The venerable Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, completed its 25,000th orbit around Mars recently and is still going strong. Built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in partnership with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA’s Mars exploration program, MGS achieved this major milestone May 26, demonstrating its yeoman’s performance as the “big brother” of orbiters circling Mars and mapping the planet’s surface since 1997, as no other Mars exploration spacecraft has done before. The Mars Global Surveyor is approaching the beginning of its eighth year of mission operations in orbit around Mars and continues its record of collecting more information about the red planet than all previous missions combined.
June 7th, 2004
Mars Global Surveyor Completes Over 25,000 Orbits And Continues To Rewrite The History Books On Mars Lockheed Martin
February 14th, 2004
Happy Valentine’s Day 2004 Malin Space Science Systems
Happy St. Valentine’s Day from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) team! This collection of images acquired over the past 3 Mars years shows some of the heart-shaped features found on Mars by the MGS MOC.
January 20th, 2004
Orbiter Reveals Mars Seasonal Patterns Discovery News
Two full Martian years of global Mars temperature readings, equal in time to about four Earth years, from the Mars Global Surveyor’s (MGS) onboard Thermal Emission Spectrometer are revealing a planet where global dust storms, water ice, and the distance to the sun trigger long-lasting changes in the Martian climate.
January 7th, 2004
Orbiter Photographs Viking 1 and Pathfinder Landers on Mars’ Surface
Scientists have used an orbiting Mars craft to photograph robotic landers that have been sitting dormant on the surface of the red planet since their missions ended. Using a newly developed trick, the researchers imaged Mars Pathfinder, which in 1997 thrilled earthlings with its photographs and the wandering science exploits of its Sojourner rover. Pathfinder appears as a dark dot near a rock that scientists named Yogi during the mission. The Viking 1 lander from 1976 is also visible, as a bright dot in a separate image.
October 7th, 2003
New Photos of ‘Astounding’ Mars
Like a celebrity under constant photographic scrutiny, Mars continues to show fresh and surprising faces. And as with an enigmatic Hollywood star, more than 10,000 new images of the red planet reveal more puzzles than answers. “Mars just keeps astounding us with its complexity,” said Ken Edgett, staff scientist for Malin Space Science Systems, which built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera aboard NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor.
September 30th, 2003
Gallery Of Mars Closeups From NASA Orbiter Adds 10,232 Views
Thousands of newly released portraits of martian landscapes from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft testify to the diversity of ways geological processes have sculpted the surface of our neighboring planet.
September 12th, 2003
Marine Picks First Public Mars Global Surveyor Image
If you were given a chance to aim the camera on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter and take a picture of something on the red planet, what would you shoot? Now we know, after NASA released today the first picture selected from hundreds of public suggestions. The photo reveals a thick layer of dust blanketing the floor and wall of the summit crater atop a tall volcano called Pavonis Mons.
August 22nd, 2003
Sightseeing on Mars Astronomy.com
In orbit around the Red Planet since 1997, NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has captured more than 123,000 pictures of the martian surface. But according to Ken Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems, the group that operates Global Surveyor’s Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), the camera’s narrow-angle (high-resolution) system has only examined about 3 percent of the planet’s craters, dunes, gullies, canyons, volcanoes, and other surface features. Now, Edgett and other members of the camera team are looking for some help to select future martian locales to image up close. They’ve established a website where you
May 23rd, 2003
Satellite Snaps Earth’s Photo From Mars
NASA on Thursday released what it billed as the first portrait of Earth as seen from Mars. The colorized photograph shows Earth from 86 million miles away as a small blue dot orbited by its even smaller moon. The keen-eyed can make out clouds over the central and eastern United States and northern South America, as well as portions of Central America and the Gulf of Mexico, in a specially processed blowup of the image. NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft took the picture while orbiting the Red Planet on May 8.
May 22nd, 2003
Snapshot of Mother Earth from Mars
Have you ever wondered what you would see if you stood on Mars looking back at the Earth through a small telescope? Now you can see Earth through the eyes of our space-faring wanderer — the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft — which currently orbits the Red Planet. In fact, the spacecraft has flown around Mars for years, since September 1997.