1 day / second
0.5 AU
Mars Global Surveyor
Spacecraft
A pioneering NASA orbiter that studied Mars from 1997 to 2006, producing detailed maps of the planet's surface and discovering evidence of recent water activity through its observations of gullies and mineral deposits.
Key Facts
organization | NASA |
orbital regime | Inner System |
learn more | Wikipedia |
launched | 1996-11-07 |
defunct | 2007-01-28 |
launch mass | 1,030.5 kg |
power | 980 watts |
Mission Timeline
Launched
November 7, 1996 at 17:00 UTC
Mars
Orbiter
Mars Global Surveyor reached Mars orbit on September 11, 1997, beginning a highly successful mapping mission that lasted nearly a decade and revealed evidence of ancient water features across the planet's surface.
Defunct
January 28, 2007 at 00:00 UTC
After losing contact in November 2006, Mars Global Surveyor was officially declared defunct on January 28, 2007, ending its highly successful decade-long mission of mapping the Martian surface and atmosphere in unprecedented detail.
Other Spacecraft
