At the June Mars 2001 landing zone workshop, it became clear that many scientifically interesting sites — including those at Valles Marineris and White Rock — were simply too rugged for their science benefit to be worth the landing risk, despite the 2001 Lander’s greater accuracy at navigating.
October 11th, 1999
Mars 2001 Landing Sites Reduced To Two
As a result of a meeting of 132 planetary scientists held last week in Houston, the possible choices of a landing area for the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander have officially been reduced to two — with one of them the overwhelming favorite.
September 29th, 1999
Mars Probe Loss Leaves 2001 Lander in Lurch
The loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter has thrown a monkey wrench into plans for another Mars mission set for launch in 2001. The 2001 lander will have its own orbiter to serve as a communications link to Earth, but if it — like the Climate Orbiter — should fail, the lander would be left with no way to radio its science findings to Earth. That
June 28th, 1999
High-resolution images help prepare for Mars landing
Things aren’t always as they seem on Mars. Some of the latest images from NASA’s Global Surveyor mapping mission around the red planet are making that abundantly clear, a group of scientists and engineers interested in NASA’s Mars mission set for a 2001 launch learned recently.
May 10th, 1999
Students To Drive Mars Rover
Astronaut John Glenn and Bill Nye, the Science Guy, announced today an unprecedented opportunity for children around the world to join the first student team ever to serve on a planetary mission. This Planetary Society project will allow children hands-on participation in the operation of a Mars rover and robotic arm on the Mars Surveyor mission that launches in 2001.
May 7th, 1999
School Children Will Help Drive Next Mars Rover
A new U.S. mission to Mars will let school children help operate a robotic rover as it rolls over the red Martian surface, former astronaut John Glenn announced Thursday. The Mars Surveyor 2001 mission, set to launch in 2001, will allow student “astronauts,” living in a simulated Mars base on Earth, to assist in manipulating the rover on Mars, according to Glenn, a former senator.
May 6th, 1999
Glenn announces school children will help drive next Mars rover
A new U.S. mission to Mars will let school children help operate a robotic rover as it rolls over the red Martian surface, former astronaut John Glenn announced on Thursday.
April 21st, 1999
Sundial will mark passage of days, seasons on Mars University of Washington
You could call it Martian Standard Time. The new “time zone” takes effect in January 2002 when a sundial designed and assembled at the University of Washington lands on the red planet aboard NASA’s 2001 Mars Surveyor.
April 21st, 1999
Sundial bound for Mars
For the first time in history, humanity will send a sundial to another planet. Inscribed with the motto “Two Worlds, One Sun,” the sundial will travel to Mars aboard Nasa’s Mars Surveyor 2001 lander.
February 22nd, 1999
Pumping Up The Gas
An experiment to ride on Mars Surveyor 2001 will be the first attempt to produce oxygen using local resources – in this case carbon dioxide mined from the Martian atmosphere. Called in-situ production, the experiment will help pave the way for more substantial resource extraction that is critical to any human missions to Mars.