Mars rover to regain contact. Mars 2, Mars 3 were physically tethered probes; "Sojourner" was dependent on the Mars Pathfinder base station for communication with Earth; MER-A & B and "Curiosity" were on their own. Of these "Curiosity" is still active, and "Spirit", "Opportunity" and "Sojourner" completed their missions before losing contact. Seven rovers have been dispatched to Mars: "Examples Landed instrumentation" (Rovers) Mars rovers in development include: One experimental design, not proposed for any actual mission, is: NASA distinguishes between "mission" objectives and "science" objectives. Mission objectives are related to progress in space technology and development processes. Science objectives are met
ExoMars (rover) ExoMars (rover) The ExoMars rover is a planned robotic Mars rover, part of the international ExoMars programme led by the European Space Agency and the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation. The plan calls for a Russian launch vehicle, an ESA carrier module and a Russian lander that will deploy the rover to Mars' surface, scheduled to launch in July 2020. Once safely landed, the solar powered rover would begin a seven-month (218-sol) mission to search for the existence of past life on Mars. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, launched in 2016, will operate as the rover's data-relay satellite. The rover is