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  Mars Surveyor 1998 & 2001 Priscilla  Knowles             MSP 98 Orbitor         MSP 98 Lander   Mars Surveyor Project  1998 (MSP 98)

The Mars Exploration program for the 1998 Earth-Mars transfer opportunity consists of an orbiter and a lander.
The MSP 98 Orbitor will be launched in Dec. 1998, and will arrive at Mars in Sep. 1999.
The MSP 98 Lander will be launched in Jan. 1999, and will arrive at Mars in Dec. 1999.
The general science theme for MSP 98 is "Volatiles and Climate History".
     - Landing site targets near south pole (~ 80 deg S)
     - 90 days primary lander mission.
     - 400 km near circular, near polar mapping orbit.
     - 2 years science mapping, 5 years data relay mission.

It will be an impressive celebration for the ending of this century and the beginning of the New Millennium.

MSP 98 Orbitor
MSP 98 Orbitor will arrive at Mars in Sep 1999 after 10 months cruise in the space.
The Orbitor bipropellant engines will burn for about 16 minutes to insert the spacecraft into an elliptical capture orbit of Mars. The resultant orbit period lies between 19 - 40 hrs, with a nominal peeriapse altitude of 160 km.

Over the next 2 months, the orbit will be reduced via accelerated aerobraking .
The Orbitor will reach its final, frozen, near sun-synchronous mapping orbit, at a descending node of  4 pm. This occurs prior to the arrival of MSP 98 Lander.

During the 98 Mars Landers active periods, the orbitor will provide command and data relay support.
The Orbitor will perform systematic daily global sounding and imaging of the Mars atmosphere for one Mars year (687 Earth days).
Once its mapping mission is completed, the Orbitor will be available as a communication relay for future Mars landers for up to 3 additional years.

Scientific Instruments payload of  MSP 98 Orbitor
Pressure Modulator Infrared Radiomeeter (PMIRR).
Mars Colour Imager (MARCI).
 
 

MSP 98 Lander
MSP 98 Lander will experience a 12 months cruise and will arrive at Mars in Dec. 1999.
It will take a direct atmospheric entry. The Lander will be slowed down by a Mars Pathfinder-heritage aeroshell and parachute, and a controlled propulsive landing.
The landing area will bee 75 -78S, on the southern polar layered terrain.
It will be equipped with a UHF relay for downlink via the MSP 98 Orbitor and or MGS. The command uplink will via the MSP 98 Orbitor.
A direct to Earth (DTE) link will also be available for Lander commanding and as a backup downlink.

The Lander will carry the Mars Volatiles and Climate Surveyor instrument suite, which will perform in situ investigations to address the sceince theme "Volatiles and Climate History" on Mars.
The lander will search for near-surface ice and possible surfacial records of cyclic climate change, and characterize physical processes key to the seasonal cycles of water, carbon dioxide and of dust on Mars.
The duration of the primary sceince phase will be about 90 days.

Scientific Instruments payload of MSP 98 Lander:
Mars Descent Imager (MARDI)
Mars Volatiles and Climate Surveyor (MVACS) Suite:
     - Surface Stereo Imager (SSI).
     - Robotic Arm with Camera (RA, RAC) and Thermal Probe.
     - Thermal Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA).
     - Meterological Package (MET).
Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR).
 
 

Mars Surveyor 2001 (MS 2001)
NASA's Space Science and Human Exploration & Development  enterprises have agreed to jointly fund and manage two robotic missions to Mars in  2001.

This joint effort is a sign that NAASA is acquiring the information that will be needed for a national decision, perhaps in a decade or so, on whether or not to send humans to Mars.

NASA intends to launch a MS 2001 Orbitor in March 2001, and a MS 2001 Laander in April 2001.

The MS 2001 Laander will deliver a small, advanced technology rover capable of traveling several tens of miles across the mars highlaands. The rover will be able to collect rock and soil samples for later return tto Earth by a future robotic mission.

The MS 2001 Landeer will also be a platform for instruments and technology experiments designed to provide key insights to decisions regarding human missions to Mars. It will give us invaluable information about the radiation environment of spaace and the surface on Mars. and how tto supply the habitation and working environment for future human explorers.

A companion mission  MS 2001 Orbitor will be the first to use the atmosphere of Mars to slow down and directly capture the spacecraft into orbit. A technique called "Aerocapture".
This orbitor will conduct mineralogical mapping of the entire planet and characterize its orbital radiation environment.
It also will carry a radio relay to support the Lander and a possible Russian robotic rover mission.
The preliminary cost of this 2001 Mars mission will be more than  $300 million.
The highest one of these low cost Mars missions.
 

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