59 Missions to Mars: Why Only Half Have Succeeded and What It Means for Humanity

Mars has long been humanity’s ultimate frontier. The Red Planet has captured our imagination for decades, promising answers to questions about the origins of life, the history of our solar system, and even the future of humanity itself. Yet despite decades of effort, reaching Mars has proven to be far more difficult than many expected.

As of today, humans have launched 59 missions to Mars, but only about half of them have succeeded. This isn’t just a statistic — it’s a story of courage, failure, and innovation, showing the immense technical and psychological challenges involved in exploring another world.

Why Reaching Mars Is So Difficult

At first glance, Mars seems close enough — only tens of millions of kilometers away at its nearest approach. But the planet is highly unpredictable, and even tiny miscalculations can turn a multi-million-dollar mission into a permanent loss. Here are some of the main reasons why missions fail:

1. Vast Distances

The average distance to Mars ranges from 56 million to over 400 million kilometers, depending on Earth’s and Mars’ positions in their orbits. A minor navigation or timing error can result in a spacecraft missing the planet entirely. Unlike Earth missions, there’s no “turn back” button — once the spacecraft is en route, the mission is largely at the mercy of physics.

2. A Hostile Atmosphere

Mars’ atmosphere is extremely thin, with less than 1% of Earth’s air pressure. This makes landing particularly treacherous: parachutes provide limited deceleration, heat shields behave differently than on Earth, and retro-rockets must fire with precision down to milliseconds. Engineers often call Martian landings “seven minutes of terror” for good reason.

3. Early Technical Limitations

Many missions to Mars occurred decades ago, when onboard computers were far less capable than even today’s smartphones. Early missions often failed due to simple technical issues, such as software bugs or sensor malfunctions that modern technology could easily correct.

4. Radiation and Environmental Hazards

Space is full of hazards. Solar flares, cosmic rays, and extreme temperature fluctuations can fry electronics, degrade materials, and disrupt communications. Even the smallest component failure can doom a mission millions of kilometers from Earth.

5. Martian Weather

Mars is notorious for its massive dust storms, sometimes covering the entire planet. These storms can block sunlight, drain solar power, damage instruments, and even interfere with communications.

Famous Failures — and What They Taught Us

Mars’ exploration history is full of both spectacular failures and valuable lessons:

• In 1999, the Mars Climate Orbiter was lost due to a simple mix-up between metric and imperial units — a $125 million mistake.
• In 1971, the Soviet Mars-3 lander became the first craft to touch Mars’ surface but lost contact after just 20 seconds.

Several missions have vanished completely, becoming silent “ghosts” orbiting or crashing on the planet, leaving only fragments of data for scientists to study.

Each failure, however, contributed to better technology, refined procedures, and safer designs. Today’s missions are built on decades of hard-won experience.

Success Stories That Changed Everything

Despite the setbacks, there have been monumental achievements:

• Spirit and Opportunity (2004): Spirit was designed for a 90-day mission but lasted over six years, and Opportunity exceeded 14 years, traveling across Martian terrain far beyond expectations.
• Curiosity Rover (2012): Demonstrated that Mars once had conditions capable of supporting life.
• Perseverance Rover (2021): Collecting samples for future return missions and operating Ingenuity, the first helicopter on another planet.
• Orbiters like Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter: Provided detailed maps, weather data, and clues about Martian atmosphere and geology.

These successes weren’t just triumphs of engineering; they were the result of meticulously studying past failures.

Why We Keep Going Back

Despite the high risk of failure, humanity keeps returning to Mars for several reasons:

• Search for life: Ancient microbial life or its remnants could be hidden in Martian soil and rocks.
• Resources for future colonies: Water, minerals, and even energy from the sun could support human habitats.
• Pushing boundaries: Each mission proves that humans can explore environments far beyond Earth, testing our technology, endurance, and ingenuity.

Every successful landing is a small victory against the chaos of the universe, and every failure is a step closer to understanding and improvement.

The Future of Mars Exploration

• The next decade promises an explosion of Mars activity:
• Sample-return missions that bring Martian rocks back to Earth.
• More sophisticated autonomous landers and rovers.
• Plans for human missions, with NASA, ESA, and private companies like SpaceX leading the charge.
• New technologies for habitats, energy systems, and life support that can withstand years on a distant planet.

Modern missions are far more reliable than early attempts. While the historical success rate hovers around 50%, each mission adds to the collective knowledge, slowly tipping the odds toward success.

Mars: A Planet That Tests Us

Mars reminds us that space exploration is never easy. The Red Planet tests our engineering skills, our patience, and even our courage. But it also pushes humanity to learn, adapt, and imagine possibilities beyond Earth.

We’ve sent 59 missions to Mars — a number that will keep growing. Half have failed, but the other half have expanded our knowledge, inspired generations, and prepared the way for the first human footsteps on another world.

And one day, when humans finally walk on Martian soil, the statistics will change forever — a testament to the perseverance, creativity, and daring of humankind.