Mars Polar Lander (sometimes referenced as the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander) is one of two exploration vehicles of the NASA Mars Surveyor '98 program. Launched on 3 January 1999, 23 days after its partner, the Mars Climate Orbiter, the mission ended in failure with the loss of both craft in separate incidents. After attempts to re-establish communications failed following entry into Mars atmosphere, the lander was declared lost, with the presumption ...
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Mars Polar Lander (sometimes referenced as the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander) is one of two exploration vehicles of the NASA Mars Surveyor '98 program. Launched on 3 January 1999, 23 days after its partner, the Mars Climate Orbiter, the mission ended in failure with the loss of both craft in separate incidents. After attempts to re-establish communications failed following entry into Mars atmosphere, the lander was declared lost, with the presumption that the vehicle did not survive the descent.
Conveyed on the Mars Polar Lander was the Deep Space 2 surface-penetrator mission to Mars. The two missions were designed to study the Martian weather, climate, water and carbon dioxide concentrations, in order to understand the reservoirs, behavior, and atmospheric role of volatiles and to search for evidence of long-term and episodic climate changes.
The lander was to touch down on the southern polar layered terrain, between 73°S and 76°S in the region, Planum Australe less than 1,000 km from the...
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