NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor will complete its primary mapping mission of Mars on January 31, 2001 after a mapping mission that lasted one full Mars year (687 days). During this time MGS was able to globally map the planet while monitoring seasonal changes. With the spacecraft and instruments still healthy and collecting excellent data NASA has approved an extended mission that will commence directly after the mapping mission. As a result data from the MOLA laser altimeter instrument will keep flowing.