List of landing ellipses on extraterrestrial bodies
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This is a list of the projected landing zones on extraterrestrial bodies. The size of the ellipse or oval graphically represents statistical degrees of uncertainty, i.e. the confidence level of the landing point, with the center of the ellipse being calculated as the most likely given the plethora of variables.[3] Their accuracy has improved from the early attempts in the 1960s; active research continues in the 21st century.[4][5][6][7]
| Mission | Country/Agency | Destination | Date of Impact/Landing | Axes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surveyor 1 |  NASA | Moon | 1966 | 50 km[8] | Landing error ~18.96 km[9] |
| Surveyor 3 | NASA | Moon | 1967 | 15.1 x 10.6 km[8] | Initial landing ellipse was 30 km, was corrected in-flight after midcourse correction.[8] Landing error ~2.76 km[9] |
| Apollo 11 | NASA | Moon | 1969 | 18.5 x 4.8 km[10][11] | First crewed landing. Landing error ~6.6 km[9] |
| Apollo 12 | NASA | Moon | 1969 | ~1 km,[12] or 13.3 x 4.8 km[a][13] | Second crewed landing. Landing error ~160 m[9] Landed in ~200 m from Surveyor 3, its target. Landing was very precise and not intended to be closer.[12] |
| Apollo 14 | NASA | Moon | 1971 | ~1 km[12] | |
| Apollo 15 | NASA | Moon | 1971 | ~1 km[12] | |
| Apollo 16 | NASA | Moon | 1972 | ~1 km[12] | |
| Apollo 17 | NASA | Moon | 1972 | ~1 km,[12] or 15 x 5 km[14] | Last crewed landing. Landing error ~400 m[9] |
| Viking | NASA | Mars | 1976 | 280 x 100 km[15] | Retrorocket |
| n/a | Shoemaker-Levy 9 (comet) | Jupiter | 1994-07-16 | n/a | As per IAUC in 1993 May 22; 0.0003 AU (45,000 km) from the center of Jupiter, i.e. within the planet's radius of 0.0005 AU (69,911 km) on 1994 July 25.4. (sic)[16] Actual train of impacts as finally projected occurred beyond Jupiter's limb.[17] Included for purposes of comparison. |
| Mars Pathfinder | NASA | Mars | 1997 | 200 x 70 km[18] or 200 x 100 km[19][20] | Airbags |
| Mars Polar Lander | NASA | Mars | 1999 | 200 x 20 km[21] | Communications failed before landing attempt. |
| Mars Exploration Rovers | NASA | Mars | 2003 | 150 x 20 km[22] | Airbags |
| Beagle 2 |  ESA | Mars | 2003 | 174 x 106 km[23] | Successful landing, communications failure. |
| Huygens | ESA | Titan | 2005 | 1200 x 200 km[24][25] | |
| Phoenix | NASA | Mars | 2008 | 100 x 19 km[3] or "70 km long"[26] | |
| Mars Science Laboratory | NASA | Mars | 2012 | 25 x 20 km[18] | Sky crane |
| Chang'e 3 |  CNSA | Moon | 2013 | 6 x 6 km[9] | Landed with a landing error of ~89 m,[9] 2 m targeting precision[12] |
| Philae | ESA | 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko | 2014 | 0.5 km[27] | |
| Falcon 9 first-stage booster | SpaceX |
Earth | 2015 | ~20 m[28][29] | First reusable rocket, and the most precise landing system to date. Included for comparison. |
| Schiaparelli EDM | ESA |
Mars | 2016 | 100 x 15 km[30][31] | Crash landing. |
| Cassini | NASA |
Saturn | 2017-09-17 | TBD | Rotation brought entry area into view. |
| InSight | NASA | Mars | 2018 | 130 x 27 km[18] | |
| Hayabusa2 |  JAXA | 162173 Ryugu | 2018 | 2 or 3 m[12] | Sampling occurred in ~1 m from a target.[12] |
| OSIRIS-REx | NASA | 101955 Bennu | 2020 | 6.5 m[12] | Sampling occurred in ~1 m from a target.[12] |
| Mars 2020 | NASA | Mars | 2021 | 7.7 x 6.6 km[32] | Sky crane. Landed 1.7 km from center of ellipse.[33] |
| Tianwen-1 | CNSA | Mars | 2021 | 56 x 22 km[12][34] | |
| ExoMars 2020 |  ESA/Roscosmos | Mars | 2023 | 104 x 19 km[35][36][37] or 120 x 19 km[38] | Mission postponed until 2028. |
| Luna 25 | Roscosmos | Moon | 2023-08-19 | 30 x 15 km[2][39][40] | Mission failed before landing attempt. |
| Chandrayaan-3 |  ISRO | Moon | 2023-08-23 | 4.5 x 2.5 km[41] or 4 x 2.4 km[42] | |
| OSIRIS-REx return capsule | NASA | Earth | 2023-09-24 | 30 x 80 km,[43] 14 x 58 km,[44] or 12 x 30 km[45] | Sample return from an asteroid. Capsule landed ~ 8 km from the center.[45] |
| Peregrine Mission One | Astrobotic, Inc. |
Moon | 2024-01-18 | 24 x 6 km[42][46] | First U.S. lunar lander built since Apollo Program (1972). Aborted to Point Nemo. |
| SLIM | JAXA | Moon | 2024-01-19 | 100 m[47][42] | Dubbed "Moon Sniper" for its accuracy (despite having landed upside-down).[48] Landed ~55 m from target point.[49] |
| IM-1 Nova-C Odysseus | Intuitive Machines | Moon | 2024-02-22 | Landed ~1.5 km from the target.[50] | |
| Blue Ghost Mission 1 | Firefly Aerospace | Moon | 2025-03-02 | 100 m[51] | Landed within the ellipse. |
