All About Space

Mission profile

Meet the spacecraft keeping an eye on Mars

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Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity measured the gases in Mars' atmosphere using the quadrupole mass spectromet­er instrument in the Sample Analysis at Mars portable chemistry lab, with the data showing the amount of oxygen rises in spring and summer, although not relative to how much carbon

dioxide there is in the air.

Viking landers

Two Viking landers carried out biological experiment­s in 1976 in a bid to find biosignatu­res that could point to microbial life. They were able to measure the gases in Mars'

atmosphere, but only over the course of a few Martian days, which was nowhere near enough to study

seasonal fluctuatio­ns.

Mars Scout Program

In 2008, Phoenix landed on Mars to assess habitabili­ty and the history of water on the planet. It found that the Martian soil contains perchlorat­es, which are charged particles that

consist of an atom of chlorine surrounded by four oxygen atoms. As an oxidant, perchlorat­es can

release oxygen.

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

Put together by the ESA and Roscosmos, this mission has sought a better understand­ing of methane and other atmospheri­c gases that are present around Mars. Its orbiters did not see the methane burst detected by Curiosity, however, even though it was recorded at its highest level yet

back in June 2019.

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