The most recent exploration of Mars, starting in the 1950's, has been done by Mars probes, the difference between a mars probe and a space probe is that a space probe studies mainly celestial bodies, while a planetary probe, such as a Mars probe, concentrates on that one planet.
The Mariner space probes were a group of probes that flew buy Mars in the 60s. The probes did a quick flyby of the planet and snapped several photographs of the Martian landscape from closer than ever before. The pictures revealed that the landscape on the northern side of the planet was very flat and not much variation of landscape. This disheartened the world in to believing that there was not much variation on the surface of our second closest planetary neighbor. The orbiting Voyager probes disproved this, however, when they took pictures of the southern part of the planet.
The earliest probes in Martian history where the Voyager probes, who were the first probes to land on another planet. Other probes such as the Viking space probes, flew on beyond the solar system, and took pictures of all the planets except Pluto.
The Voyager 1 probe spent a three-month journey to Mars and then took orbit around the planet until, after a two-week search, it finally found an appropriate landing site. The Voyager 2 probe spent a three-month journey to Mars and then spent a two-week obit trying to find an appropriate landing site. Of the two Landers, the first was the more famous of the two, and the most long lasting also, surpassing all other probes that were ever sent to other planets by lasting the longest. On July 20th, 1976 A.D., The Viking 1 Lander touched down, it had performed the first soft landing on another planet in the history of Man! The scientist at NASA where extremely happy abut this, seeing as how they had built the first planetary probes to reach another planet and land successfully.
The Viking 2 Lander landed on the opposite side of Mars, both landers landed on or at least near to the equator. The lander touched down near the giant face on Mars; this enigma, along with 5 other odd structures in the local area, is one of the most famous in space, and also one of the hardest to solve. We only know of the picture of the face, we know nothing of he actual composition, or what the face really looks like. The face could even be made by another intelligent life form! The discovery of the face on Mars, once it was printed in the newspapers, crated a giant uproar once again that there were intelligent life forms on Mars, or at least there once was.
Pathfinder was the next famous probe in Mars history. Launched in 1994, the probe arrived in the same year and spent a short time in orbit to get into the appropriate position to land safely at the landing site. Air bags inflated around the probe, and as it fell further into the atmosphere, a parachute opened from the rear of the craft. As the craft slowly landed on the Martian surface the air bags deflated and the small panels opened up and made sure that the craft was right side up when it hit the surface. The lander had solar panels that were attached to the petals. It also had a small rover unit that could travel a short distance from the main lander. The rover was dubbed Sojurner here on Earth. It was named for an ex-slave how fought for equal rights for black Amerians and women. She changed her original name to Sojurner Truth after she escaped from the plantation where she had been forced to work. The little rover rolled over the surface and sampled rocks in an attempt to find sighns of life. It is most likely the most famous probe ever.
The NASA program recently launched the Mars Global Surveyor, or MGS. The MGS carries a camera similar to those of spy satellites, and several other instruments that could help map the underground of the planet. The MGS has mapped 100% of the Martian surface. It has also mapped a large amount of the interior of Mars also, using its x-ray camera.
The Polar Lander was a failed spacecraft that crash-landed on the Martian surface due to a difference in units of measure. The technitions at NASA use metric units, while the corperation where the probe was made used English units of measure. The lander was supposed to take pictures of the Northern ice cap and analyze its composition.
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