NASA's Failed Mars Missions - Essay for lesson two

Mariner Program

The Mariner program was NASA's first attempt from the 1960s to reach Mars. In 1964 Mariner 3 failed to deploy its solar panels so its battery died. Mariner 4 succeded with its flyby and was able to give us the first inkling that Mars was a cold, desolate desert rather than a second Earth. Mariners 6 and 7 also reached Mars. Mariner 8 burned up in Earth's atmosphere. Mariner 9 became NASA's first orbiter of Mars however Russia had already gotten Mars 2 and 3 to orbit the planet. 

Mars Observer

In 1992 Mars Observer reached Mars doorstep before abruptly severing communication. It is believed that a ruptured fuel tank likely caused the system to spin and also fried the electrical system leaving it unable to complete automated commands.

1999 Spacecraft

In 1999 NASA attempted to send Mars Climate Orbiter into orbit. A software programming error meant that the wrong measuring units were used. That meant the orbiter was low enough into the atmosphere that it burned and broke up. 

The Mars Polar Lander was destroyed later that year because the lander failed to fire correctly during descent. 

At the time of the above NASA admin Daniel Goldin pushed for "faster, cheaper, better" missions. This mostly phased out large missions to favour smaller Discovery-class missions. In time this approach has led to many successful missions but at the time was blamed for the above failures.

Information for these notes was taken from the link provided on the essay page.