The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was a US spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 10-year absence. It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2 November 2006, the spacecraft failed to respond to messages and commands. A faint signal was detected three days later which indicated that it had gone into safe mode. Attempts to recontact the spacecraft and resolve the problem failed, and NASA officially ended the mission in January 2007.
Read more about Mars Global Surveyor: Specifications, Scientific Instruments, Launch and Orbit Insertion, Aerobraking, Mapping, Mission Results, MER Communications Subsystem, Loss of Contact, MGS and General Relativity: The Lense-Thirring Test, Discovery of Water On Mars, Mission Timeline, Other Pictures
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