Meanwhile, the stars of the year 2018 are the two new robotic missions, InSight and TGO.

InSight (Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport)

The InSight lander should be launched to Mars by NASA within a window opening on May 5th and closing on June 18th. This artist's concept depicts the lander on Mars after its robotic arm has deployed its seismometer and sticked its heat probe into the ground. The InSight mission is dedicated to investigating the interior of Mars. It will tell us about its structure. This will induce comparisons with Earth, hence allowing a better understanding of our own planet. Crédits image: NASA / JPL-Caltech

ExoMars («Exobiologie sur Mars») TGO («Trace Gas Orbiter»)

The TGO orbiter, first part of the ExoMars mission, was launched by ESA & the Russian space agency Roscosmos on March 14th 2016. It was captured by Mars gravity and atmosphere on October 19th 2016 and, after a long aerobraking process, reached its observation orbit in February 2018. In April 2018, it should start sending data. Its mission is to search for evidence of methane and other trace atmospheric gases that could be signatures of active biological or geological processes. TGO will also serve as a communications relay for the ExoMars rover and its surface science laboratory that is scheduled to be launched in 2020. Crédits d'image: ESA-D. Ducros

But we should not forget our old friends already or still at work: Curiosity, Mars express, Opportunity, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, Mars Odyssey. Curiosity is still OK in spite of having celebrated its 2000th sol on Mars (6 years on August 6th 2018). It has resources left for further investigations, in particular the very precious clay area, up slope on Mount Sharp, that was identified from satellites and which is now within sight.

Image : Selfie Nov. 2017 pris sur Vera Rubin Ridge, crédit NASA / JPL-CalTech, MSSS (Malin Space Science System).

MarsExpress (ESA orbiter, operational since 2003) seems to be still in good conditions. Its OMEGA, SPICAM and PFS spectrometers still providing information on the atmosphere and the surface, its MARSIS radar keeping scrutinizing the shallow subsurface and its HRSC camera completing visually the data.

Opportunity is struggling to stay alive on account of its old age, 5000 sols on Mars and close to 50 km on its counter. It is now taking risks by going up and down steep slopes (less to loose!).

MRO keeps sending beautiful detailed images of the surface of Mars thanks to its marvelous HiRISE camera. Though it is aging too (operational since 2006) and its reliability is declining, it could stay operational until the mid-20’s.

The other orbiters, MAVEN (since 2014) and Mars Odyssey (since 2001) may still act as relays for landers on the surface of the planet and people are still exploiting the “tones” of data they collected.