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Six missions have operated on the Martian surface since 1997 — three simultaneously in 2022.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | ESA | CNSA | NASA/JPL |
| Status | upcoming | Hibernating | Mission Complete |
| Vehicle type | rover | rover | rover |
| Launch date | NET late 2028 (Falcon Heavy from LC-39A) | 2020-07-23 | 2003-07-07 |
| Landing date | TBD ~2030 (post-2028 launch window) | 2021-05-22 | 2004-01-25 |
| Landing site | Oxia Planum | Utopia Planitia | Eagle Crater, Meridiani Planum |
| Launch mass | ~310 kgas of [2] | 240 kgas of [1] | 185 kgas of [1] |
| Power system | Solar panels + NASA-supplied radioisotope heater units (RHUs) for night/winter survival | Solar panels + rechargeable battery | Solar panels + lithium-ion battery |
| Instruments | 9 Pasteur payload instruments + 2 m sub-surface drillas of [2]Includes PanCam, ISEM, CLUPI, WISDOM radar, ADRON-RM, Ma_MISS, MicrOmega, RLS Raman, MOMA organic molecule analyser | 6 science instrumentsas of [1]Multispectral camera, terrain camera, subsurface radar (RoPeR), magnetometer, meteorological instrument, LIBS spectrometer | 5 science instruments + RAT drill + Magnet arraysas of [1]Same instrument suite as Spirit: Pancam, Mini-TES, Mössbauer, APXS, MI |
| Distance traveled | — | 1.922 kmas of [1]Final confirmed odometry before entering hibernation for Martian winter | 45.16 kmas of [1]Mars distance record for a surface vehicle; final odometry at last contact ↑ Farthest |
| Mission outcome | Europe's first Mars rover, designed to drill 2 m below the surface — deeper than any previous Mars mission — to search for biosignatures shielded from surface radiation. After the 2022 suspension of Russian cooperation, ESA rebuilt the mission with NASA support: on April 16, 2026, NASA formally began implementation of its contributions (Falcon Heavy launch services from LC-39A, braking engines for the landing platform, and radioisotope heater units), targeting a late-2028 launch and a ~2030 landing at Oxia Planum. | China's first successful Mars landing. Operated for 92 sols, traveling 1.922 km and collecting subsurface radar data suggesting ancient water ice deposits. Entered hibernation May 2022; CNSA has not publicly confirmed contact restoration as of mid-2026. | Traversed 45.16 km across Meridiani Planum — a world distance record for surface vehicles. Found sedimentary evidence of standing liquid water at Eagle Crater. Reached Endeavour Crater rim in 2011, 9 km from landing site. Contact lost in a 2018 global dust storm after 14+ years of operations. |
All 6 surface vehicles with primary-source citations from NASA JPL, NASA NSSDCA, and CNSA. Pure URL state — bookmark or share the link and the comparison reproduces exactly.