NASA's Mars Global Surveyor was launched on 7 November 1996 by Delta II rocket. It cost 157 million Dollars to develop the Mars Global Surveyor. It had many of the failed Mars Observer scientific instruments. The Mars Orbiter Camera onboard returned more than 212,000 images.
Mass: 767 Kg (1,691 pounds)
Science instruments: High-resolution camera, laser altimeter, thermal emission spectrometer, magnetometer/electron reflectometer, ultra-stable oscillator, radio relay system
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) had a ten-month cruise to the Planet Mars. MGS successfully executed its orbit insertion at Mars on September 12, 1997. Mars Global Surveyor entered Mars orbit on September 11, 1997. MGS Started its mapping mission on 1 April 1999. Mars Global Surveyor completed its primary mission on January 31, 2001.
Mars Global Surveyor last communicated with Earth on November 2, 2006 when was in its third extended mission phase. Within 11 hours, depleted batteries likely left the spacecraft unable to control its orientation.
In January 2007 NASA officially ended the mission.
Books on Mars:
Goto Space Probes
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