The Mars Observer spacecraft in the clean room.
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NASA/JPL
Mars Observer
Mars Observer, also called MO for short, was sent to observe the weather, the magnetic field, and the
surface of Mars. It carried 8 different instruments.
But, MO failed on August 21, 1993. There was a fuel leak that caused the spacecraft to blow up!
NASA used what it had learned to create the successful Mars Global Surveyor mission. That just goes to show that you too can learn from your mistakes!
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...moreWhen Mars Observer blew up, the Mars Surveyor Program was born. The Surveyor Program was suppose to consist of 8 spacecraft. The spacecraft were named: Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars '98,
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...moreMars Global Surveyor carries an instrument which measures the heights of things. This instrument is called an altimeter, or "altitude-meter". The graph to the left shows the results returned from Mars
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