The Mars Observer spacecraft in the clean room.
Click on image for full size
NASA/JPL

Mars Observer

The Mars Observer set out to observe the atmosphere , magnetic field, and surface of Mars. It carried with it 8 instruments. However, the Mars Observer (called MO for short) failed on August 21, 1993, just before entering Martian orbit. Over the long cruise from Earth to Mars, some of the fuel leaked into the engines. When the engines were ignited for orbit entry, the fuel tanks blew up!

Out of the failure of Mars Observer came the Mars Surveyor Program. Some of the same instruments developed for the Mars Observer were used for the Mars Global Surveyor mission, Mars '98 missions and Mars 2001 Odyssey mission which launched in April 2001.

Last modified May 10, 2001 by Jennifer Bergman.

You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

The Mars Surveyor Program

Because of the failure of the Mars Observer (MO), NASA planned a new Mars Surveyor Program. The Surveyor Program was designed to explore all of the things the MO was suppose to, and a lot more. The Surveyor...more

Mars Odyssey

The Mars Odyssey was launched April 7, 2001, from Florida. After a six-month, 285 million-mile journey, the Odyssey arrived at Mars on October 24, 2001. The Odyssey is in its aerobraking phase right now....more

NASA Loses Climate Orbiter

Last Thursday was supposed to be a great one for NASA, but turned out to be a disaster. The Mars Climate Orbiter was scheduled to begin its orbit around the Red Planet early that morning. However, during...more

Instruments of the Mars Global Surveyor Mission

It has been more than 30 years since America's first exploratory missions to Mars. Here are some of the instruments carried onboard Mars Global Surveyor (called MGS for short). Many of these instruments...more

The Viking Missions

The Viking I and Viking 2 missions were designed to both orbit Mars and land and make exploratory observations on the planet's surface. At this stage in the history of the exploration of Mars, scientists...more

Mars 2005

The Mars 2005 mission is still in the planning stages. It is set to launch in the year 2005. ...more

Aerobraking

The Mars Global Surveyor reached Mars in September of 1997. But it didn't make it into its final mapping orbit until February 1999. What took so long? Surveyor needed to reach a near-circular, low-altitude...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA