Mars in fiction the past; Mars is a setting rather than a goal. Mariner 4 in July 1965 found that Mars—contrary to expectations—is heavily cratered, with a very thin atmosphere. No canals were found; while scientists did not believe that Mars was a moist planet, the lack of surface water surprised them. Science fiction had so influenced real explorations of the planet, however—Carl Sagan was among the many fans who became scientists—that after Mariner 9 in 1971-1972, craters were named after Wells, Burroughs, and other authors. The Mariner and Viking space probes confirmed that the Martian environment is extremely hostile to life. By
Space probe ringed system and moons. The NASA probe was launched with ESA lander Huygens on October 1, 1997 from Cape Canaveral. The Cassini probe entered Saturn orbit on July 1, 2004, and Huygens landed on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, on January 14, 2005. On September 15, 2017, the probe was de-orbited and burned up in Saturn's atmosphere, after almost 20 years in space. First probe to be launched to Pluto. Launched on January 19, 2006, it flew by the Pluto–Charon system on July 14, 2015. First spacecraft to visit and orbit a protoplanet (4 Vesta), entering orbit on July 16, 2011.