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Quick Facts from the JPL Press Kit
Mars Polar Lander
Dimensions: 3-1/2 feet (1.06 meters) tall by 12 feet (3.6 meters) wide
Weight: 1,270 lbs (576 kg) total, consisting of 639-lb (290-kg) lander plus 141 lbs (64 kg) propellant,181-lb (82-kg) cruise stage, 309-lb (140-kg) aeroshell and heat shield
Science instruments: Mars Volatiles and Climate Surveyor (integrated package with surface imager,robotic arm with camera, meteorology package, and thermal and evolved gas analyzer); Mars Descent Imager; Lidar (including Mars microphone)
Power: Solar panels providing 200 watts on Mars' surface
Launch date: January 3, 1999
Earth-Mars distance at launch: 136.6 million miles (219.9 million km)
Earth-Mars distance at arrival: 157.2 million miles (253 million km)
One-way speed of light time Mars to Earth on landing day: 14 minutes, 4 seconds
Total distance traveled Earth to Mars: 470 million miles (757 million km)
Mars landing: December 3, 1999, at 12:01 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (actual event time in outer
space; signals confirming flight events would be received on Earth about 14 minutes later)
Landing site: 76 degrees south latitude, 195 degrees west longitude, about 500 miles (800 km) from
Mars' south pole
Estimated temperature at landing site: -73 F (-58 C)
Primary mission period: December 3, 1999 - March 1, 2000
Mars 98 Project
Mars Polar Lander cost: $110M spacecraft development, $10M mission operations; total $120 million
(not including launch vehicle or Deep Space 2 microprobes)
Mars Climate Orbiter cost: $80M spacecraft development, $5M mission operations; total $85 million
(not including launch vehicle)
Deep Space 2
Dimensions: aeroshell 11 inches (275 mm) high, 14 inches (350 mm) diameter; enclosing a forebody
(penetrator) 4.2 inches (105.6 mm) long, 1.5 inches (39 mm) diameter; and an aftbody (ground
station) 4.1 in (105.3 mm) high (plus 5-in (127-mm) antenna), 5.3 inches (136 mm) diameter
Weight: forebody 1.5 lbs (670 grams), aftbody 3.8 lbs (1,737 grams), aeroshell 2.6 lbs (1,165 grams);
total 7.9 lbs (3,572 grams)
Power: Two lithium-thionyl chloride batteries providing 600 milliamp-hours each
Science instruments: sample collection/water detection experiment, soil thermal experiment,
atmospheric descent accelerometer, impact accelerometer
Technologies: Total of 10 new technologies being flight-tested
Impact: December 3, 1999, at approximately 12:01 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (actual event
time in outer space)
Estimated distance of probe impacts from Polar Lander: About 35 miles (60 km) northwest (1 degree
north, 1 degree west of the lander)
Estimated distance of probe impacts from each other: Roughly 1 mile (2 km)
Duration of mission: 1 to 2 days
Cost: pre-launch development $28M, data analysis $1.6M; total $29.6 million
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