Lander (spacecraft) a landing which should have come on 25 December 2003 was not received. Indeed, no communication was ever established and "Beagle 2" was declared lost on 6 February 2004. The proposed 2009 British Beagle 3 lander mission to search for life, past or present was not adopted. The French/ESA NetLander mission for 2007 or 2009, with an orbiter and 4 landers, was cancelled because it was too expensive. Its successor, Mars MetNet, a multi-lander mission for 2011–2019 was not adopted by the ESA. The American Mars Exploration Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" were launched in June and July 2003. They reached
Mars 4 Earth parking orbit before the Blok D fired to propel Mars 4 into heliocentric orbit bound for Mars. Shortly after performing a course correction on 30 July 1973, two onboard computers failed, leaving Mars 4 unable to perform manoeuvres. As a result of this, it was unable to enter orbit around Mars. A small amount of data was returned as the probe flew past Mars on 10 February 1974, with a closest approach of at 15:34 UTC. Mars 4 Mars 4 (), also known as 3MS No.52S was a Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Mars. A 3MS spacecraft launched as