火星快車號
In 2003, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched their first planetary mission with Mars Express to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. On 12 August 2005, NASA launched "Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter" (MRO). As MRO entered orbit in 2006, it joined three other active spacecraft which were in Mars' orbit: Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Mars Express, and "2001 Mars Odyssey"; at the time, this set a record for the most operational spacecraft in the immediate vicinity of Mars. MGS has since ceased to function.