Mission profile
Meet the spacecraft keeping an eye on Mars
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.