Mars Climate Orbiter

The Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter) was one of two spacecraft in the Mars Surveyor '98 program, the other being the Mars Polar Lander (formerly the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander). The two missions were to study the Martian weather, climate, and water and carbon dioxide budget, in order to understand the reservoirs, behavior, and atmospheric role of volatiles and to search for evidence of long-term and episodic climate changes.

Related Topics:
Mars Surveyor '98 program - Mars Polar Lander - Martian - Weather - Climate - Water - Carbon dioxide

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The Mars Climate Orbiter was destroyed when a navigation error caused the spacecraft to miss its intended 140 - 150 km altitude above Mars during orbit insertion, instead entering the Martian atmosphere at about 57 km. The spacecraft would have been destroyed by atmospheric stresses and friction at this low altitude. A review board found that some data was calculated on the ground in Imperial units (pounds) and reported that way to the navigation team, who were expecting the data in metric units (newtons).

Related Topics:
Imperial units - Metric units

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