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Launch Date:
September 25, 1992

Mission:
Orbit around the planet, to study the planet's environment during a full Martian year

Result:
Contact was lost with the spacecraft three days ebfore Mars Landing

Spacecraft
A diagram of the spacecraft

Images



MARS OBSERVER
(Mars Orbiter)

The Mars Observer spacecraft was the first U.S. mission launched to Mars since the Viking missions in 1975. Its mission was to repeatedly map the planet and its atmosphere in 26-day cycles. This global mapping would have helped scientists understand the geological and climatological history of Mars and the evolution of its interior and surface, and would provide us with a basis for comparing Mars with Earth and Venus.

Unfortunately, three days before entering orbit around Mars, the Mars Observer spacecraft fell silent. The reason is unknown, but it is believed that as the craft fired its rockets to begin orbiting Mars, mechanical failure caused it to explode.


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