{Martian Exploration}

The history of Martian landings began with the Viking I launched in 1975, an unmanned lander probe that landed and collected data from its environment.  

The first Martian rover was Sojourner, launched in 1996. Sojourner operated for almost a year until it eventually lost power as its solar panels were covered in Martian dust. This rover had a role in The Martian, but no spoilers.

This rover took many images that allowed scientists to access crucial data.

The Curiosity Rover was launched in 2011 that is the most state of the art Mars rover right now. Instead of using solar panels, it uses an RPS or radioisotope power system. This allows for it to remain operational even if covered in Martian sand.