Launched 1992
Lost · FailureMars Observer
Mars Observer, the first of the Observer series of planetary missions, was designed to study the geoscience and climate of Mars. Its primary science objectives were to determine the global elemental and mineralogical character of the surface material, define globally the topography and gravitational field, establish the nature of the Martian magnetic field, determine the distribution and abundance of volatiles and dust over a seasonal cycle, and explore the structure and circulation of the atmosphere. NASA's Deep Space Chronicle places loss of contact at 01:00 UT on August 22, 1993. The failure board report says telemetry did not return at the expected 00:54 GMT ground-reception time after a planned radio-silence interval; NSSDCA gives August 21 at day precision. Contact was never re-established. It remains unknown whether the spacecraft followed its automatic program into Mars orbit or flew past Mars into heliocentric orbit. Although none of the primary objectives were achieved, cruise data were collected until contact was lost.
- Agency
- NASA-Office of Space Science Applications · Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales · Russian Space Agency
- Destination
- Mars
- Trajectory
- Trajectory unavailable
- Orbiter