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Mission record

Mars Global Surveyor

Also known as MGS, MarsGlobalSurveyor

NASA-Office of Space Science · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) orbited Mars over a seven year period and collected data on the surface morphology, topography, composition, gravity, atmospheric dynamics, and magnetic field, to be used to investigate the surface processes, geology, distribution of material, internal properties, evolution of the magnetic field, and the weather and climate of Mars. It was inserted into an elliptical capture orbit in September 1997, and because one of the solar panels failed to latch properly when it was deployed, a new aerobraking schedule was employed which involved slower aerobraking putting less pressure on the solar panels. The primary mission lasted one martian year through January 2001, an extended mission took place until April 2002, and further extensions were added until contact with the spacecraft was lost on 2 November 2006.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Delta II 7925
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Orbiter

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on a Delta II 7925

    NSSDCA's launch/orbital information page gives the launch date and time as 1996-11-07T17:00:50Z. The master catalog page describes the same vehicle as a Delta 7925, a Delta II Lite launch vehicle with nine strap-on solid-rocket boosters and a Star 48 (PAM-D) third stage.

    Earth

  2. Orbit insertion

    Inserted into an elliptical capture orbit after a 10 month cruise

    After a 10 month cruise phase, the Mars Global Surveyor was inserted into an elliptical capture orbit at 01:17 UT 12 September 1997. The two NSSDCA pages disagree by forty minutes and the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved: the launch/orbital information page begins its first Mars orbiter epoch at 1997-09-12 00:37:00, with a 261.00 x 54024.50 km orbit of 44.99 hours at 93.260 degrees.

    Mars

  3. Milestone

    Aerobraking resumed after a five month hiatus

    One of the solar panels failed to latch properly when it was deployed and subsequently showed unexpected motion and moved past its fully deployed position when aerobraking began, thought to be due to the fracture of a damper arm and subsequent structural damage. A new aerobraking schedule was employed, which involved slower aerobraking putting less pressure on the solar panels through April 1998, at which time an 11.6 hour science phasing orbit with a 171 km periapsis was achieved and aerobraking was halted. After a 5 month hiatus, aerobraking was resumed on 23 September 1998. The launch/orbital information page carries the matching 171.40 x 17836.00 km, 11.64 hour orbit and ends its epoch on the same date.

    Mars

  4. Milestone

    Reached the circular polar mapping orbit

    After aerobraking ended in February 1999, MGS was in a 118 minute circular polar science mapping orbit with an index altitude of 378 km. The orbit is sun-synchronous (2 a.m./2 p.m.) and maps over the 2 p.m. crossing from south to north, with a 7 day near-repeat cycle so Mars will be mapped in 26 day cycles. Science mapping began in mid-March 1999.

    Mars

  5. Milestone

    Primary mission of one martian year completed

    The primary mission lasted one martian year (687 Earth days) through January, 2001. An extended mission took place until April 2002, and further extensions were added after it.

    Mars

  6. Loss of contact

    Contact lost after ten years in Mars orbit

    Further extensions were added until contact with the spacecraft was lost on 2 November 2006. The Mars Global Surveyor mission cost about $154 million to develop and build and $65 million to launch, and mission operations and data analysis cost approximately $20 million/year.

    Mars

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Mars Global Surveyor · Orbiter

    Destinations: Mars

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 2, 2026