Solar System Exploration: Missions: By Name: D: Deep Space 2

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Goals: The Mars Microprobe Mission - Deep Space 2 - was intended to test new technologies and search for water ice in the south pole soil of Mars. The twin micropobes hitched a ride aboard Mars Polar Lander.

Accomplishments: None. Both the lander probes were lost during the when Mars Polar Lander crashed on Mars in December 1999.

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	Status: Unsuccessful

Fast Facts


	Both Deep Space 2 microprobes weighed a total of only 6.5 kg (14.3 pounds) They were named Amundsen and Scott (right) in honor of the first explorers to reach Earth's South Pole in 1911. The probes were designed to survive and impact of up to 644 kp/h (400 mph).

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	Chris Voorhees "Each robot is the culmination of the combined hopes and dreams of each of the people who worked on it. There are many souls in each great machine."



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	1 Jan 2002:	United Kingdom Announces Center to Study Near-Earth Objects



	21 Dec 2001:	Background: UCLA-Led Project Will Send Spacecraft to Study the Origins of the Solar System



	20 Apr 2001:	A Conversation with Dr. Ed Stone



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	Solar System Bodies: Mars



	Images of DS2



	Mars Exploration Program



	JPL Mars Reports



	NSSDC Master Catalog: Deep Space 2



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NASA Official: Kristen Erickson

Advisory: Dr. James Green, Director of Planetary Science

Outreach Manager: Alice Wessen