Mars Polar Lander

Mission

Kind: Lander

State: Spacecraft failure

Place: Mars

Operator: NASA / JPL

Date

Start:

Duration: 334 days

Mission Ending

Disposal: failure at landing

Last Contact: 20:00, December 3, 1999 (UTC) (1999-12-03T20:00Z)

Rocket

Rocket: Delta II 7425

Kind: NASA / JPL

Manufacturer: Martin Marietta

Mass: 290 kilograms (640 lb)

Launch Site: Cape Canaveral AFS SLC-17A

Flyby

"Requesting permission for flyby." Maverick - Top Gun

Orbit

"You’re going very fast when you’re on orbit, going around the world once every hour and a half." - Robert Crippen

Lander

Place: Mars

Region: Ultimi Scopuli, 76°S 195°W / 76°S 195°W / -76, -195 (Mars Polar Lander) (projected)

Date: ~20:15 UTC ERT, December 3, 1999

The Mars Polar Lander, also known as the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander, was a 290-kilogram robotic spacecraft lander launched by NASA on January 3, 1999 to study the soil and climate of Planum Australe, a region near the south pole on Mars. It formed part of the Mars Surveyor '98 mission. On December 3, 1999, however, after the descent phase was expected to be complete, the lander failed to reestablish communication with Earth. A post-mortem analysis determined the most likely cause of the mishap was premature termination of the engine firing prior to the lander touching the surface, causing it to strike the planet at a high velocity.