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Mars Polar Lander / Deep Space 2

past Mission

Type

Lander, Probe

Launch

Jan. 3, 1999

Target

Mars

Objective

Deploy a lander and two penetrators on Mars

Mars Polar Lander was an ambitious mission to set a spacecraft down on the frigid terrain near the edge of Mars' south polar cap and dig for water ice with a robotic arm. Piggybacking on the lander were two small probes called Deep Space 2 designed to impact the Martian surface to test new technologies. Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 were lost on arrival Dec. 3, 1999.

An illustration of a spacecraft lander on Mars, showing a thre-legged craft sitting on a desert landscape of brown and light orange soil dotted with patches of white ice. The craft .carries V-shaped solar panels attached to its laft and right sides, a camera atop a scaffold rising from the craft's top deck, and a spindly robot arm in back with a small scoop at its end.

An illustration of NASA's Mars Polar Lander on the surface of Mars.

NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech

Quick Facts

Jan. 3, 1999: Launch

Launch Vehicle: Delta II

Dec. 3, 1999: Mars arrival and last contact

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