Mars

400B.C.

Apr 26, 1200

Romans named Mars after god of war

Tycho Brahe

Jul 11, 1576

Brahe made an observatory in Hven. He calculated Mars on in 4min of arc

Johannes Kepler

Sep 10, 1609

Madde two laws and said

Galileo

Oct 10, 1609

Galilieo Galilei observes MArs using with a primitive telescope

24 hour cycle

Mar 19, 1659

Christiaan Huygens draws mars using an advanced telescope. He sees the a dark spot goes back to its same position everyday. This means Mars has a 24 hour cycle.

Giovanni Cassini

Apr 29, 1666

Cassini finds out Mars has 1 day 24 hours in 40meters

Polar Cap

Jun 21, 1672

Huygen found a polar cap on the southern pole of Mars because he saw white spots.

Cap not centered

Sep 11, 1704

Giancomo Miraldi discovers that southern cap is not centered on the rational pole.

White Spots

Jan 23, 1719

Miraldi questions wheather "white spots" are really ice caps

Gulliver's Travels

Jun 30, 1727

Jonathan Swift's book , Gullivers Travels mention the Martian moons. they have figured out two lesser star and satellites

Dust Clouds

Mar 15, 1809

Honore Flaugergues saw "yellow clouds" that are really dust clouds.

Mars is Hotter

Apr 13, 1813

Mars is hotter than Earth because the polar icecaps melt a lot in the Martian spring

Life on Mars

Feb 27, 1854

William Whewell says Mars has green seas and red land and he wonders if there is extraterrestrial life.

Atlantic Canal

Feb 18, 1858

Angelo Secci draws Mars and calls Syrtis Major the Atlantic Canal.

Rational Period of Mars

Apr 29, 1862

Frederik Kaiser calculated the rational period and found out that Mars has 24 hours, 37min., and 22.62 seconds.

Detecting Water Vapor and O2

May 13, 1867

Pierre Jules Jansen try to detect water vapor and oxygen spectroscopically but were unsuccessful.

Names for Mars

Jul 27, 1877

Giovanni Schiaparelli chooses names for mapping the features of Mars. Most of the names comes from mythology, history, and many terms for hell.

Phobos and Deimos

Sep 14, 1877

Asaph Hall discovers both of Mars's moon and name them Phobos and Deimos after the the horses of Ares,Greek war god.

No Canals

Oct 29, 1894

Edward Emerson Barnard has found no evidence that there are canals on Mars.

Mariner 4

Nov 28, 1964

Was launched to Mars successfully on an eight month voyage.

Mariner 7 and 6

Feb 24, 1969

Mariner 6th was launched and was the first dual mission to mars with Mariner 7 (March 27). They flew over the equator and south polar regions. Using remote sensors they found out that the dark features on the surface are not canals.

Mariner 9

May 30, 1971

Mariner 9 was the first satellite to orbit Mars and funtion properly for a year.

Viking 1&2

Aug 20, 1975

Viking 2-Sept. 20,1975 - August 7 1976; Viking 1- June 19, 1976
The Viking Mission was the first mission to land a space craft on Mars. It conducted to find any signs that there was life on mars.

Mars Observer Fail

Aug 22, 1993

The Mars Observer, a space craft sent to Mars , failed when all contact with the spacecraft was lost right before it was going to orbit Mars.

Mars Global Surveyor

Nov 7, 1996

This was the first successful mission on Mars in 20 years. Afterits mapping missin on March 1999 it has continued to orbit Mars ever since.

2001 Mars Odyssey

Apr 7, 2001

This spacecraft has collected over 130,000 pictures and continuse to send information. This spacecraft is still in orbit.

Mars Science Laboratory

Aug 5, 2012

This will collect Martian soil and rock to analyze for organic compounds that could support life now or in the past.