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Mariner 6
Mariner 6 was a NASA flyby spacecraft that flew past Mars on July 31, 1969, part of the first dual mission to the planet alongside its twin, Mariner 7.
Mariner 9
Mariner 9, also known as Mariner IX, was a NASA orbiter that became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, reaching Mars on November 13, 1971.
Mariner program
The Mariner program was a NASA series of ten robotic spacecraft, launched between 1962 and 1973, that achieved the first flybys of Venus, Mars, and Mercury.
Marisat
Marisat was the world's first commercial maritime satellite communications system, three geostationary satellites placed in operation in 1976 to link ships at sea with shore stations.
Mark Bezos
Mark Bezos is an American marketing executive who flew on Blue Origin's New Shepard first crewed flight on July 20, 2021, alongside his brother Jeff Bezos.
Mars 2020
Mars 2020, also known as the Perseverance mission, is a NASA Mars rover mission that landed in Jezero crater in February 2021 to cache samples for return to Earth.
Mars 96
Mars 96, also designated Mars 8 and originally planned as Mars 94, was a heavy Russian Mars orbiter mission lost when its fourth-stage burn failed and it reentered Earth's atmosphere in November 1996.
Mars Ascent Vehicle
The Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) is a two-stage solid-propellant rocket NASA is developing to launch Martian samples into orbit, the first rocket to launch from another planet.
Mars Climate Orbiter
Mars Climate Orbiter (Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter) was a NASA orbiter launched in December 1998 to study the Martian atmosphere; it was lost during orbit insertion in September 1999.
Mars Exploration Rover
The Mars Exploration Rover was a NASA mission that landed the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity on Mars in 2004 to search for evidence of past water.
Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Global Surveyor was a NASA Mars orbiter launched in 1996 that mapped the planet's surface and magnetic field from orbit for nearly a decade, returning over 240,000 images.
Mars habitat
A Mars habitat, also called a Mars base, is a pressurized structure with life support meant to keep a human crew alive on Mars; none has yet been built.
Mars landing
A Mars landing, also called landing on Mars, is the delivery of a spacecraft onto the Martian surface. The Soviet Mars 3 made the first soft landing in 1971.
Mars Observer
Mars Observer was a NASA Mars orbiter launched in 1992, the first US Mars mission in 17 years, to map the planet's surface and atmosphere from near-polar orbit.
Mars One
Mars One was a Dutch nonprofit founded by Bas Lansdorp that announced in 2012 a plan for one-way human missions to Mars; its commercial arm went bankrupt in 2019.
Mars Orbiter Mission
The Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan, was an Indian Mars orbiter launched by ISRO in 2013 that succeeded on its first attempt and operated about eight years.
Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer
The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) is a mass spectrometer on ESA's ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover, designed to detect organic molecules in drilled Martian samples.
Mars Pathfinder
Mars Pathfinder, also called MESUR Pathfinder, was a NASA Discovery-class mission that landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, deploying the small rover Sojourner to study rocks.
Mars Polar Lander
Mars Polar Lander, also known as the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander, was a NASA lander launched in 1999 to dig for water ice near Mars' south pole.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose NASA orbiter launched in 2005 that images Mars in finer detail than any previous spacecraft and relays data from its rovers.
Mars rover
A Mars rover, or Martian rover, is a motorized vehicle that explores the surface of Mars. NASA's five rovers include Sojourner (1997) and Perseverance (2021).
Mars Sample Return
Mars Sample Return is a joint NASA and ESA campaign, now under redesign, to bring Martian rock samples collected by the Perseverance rover in Jezero Crater to Earth.
Mars Science Laboratory
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a NASA robotic mission that landed the car-sized Curiosity rover in Gale Crater on Mars in 2012 to assess past habitability.
Mars-500
Mars-500 was a series of ground-based isolation experiments by Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems simulating a crewed Mars mission, including a 520-day study with six volunteers from 2010 to 2011.
Mass driver
A mass driver is an electromagnetic launcher for payloads, proposed by physicist Gerard K. O'Neill in 1974 and studied as a way to launch cargo from the Moon.
Mastcam
Mastcam (Mast Camera) is the pair of mast-mounted color cameras that serve as the main scientific eyes of NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed in Gale crater in 2012.
Mastcam-Z
Mastcam-Z, short for Mast Camera Zoom, is a pair of zoomable, multispectral, stereoscopic cameras on NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, which landed in Jezero crater in February 2021.
Matthew P. Anderson
Matthew P. "Matt" Anderson is an American retired Air Force colonel and aerospace executive serving as the 16th Deputy Administrator of NASA since May 2026.
Max Q (aerospace)
Max Q, short for maximum dynamic pressure, is the point in a rocket's ascent where aerodynamic forces peak; rockets typically throttle down their engines to fly through it.
Maxar Technologies
Maxar Technologies was an American-Canadian space technology company formed in 2017 from MDA and DigitalGlobe, known for WorldView Earth imaging satellites and split into Vantor and Lanteris in 2025.