 "Missions to Mars: A 50-year flashback")
Both Earth and Mars have roughly the same period of revolution around their axis. While Earth takes 365 days to orbit the Sun once, Mars takes 687 days to move around Sun. More missions have been attempted to Mars by scientists than to any other place in the Solar System except the satellite Moon. About half of the attempts have failed.
According to Planetary.org, some of these failures occurred because Mars was the first planet Earth attempted to explore, and the early exploration attempts taught us many lessons that have made subsequent missions more successful.
Recently Isro Chairman K Radhakrishnan told Business Standard that Isro got advantage of being late, considering the fact it has learnt from the previous mistakes, done by others.
Since 1996, Mars exploration has undergone a renaissance, with data from four orbiters and four landed missions developing a revolutionary new view of Mars as an Earth-like world with a complex geologic history. Here is a list of Mars missions by mankind, both successful and failed, in the last fifty years:
| Launch Date | Name | Country | Result | Reason |
| 2013 | Mangalyaan | India | Success | Inserted in Martian Orbit |
| 2013 | Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution | US | Success | Studying the Martian atmosphere |
| 2011 | Phobos-Grunt/Yinghuo-1 | Russia/China | Failure | Stranded in Earth orbit |
| 2011 | Mars Science Laboratory | US | Success | Exploring Mars' habitability |
| 2007 | Phoenix Mars Lander | US | Success | Returned more than 25 gigabits of data |
| 2005 | Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | US | Success | Returned more than 26 terabits of data (more than all other Mars missions combined) |
| 2003 | Mars Exploration Rover - Opportunity | US | Success | Operating lifetime of more than 15 times original warranty |
| 2003 | Mars Exploration Rover - Spirit | US | Success | Operating lifetime of more than 15 times original warranty |
| 2003 | Mars Express Orbiter/Beagle 2 Lander | ESA | Success/Failure | Orbiter imaging Mars in detail and lander lost on arrival |
| 2001 | Mars Odyssey | US | Success | High resolution images of Mars |
| 1999 | Deep Space 2 Probes (2) | US | Failure | Lost on arrival (carried on Mars Polar Lander) |
| 1999 | Mars Polar Lander | US | Failure | Lost on arrival |
| 1998 | Mars Climate Orbiter | US | Failure | Lost on arrival |
| 1998 | Nozomi | Japan | Failure | No orbit insertion; fuel problems |
| 1996 | Mars Pathfinder | US | Success | Technology experiment lasting 5 times longer than warranty |
| 1996 | Mars 96 | Russia | Failure | Launch vehicle failure |
| 1996 | Mars Global Surveyor | US | Success | More images than all Mars Missions |
| 1992 | Mars Observer | US | Failure | Lost prior to Mars arrival |
| 1988 | Phobos 2 Orbiter/Lander | USSR | Failure | Lost near Phobos |
| 1988 | Phobos 1 Orbiter | USSR | Failure | Lost en route to Mars |
| 1975 | Viking 2 Orbiter/Lander | US | Success | Returned 16,000 images and extensive atmospheric data and soil experiments |
| 1975 | Viking 1 Orbiter/Lander | US | Success | Located landing site for Lander and first successful landing on Mars |
| 1973 | Mars 7 Lander | USSR | Failure | Missed planet; now in solar orbit. |
| 1973 | Mars 6 Orbiter/Lander | USSR | Success/Failure | Occultation experiment produced data and Lander failure on descent |
| 1973 | Mars 5 | USSR | Success | Returned 60 images; only lasted 9 days |
| 1973 | Mars 4 | USSR | Failure | Flew past Mars |
| 1971 | Mariner 9 | US | Success | Returned 7,329 images |
| 1971 | Mars 3 Orbiter/Lander | USSR | Success | Orbiter obtained approximately 8 months of data and lander landed safely, but only 20 seconds of data |
| 1971 | Mars 2 Orbiter/Lander | USSR | Failure | Orbiter arrived, but no useful data and Lander destroyed |
| 1971 | Kosmos 419 | USSR | Failure | Achieved Earth orbit only |
| 1971 | Mariner 8 | US | Failure | Launch failure |
| 1969 | Mariner 7 | US (flyby) | Success | Returned 126 images |
| 1969 | Mariner 6 | US (flyby) | Success | Returned 75 images |
| 1969 | Mars 1969B | USSR | Failure | Launch vehicle failure |
| 1969 | Mars 1969A | USSR | Failure | Launch vehicle failure |
| 1964 | Zond 2 | USSR (flyby) | Failure | Radio failed |
| 1964 | Mariner 4 | US (flyby) | Success | Returned 21 images |
| 1964 | Mariner 3 | US (flyby) | Failure | Shroud failed to jettison |
| 1962 | Korabl 13 | USSR (flyby) | Failure | Earth orbit only; spacecraft broke apart |
| 1962 | Mars 1 | USSR (flyby) | Failure | Radio Failed |
| 1962 | Korabl 11 | USSR (flyby) | Failure | Earth orbit only; spacecraft broke apart |
| 1960 | Korabl 5 | USSR (flyby) | Failure | Didn't reach Earth orbit |
| 1960 | Korabl 4 | USSR (flyby) | Failure | Didn't reach Earth orbit |