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Mission record

Mars 2

Also known as Mars 2 Orbiter, M-71 No.171, Mars2

U.S.S.R · Launched

Explore trajectory

Partial success · Partial success

The Mars 2 and Mars 3 missions consisted of identical spacecraft, each with a bus/orbiter module and an attached descent/lander module. The primary scientific objectives of the Mars 2 orbiter were to image the martian surface and clouds, determine the temperature on Mars, study the topography, composition and physical properties of the surface, measure properties of the atmosphere, monitor the solar wind and the interplanetary and martian magnetic fields, and act as a communications relay to send signals from the lander to Earth. The descent module entered the martian atmosphere at a steeper angle than planned, the descent system malfunctioned and the lander crashed, delivering the Soviet Union coat of arms to the surface; the orbiter entered a 1380 x 24,940 km orbit and completed 362 orbits before the mission was announced complete on 22 August 1972.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Proton Booster Plus Upper Stage and Escape Stages
Launch site
Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.R
Countries
Soviet Union
Mission types
Orbiter, Lander

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched towards Mars from a Tyazheliy Sputnik platform

    NSSDCA's launch/orbital information page gives the launch date and time as 1971-05-19T16:22:44Z and an Earth orbit with a periapsis of 137.00 km, an apoapsis of 173.00 km, a period of 87.44 minutes and an inclination of 51.800°, ending at 1971-05-19 17:59:00. Mars 2 was launched towards Mars from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (71-045C) Earth orbiting platform.

    Earth

  2. Milestone

    Mid-course corrections

    Mid-course corrections were made on 17 June and 20 November.

  3. Deployment

    Descent module released 4.5 hours before Mars

    Mars 2 released the descent module (71-045D) 4.5 hours before reaching Mars on 27 November 1971. Recorded at day precision because the page publishes only the date and the interval, not a clock time.

    Mars

  4. Impact

    The descent module crashed on Mars

    The descent module entered the martian atmosphere at roughly 6.0 km/s at a steeper angle than planned. The descent system malfunctioned and the lander crashed at 45 deg S, 313 deg W, delivering the Soviet Union coat of arms to the surface. The source location conflicts with the later NASA chronology (4 N, 47 W versus NSSDCA 45 S, 313 W). No precise impact coordinate is inferred from this event.

    Mars

  5. Orbit insertion

    Entered Mars orbit after lander release

    The NASA chronology reports insertion at 20:19 UT into an approximately 1380 by 25000 km orbit at 48.9 degrees. NSSDCA gives a slightly different apocenter. The minute is reported chronology; the source does not provide a complete osculating state.

    Mars

  6. Mission end

    Reported completion of the orbiter program

    The Mars 2 and 3 orbiters sent back a large volume of data covering the period from December 1971 to March 1972, although transmissions continued through August. It was announced that Mars 2 and 3 had completed their missions by 22 August 1972, after 362 orbits completed by Mars 2 and 20 orbits by Mars 3. The probes sent back a total of 60 pictures. The later NASA chronology distinguishes the August completion announcement from a reported July end of contact. This date is not a measured last-state epoch.

    Mars

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Mars 2 Orbiter · Orbiter

    Destinations: Mars

    • Mars 2 descent module · Lander

      Destinations: Mars

      • PROP-M · Rover

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

Known dates and encounters do not uniquely determine a flight path. This mission’s sourced timeline is available above; no verified trajectory is currently published here.

What is needed to reconstruct this path?
  • A frame-qualified position and vector velocity at an epoch, or equivalent complete orbital elements.
  • Approach/departure directions and burn vectors between the reported encounters; body names and encounter distances alone are insufficient.
  • Independent descent/return states and a source-defined body-fixed landing location; a landing date alone does not define either.
  • Separate state histories and release epochs for the listed vehicles; a parent mission trajectory cannot be assigned to every component.
  • Finer event-time constraints where required by an orbital reconstruction; the stored day/month/year precision is retained.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 14, 2026