Launched toward Mars on June 10 and July 7, 2003, in search of answers about the history of water on Mars. They landed on Mars January 3 and January 24 PST, 2004 (January 4 and January 25 UTC, 2004).

  NASA's Mars rover Spirit has developed a problem with one of its six wheels, but mission officials said Tuesday they believe the robot geologist can continue working.The right front wheel has become balky, requiring more electrical current to turn, said Mark Adler, the mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Engineers are considering whether to simply continue using the wheel until it fails or drive on five wheels and only use the problem wheel when necessary. The Spirit rover also had a problem last week receiving commands from Earth.
The communication problem was caused by cold, which caused the rover's receiver to drift out of the frequency range in which the commands were sent. The range was broadened and the rover received commands after the loss of only one day of work.

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has ended operations after repeated attempts to contact the spacecraft were unsuccessful. A new image transmitted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows signs of severe ice damage to the lander's solar panels.
"The Phoenix spacecraft succeeded in its investigations and exceeded its planned lifetime," said Fuk Li, manager of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Although its work is finished, analysis of information from Phoenix's science activities will continue for some time to come."
Last week, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter flew over the Phoenix landing site 61 times during a final attempt to communicate with the lander. No transmission from the lander was detected. Phoenix also did not communicate during 150 flights in three earlier listening campaigns this year.
Earth–based research continues on discoveries Phoenix made during summer conditions at the far–northern site where it landed May 25, 2008. The solar–powered lander completed its three–month mission and kept working until sunlight waned two months later.

  Two images of the Phoenix Mars lander taken from Martian orbit in 2008 and 2010. The 2008 lander image shows two relatively blue spots on either side corresponding to the spacecraft's clean circular solar panels. In the 2010 image scientists see a dark shadow that could be the lander body and eastern solar panel, but no shadow from the western solar panel. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

  While the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity do not carry a microphone, these audio excerpts represent the journeys the Mars rovers have made while driving across the plains, mountains and craters of Mars during the last six years.
As you will hear, Spirit has had a much bumpier ride than Opportunity due to the different types of terrain the rovers are driving over. Spirit is on very rocky terrain, while Opportunity is mostly crossing a flat plain with dune fields and very few rocks.
Engineers made these audio files with data from a device on each rover called an "accelerometer," which is typically used to know the position of the rover on Mars.

To get to Mars

Earth and Mars
postion at launch

  An innovative plasma rocket being built as a spare for one heading to the International Space Station may have a space mission of its own:
visiting an asteroid.
Equipped with an electric propulsion system, the rocket, known as Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), is being developed to one day transport astronauts to Mars in 39 to 45 days — a fraction of the six to nine months the trip would take with conventional chemical rockets. Shorter travel time greatly reduces astronauts' exposure to potentially deadly cosmic and solar radiation, currently a show–stopper for human missions to Mars.

  (PhysOrg.com) — Last Wednesday, the Ad Astra Rocket Company tested what is currently the most powerful plasma rocket in the world. As the Webster, Texas, company announced, the VASIMR VX—200 engine ran at 201 kilowatts in a vacuum chamber, passing the 200–kilowatt mark for the first time. The test also marks the first time that a small–scale prototype of the company's VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) rocket engine has been demonstrated at full power.
“It's the most powerful plasma rocket in the world right now,” says Franklin Chang–Diaz, former NASA astronaut and CEO of Ad Astra. The company has signed an agreement with NASA to test a 200–kilowatt VASIMR engine on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013. The engine could provide periodic boosts to the ISS, which gradually drops in altitude due to atmospheric drag.

Newlywed astronaut puts honeymoon on hold as he begins 18–month simulated Mars mission

  Russian astronaut Alexei Sitev should be at least planning his honeymoon after tying the knot with the love of his life four weeks ago.
But instead Sitev and his bride Ekaterina Golubeva will be spending their first 18 months of married life apar
The 38–year–old will be locked in a steel capsule, measuring just 1,000 square feet, with five other men, who were chosen from thousands of applicants, to participate in a simulated mission to Mars.
The European Space Agency experiment, called Mars500, is designed to test how humans would cope during a 520–day mission to the Red Planet, with a 250–day outward trip, a 30–day stay on its surface, and a 240–day return flight.
Next week Sitev will be sealed into four windowless metal compartments, which will not be opened until the end of the simulated mission.
During nearly two years of isolation, the crew members – three Russians, a Chinese, a Frenchman and an Italian – will experience many of the conditions likely to be encountered by astronauts on a real space flight, except for radiation and weightlessness.
A 20–minute delay will be built into communications with the control centre to simulate an interplanetary mission and the crew will be given an identical diet to that used for the International Space Station
The Mars500 project, which is located in Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems, conducted a simulation last year for 105 days.
The ESA said astronauts taking parts in the experiments would go down in history as pioneers.

Mars500 Project

Mars500— Images | Photos "Courtesy : ESA/Cluster"

The Mars500 isolation facility:

  The Mars500 isolation facility in which the crew will be based is located in a special building on the IBMP site in Moscow. This building comprises the isolation facility itself, as well as the operations room, technical facilities and offices.
The current layout of the isolation facility comprises four hermetically sealed interconnected habitat modules, in addition to one external module, which will be used to simulate the 'Martian surface'. The total volume of the habitat modules is 550 m³.

Medical module:
The medical module is 3.2x11.9 m and houses two medical berths, a toilet and equipment for routine medical examinations and telemedical, laboratory and diagnostic investigations. Should a crewmember become ill, he/she can be isolated and treated here.......read more.

Mars500— "Courtesy : ESA"