Mars Climate Orbiter

Occurred 25 years ago

Type

Orbiter

Launch

Dec. 11, 1998

Target

Mars

Status

Unsuccessful

Designed to study Mars from orbit and serve as a communications relay for the Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space probes, the Mars Climate Orbiter was unsuccessful due to a navigation error caused by a failure to translate English units to metric. Last contact with the spacecraft was on September 23, 1999, nine months after launch, and an investigation found that the spacecraft burned up in Mars' atmosphere.

Artist's concept of Mars Climate Orbiter
An artist's concept of Mars Climate Orbiter.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Key Facts

Launch
Dec. 11, 1998
Launch Site
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Launch Vehicle
Delta II
End of Mission
Sept. 23, 1999, lost on arrival

Mars Stories

Explore all Mars Stories
Article
3 min read

Sols 4166-4167: A Garden Full of Rocks

Curiosity on Sol 4164
Article
2 min read

Sols 4164-4165: What’s Around the Ridge-bend?

Gediz Vallis ridge
Image of Mars
2 min read

Sols 4161-4163: Double Contact Science

Article2 days ago
A landscape scene looks out on a mostly flat surface with pools of liquid. in the middle A mountain range in the distance runs across the top of the image, punctuated by a daylight blue sky.
5 min read

Why is Methane Seeping on Mars? NASA Scientists Have New Ideas

Article3 days ago
Image of Mars was taken by Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity
3 min read

Sols 4159-4160: A Fully Loaded First Sol

Article7 days ago
Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.

Perseverance Rover

Parker Solar Probe

Juno