Mars 3: first soft landing on Mars
Mars 3: primer aterrizaje suave en Marte
- Date
- 2 de diciembre de 1971 · confidence high
- Place
- Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
- Credited to
- Lavochkin (Georgy Babakin)
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Mars 3's descent module settled on Mars in the middle of a dust storm and emitted about 20 seconds of signal before falling silent. It was the first controlled landing on Mars.
Mars 2 crashed on 27 November 1971 (the first human-made object on Martian ground). Mars 3's success is disputed because it returned no useful data; Viking 1 (1976) was the first fully operational landing.
What it led to
- improved shields and parachutes for Martian entry
- lessons applied on Viking (1976)
- the basis of the Soviet Mars 6 and 7 designs