NASA has launched an active new program of spacecraft visits to Mars:

• Mars Pathfinder lander mission which included the release of a robotic vehicle, the Sojourner Rover.
• Mars Global Surveyor, an orbiting, mapping mission (which has returned remarkable views of Olympus Mons, the polar caps, and the infamous "Face on Mars")
• 1999 was a bad year: NASA lost both the Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander as they reached the planet.
• 2001: Mars Odyssey Orbiter.
• 2003: Mars Surveyor (2 rovers).
• 2009: Sample returned to Earth?
• 2011-14: Manned exploration?

These missions will help us establish if microbial life ever existed on Mars.

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