Although they are targeted at the same planet, some Mars missions have their roots in different NASA programs. The following are the programs responsible for U.S. Mars missions in the pre- sent and recent past:

Mars Surveyor Program In 1994, NASA created a program to send spacecraft to the planet during each launch opportunity every 26 months over the next decade. The first spacecraft under the program, Mars Global Surveyor, was launched in 1996 and is currently in orbit at the planet. The Mars Surveyor Program missions in 1998 are Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, collectively known as the Mars Surveyor '98 project. All of NASA's Mars missions now planned for the first decade of the next century also fall under this programmatic umbrella. In order to save costs, a single industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, was chosen to build and operate all of the Mars Surveyor spacecraft over several years. In addition, an ongoing project office called the Mars Surveyor Operations Project was created at JPL, consolidating management of mission operations across the multi-year program.

Discovery Program Created in 1992, NASA's Discovery Program competitively selects proposals for low-cost solar system exploration missions with highly focused science goals. Mars Pathfinder was the second mission approved and launched under the Discovery Program. Originally conceived as an engineering demonstration of a way to deliver a spacecraft to the surface of Mars with a novel approach using airbags to land, the mission evolved to include a science payload focused primarily on geology.

New Millennium Program Technology, rather than science, is at the center of NASA's New Millennium Program, created in 1994. The goal of the program is to identify and flight-test new technologies that will enable science missions of the early 21st century. Teams are formed with partners from government, private industry, academia and the nonprofit sector to develop promising technologies in spacecraft autonomy, telecommunications, microelectronics, science instruments and mechanical systems. Deep Space 2, the project that is sending two microprobes to piggyback on Mars Polar Lander, is the second mission under New Millennium. In addition to "Deep Space" missions to the solar system, a series of "Earth Orbiter" missions is also planned to test new technologies for Earth-observing spacecraft. These missions may also collect science data, but technology is always at the forefront.