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Back in 1996, NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) began preparing to return to Mars by launching the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft. The plan was to design a satellite that would orbit the red planet and send a variety of useful information back to earth. Among other objectives, NASA hoped to learn more about Martian surface characteristics, generate the best map of Mars to date, and discover more about the planet's weather throughout its 687-day year.

To do this, NASA and JPL needed to build a better spaceship. More than just a high tech dishwasher, this bird needed to be able to make the long journey to Mars and survive the long Martian year without malfunctioning. (There are no grease monkeys in space.) The resulting spacecraft is 2,342 pounds -- most of which is centered in its box-shaped center which contains smaller cartons housing all of the high-tech gizmos that provide NASA with data, as well as the propulsion equipment which allows the craft to be steered into position by NASA scientists.

You can get real time information from Surveyor by blasting over to NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Web site or learn more about the Surveyor space craft by clicking here.

Image courtesy of Malin Space Science Systems and JPL/NASA.


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			Attacking Mars Back in 1996, NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) began preparing to return to Mars by launching the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft. The plan was to design a satellite that would orbit the red planet and send a variety of useful information back to earth. Among other objectives, NASA hoped to learn more about Martian surface characteristics, generate the best map of Mars to date, and discover more about the planet's weather throughout its 687-day year. To do this, NASA and JPL needed to build a better spaceship. More than just a high tech dishwasher, this bird needed to be able to make the long journey to Mars and survive the long Martian year without malfunctioning. (There are no grease monkeys in space.) The resulting spacecraft is 2,342 pounds -- most of which is centered in its box-shaped center which contains smaller cartons housing all of the high-tech gizmos that provide NASA with data, as well as the propulsion equipment which allows the craft to be steered into position by NASA scientists. You can get real time information from Surveyor by blasting over to NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Web site or learn more about the Surveyor space craft by clicking here. Image courtesy of Malin Space Science Systems and JPL/NASA.