Mars in focus

Mars is viewed, by Galileo, through a telescope for the first time in 1609.

Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli produces first detailed map of the planet in 1877. It includes channels or 'canali', wrongly translated into English as canals.

In the United States, Percival Lowell says in the early 1900s that 'canals' were built by Martians to tap planet's polar ice. Canals later found to be illusions.

First successful fly-by mission is achieved by Nasa's Mariner 4 in 1965. It reveals an arid, crater-strewn planet.

The Soviet Union lands two probes, Mars 2 and Mars 3, in 1971. Both fail on impact with surface.

In 1976, US lands two Viking probes on Mars. These fail to find any evidence of life in Martian soil.

Britain's Beagle 2 probe disappears as it completes its landing manoeuvres on Christmas Day 2003.

Spirit and Opportunity land in 2004. Both are still working and were joined in 2008 by Phoenix lander near Mars's north pole.

Two further rovers planned: America's Mars Science Laboratory in 2012 and Europe's ExoMars in 2017.