Eagle crater (2006)

PIA19107-Beagle2-Found-MRO-20140629.jpg|Beagle 2, after 11 years found and showing that it made it to the surface but did not expand fully to transmit

PIA15696-HiRISE-MSL-Sol11 2 -br2.jpg|Curiosity landing remnants

PIA21131 - Closer Look at Schiaparelli Impact Site on Mars.jpg|Schiaparelli remnants (2016)

</gallery>

Landing site namings and memorials

Several landing sites have been named, either the spacecraft itself or the landing site:

Pennants of Soviet Union on Mars 2 and Mars 3 landers (1971).
Thomas Mutch Memorial Station, the Viking 1 lander (1976).
Gerald Soffen Memorial Station, the Viking 2 lander (1976).
Carl Sagan Memorial Station, Mars Pathfinder (Sojourner) base (1997).
Challenger Memorial Station, MER-B (Opportunity) landing site area (2004).
Columbia Memorial Station, MER-A (Spirit) landing site area (2004).
Green Valley, the Phoenix lander (2008).
Bradbury Landing, Curiosity rover landing site (August 6, 2012). (Note: Due to the nature of the landing system, there is no actual space hardware at the touchdown location of Bradbury Landing, see Curiosity (rover))
InSight Landing, the InSight lander (2018)
Octavia E. Butler Landing, Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter landing site (February 18, 2021)
Wright Brothers Field, the initial take-off and landing site for the Ingenuity helicopter, used for five flights (April, May 2021)
Three Forks Sample Depot, backup sample Depot of Perseverance cached samples for return to Earth by NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return Mission (2022)

List of landers and vehicles

Other objects

Gallery

From surface

From orbit

Landing site namings and memorials

See also

References