Mars Global Surveyor was launched on November 7th, 1996 and entered Martian
orbit on September 12th, 1997.
It spent a year and a half regularizing its orbit using a technique known as
aerobreaking, in which it used the Martian atmosphere to slow its speed. It
started its mapping mission in March, 1999 from a low polar orbit. Mars
Surveyor spent a year and a half mapping the entire Martian surface in greater
detail than hitherto achieved, as well as conducting extensive studies of the
Martian atmosphere, interior, and magnetic field. Mars Global Surveyor has begun an extended
mission and is still operational
"Faster, Better, Cheaper" Fails
The next two Martian probes were lost because, many believe,
the policy of "Faster, Better Cheaper" failed. Too much was attempted for too
little money and not enough time.
Mars Climate Orbiter, meant to be a Mars weather satellite
and a communications relay for its companion probe, the Mars Polar Lander, was
launched in December, 1998. It was lost while attempting to enter Mars orbit on
September 23rd, 1999
when it likely entered the planet’s atmosphere and burned up. A subsequent
investigation found that cutbacks in money spent on tracking, combined with
incorrect values in a look-up table in the spacecrafts software (use of the
English measurement pounds force instead of the metric measurement newtons)
were to blame for the lost of the space craft.
Mars Polar Lander was launched in January, 1999. It would
have dug for water ice near the Martian South Pole. A pair of tiny probes
designed to penetrate the Martian surface, called Deep Space 2, piggy-backed on
the Mars Polar Lander. Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 were lost on arrival
to Mars on December 3rd,
1999. Subsequent investigations blamed shortcomings in project management
and preflight testing for the loss of the probe.
The lost of the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar
Lander resulted in a reevaluation of the Faster, Better, Cheaper policy.
Subsequent NASA planetary probes would not be so cheap.