Life on Mars life were found. Mariner 4 probe performed the first successful flyby of the planet Mars, returning the first pictures of the Martian surface in 1965. The photographs showed an arid Mars without rivers, oceans, or any signs of life. Further, it revealed that the surface (at least the parts that it photographed) was covered in craters, indicating a lack of plate tectonics and weathering of any kind for the last 4 billion years. The probe also found that Mars has no global magnetic field that would protect the planet from potentially life-threatening cosmic rays. The probe was able to calculate
Mars 2 landing system failed and the lander was lost. On May 19, 1971, the Proton-K heavy launch vehicle launched the probe from Baikonur Cosmodrome. After the first stage separated the second stage was ignited. The third stage engine blasted Mars 2 into parking orbit, then the Blok D upper stage sent Mars 2 on the trans-Mars trajectory. The Orbiter type was the 4MV, used also for Mars-3 and later Mars and Venera Probes. The orbiter engine performed a burn to put the spacecraft into a , 18-hour orbit about Mars with an inclination of 48.9 degrees. Scientific instruments were generally turned