Mars Polar Lander — launch
Date in UTC
The Mars Polar Lander, also known as the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander, was a 290-kilogram uncrewed spacecraft lander launched by NASA on January 3, 1999, to study the soil and climate of Planum Australe, a region near the south pole on Mars. It formed part of the Mars Surveyor '98 mission. On December 3, 1999, however, after the descent phase was expected to be complete, the lander failed to reestablish communication with Earth. A post-mortem analysis determined the most likely cause of the mishap was premature termination of the engine firing prior to the lander touching the surface, causing it to strike the planet at a high velocity.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Polar_Lander. Related NASA reference: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology.html#1999. Description adapted from Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- Category
- Launches and Flight Tests
- Type
- Orbital launch
- Subjects
- Space transportation
- Mission
- Mars Polar Lander
- Organization
- Boeing Launch Services (?)
- Vehicle
- Delta 7425-9.5
- Location
- Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida
- Country
- US
- Human involvement
- Uncrewed
- Outcome
- Successful
Sources and attribution
- Jonathan McDowell — General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (opens in a new tab) — Data from GCAT (J. McDowell, planet4589.org/space/gcat), CC BY 4.0. Adapted into anniversary records. (CC BY 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Mars Polar Lander (opens in a new tab) — Adapted from Wikipedia contributors; selected sentences retained and edited for length, reference markers and pronunciation glosses. CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Article and edit history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Polar_Lander (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Timeline of Space Exploration Missions 1957 to 2031 (opens in a new tab)
- NASA — Mars Polar Lander (opens in a new tab)
- NASA NSSDCA — Mars Polar Lander (opens in a new tab)