Mars1

Mars Timeline

By k99
  • 400

    Babylonians

    Babylonians
    The Babylonians made observations of Mars as early as 400 B.C., and named it Negral: the great hero and king of conflicts.
  • 400

    Egyptians

    Egyptians
    The ancient Egyptians observed Mars, and named it Har Decher (The Red One).
    [date unknown]
  • 400

    Greeks and Romans

    Greeks and Romans
    The Romans named it Mars, while the Greeks called it Ares, both after the god of war.
    [date unknown]
  • Jan 1, 1576

    Tycho Brahe

    Tycho Brahe
    Tycho Brahe, a Danish astronomer, was able to calculate the position of Mars pretty accurately in the 1500s.

  • Johannes Kepler

    Johannes Kepler
    In 1609, Johannes Kepler published his laws of planetery motion, the first of which states that Mars' orbit is not circular, which was earlier assumed.

  • Galileo Galilei

    Galileo Galilei
    Galileo was the first to use the telescope to observe the sky, and observed Mars with it.

  • Christiaan Huygens

    Christiaan Huygens
    Huygens was a Dutch astronomer that designed an advanced telescope, which he used to observe Mars. He calculated that a day on Mars was about 24 hours.

  • Giovanni Cassini

    Giovanni Cassini
    Cassini observes Mars, and determines that its day is 24 hours ans 40 minutes long.

  • Giancomo Miraldi

    Giancomo Miraldi
    Miraldi observes white spots at Mars' poles, and thinks that they are ice caps.

  • Sir William Herschel

    Sir William Herschel
    With a telescope he himself built, he studied Mars. He assumed that the axis tilt was 30 degrees (it is actually 25.19 degrees), and deduced that Mars had an atmosphere.

  • Honore Flaugergues

    Honore Flaugergues
    He noticed yellow dust clouds on Mars, and noticed that its ice caps melt during the spring.

  • Wilhelm Beer and Johann von Maedler

    Wilhelm Beer and Johann von Maedler
    They calculated Mars' rotational period to be 24 hours, 37 minutes, 22.6 seconds, which is only one-tenth of a second off from what we know today.

  • Asaph Hall

    Asaph Hall
    He discovers the moons of Mars, and names them Phobos (fear) and Deimos (terror).

  • Mariner 4

    Mariner 4
    Mariner 4 was the first unmanned probe to reach Mars.

  • Mariners 6 and 7

    Mariners 6 and 7
    These missions gave scientists a more detailed picture of Mars' surface (showed about one-fifth of the surface).

  • Mariner 9

    Mariner 9
    This craft became the first probe to orbit around another planet, and proved that Mars has volcanoes.

  • Mars 2 and 3

    Mars 2 and 3
    The Soviet Union launched two spacecraft, which measured the temperature of Mars, and took many pictures.

  • Mars 5

    Mars 5
    Mars 5 is launched into orbit by the Soviet Unions, returning data about the Martian atmosphere and around sixty images

  • Viking 1 and 2

    Viking 1 and 2
    These spacecraft were sent to look for life on Mars. They did not find any life, but they did return a lot of data/photographs of Mars.

  • Mars Global Surveyor

    Mars Global Surveyor
    This mission performed investigations relating to Mars' geology and atmosphere, and gathered a lot of data.

  • Mars Pathfinder

    Mars Pathfinder
    This craft carried the Sojourner rover, the first rover to be sent to Mars.

  • Mars Odyssey

    Mars Odyssey
    This craft is orbiting Mars and collecting data, trying to detect any presence of water.

  • Mars Exploration Rovers

    Mars Exploration Rovers
    The Spirit and Oppurtunity rovers were sent on Mars to investigate its geology.

  • Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

    Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
    This spacecraft is an orbiter that carries many scientific instruments.

  • Phoenix Mars Lander

    Phoenix Mars Lander
    This craft was sent to explore the Northern Plains, and acted as a weather station.