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Mars Climate Orbiter

Mars Climate Orbiter was a NASA spacecraft designed to monitor Martian weather, atmospheric dust and water vapor, and seasonal surface changes while relaying communications for Mars Polar Lander. It completed its interplanetary cruise but was lost during arrival at Mars.

Mars Climate Orbiter
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech · The stored 768x698 image is a resized rendition of the NASA Science original 2200x2000 Mars Climate Orbiter artist concept at the direct source URL above; the subject and composition match that original. NASA Science credits this asset NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech. NASA current Images and Media Usage Guidelines state that NASA content generally is not subject to copyright in the United States and may be used for factual educational or informational purposes with NASA acknowledged. Commercial use must not imply NASA endorsement; NASA insignia, logotype, and identifiers are protected. NASA states that separately identified third-party material can carry separate rights; this source page identifies this asset as NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech and shows no separate third-party notice. This records asset-level provenance and source basis; it is not a blanket rights grant. · Source
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Identity

Aliases
MCOMars Surveyor '98 Orbiter
Name
Mars Climate Orbiter
Status
failed

Details

Astronauts
-
Description
Mars Climate Orbiter was a NASA spacecraft designed to monitor Martian weather, atmospheric dust and water vapor, and seasonal surface changes while relaying communications for Mars Polar Lander. It completed its interplanetary cruise but was lost during arrival at Mars.
Destination
Intended Mars orbit for climate studies and communications relay; lost in Mars’ atmosphere on arrival after a navigation error caused by a failure to translate English units to metric
End Date
1999-09-23
Launch Site
Outcome
A mismatch between English and metric units in ground-navigation data accumulated into a trajectory error. Mars Climate Orbiter passed far below its intended altitude during orbit insertion, entered the Martian atmosphere, and was destroyed before beginning science operations.
Programs
Start Date
1998-12-11
Vehicle Families

Links

Official Url
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-climate-orbiter/

Assets & Meta

Creation Time
July 18, 2026 at 14:01:00 UTC
Updated Time
August 23, 2026 at 01:32:11 UTC
Image
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Affiliations
Search Name
Mars Climate Orbiter MCO Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter
Space Stations
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Vehicles