The Mars Observer spacecraft, also known as the Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter, was a 1,018-kilogram (2,244 lb) robotic space probe launched by NASA on September 25, 1992 to study the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate and magnetic field. During the interplanetary cruise phase, communication with the spacecraft was lost on August 21, 1993, 3 days prior to orbital insertion. Attempts to re-establish communication with the spacecraft were unsuccessful.
Read more about Mars Observer: Mission Profile, Communications Loss
Famous quotes containing the words mars and/or observer:
“It makes us, or it mars us, think on that,
And fix most firm thy resolution.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The possibility of interpretation lies in the identity of the observer with the observed. Each material thing has its celestial side; has its translation, through humanity, into the spiritual and necessary sphere, where it plays a part as indestructible as any other.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)