NASA's Mars Imaging: A Journey Through Time

NASA's exploration of Mars has evolved significantly since the Mariner 4 mission in 1965, which provided the first close-up images of the Red Planet. This mission set the stage for future explorations, capturing 21 images from a distance of 6,118 miles above Mars.

**Viking 1** became the first spacecraft to land on Mars on July 20, 1976, sending back high-resolution images of a rocky landscape, which shifted expectations about finding life on Mars.

In 1997, **Sojourner**, a small rover, marked a new era of exploration by driving across Mars, providing detailed images and data at a lower cost.

**Spirit and Opportunity**, twin rovers launched in 2004, expanded our understanding of Mars with panoramic and microscopic images, revealing the planet's diverse terrain.

The **Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter** (MRO), launched in 2006, equipped with the HiRISE camera, offered unprecedented views of Mars' surface, identifying potential landing sites for future missions.

More recently, the **Curiosity** and **Perseverance** rovers, arriving in 2012 and 2021, respectively, have enhanced Mars exploration with advanced cameras that capture high-resolution, color images, providing clearer insights into the planet's geology.

**Ingenuity**, a helicopter accompanying Perseverance, demonstrated the feasibility of flight in Mars' thin atmosphere, capturing aerial views and scouting potential exploration sites.