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The satellites of Mars include : Non functional but (probably) orbiting: Viking 1 & 2 orbiter; Mariner 9; Mars Global Surveyor; Mars 2, 3, 5; Phobos 2;
Mars 2, Mars 3 and Mariner 9 were all launched into space in May 1971, and all entered Mars’ orbit that same year. NASA's Mariner 9 reached the planet's orbit first on November 14, narrowly beating the Soviet's spacecraft amid the space race , and subsequently became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet.
Extra-close oppositions of Mars happen every 15 to 17 years, when we pass between Mars and the Sun around the time of its perihelion (closest point to the Sun in orbit). The minimum distance between Earth and Mars has been declining over the years, and in 2003 the minimum distance was 55.76 million km, nearer than any such encounter in almost ...
(See Other moons of Earth and Quasi-satellite.) Mars has two known moons, Phobos and Deimos ("fear" and "dread", after attendants of Ares, the Greek god of war, equivalent to the Roman Mars). Searches for more satellites have been unsuccessful, putting the maximum radius of any other satellites at 90 m (100 yd). [4]
Repeat orbit: An orbit where the ground track of the satellite repeats after a period of time. Gangale orbit: a solar orbit near Mars whose period is one Martian year, but whose eccentricity and inclination both differ from that of Mars such that a relay satellite in a Gangale orbit is visible from Earth even during solar conjunction. [28]
2009 – 2013: At the end of its mission ESA's Planck spacecraft was put into a heliocentric orbit and passivated to prevent it from endangering any future missions. 2011 – 2012: CNSA's Chang'e 2. [11] [12] Chang'e 2 was then placed onto a heliocentric orbit that took it past the near-Earth asteroid 4179 Toutatis.
Derelict satellites orbiting Mars (7 P) Pages in category "Satellites orbiting Mars" The following 7 pages are in this category, out of 7 total.
longest surviving spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth 2001-013A: Nozomi: ISAS: 14 December 2003 orbiter failure failed to attain Mars orbit, became flyby 1998-041A: Mars Express: ESA: 25 December 2003 – still active as of October 2024 [26] orbiter success surface imaging and mapping; first European probe in Martian orbit 2003 ...