MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR
(Mars Orbiter)

The ill-fated Mars Observer mission was to be the rebirth of NASA's Mars program, after a 20-year lapse. Unfortunately, the loss of that craft delayed that rebirth until 1996. Mars Global Surveyor is the first of several orbiter missions which will complete the scientific goals of Mars Observer. Its mission: orbit Mars and study the surface, atmosphere, and climate for a full Martian year (687 Earth days).

MGS successfully entered Mars orbit on September 12, 1997. It has since returned an unprecedented amount of data regarding Mars' surface features, atmosphere, and magnetic properties. Scientists are using the data gathered from this mission both to learn about Mars by comparing it to Earth, and to build a comprehensive data set to aid in planning future missions.

Having completed its primary mission, the spacecraft is now in extended mission, continuing to return valuable data about Mars.

for more information, see the Mars Global Surveyor's Website:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/

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