The Mars Observer mission

Abstract

Attention is given to the establishment of the Planetary Observer program and the initiation of the Mars Observer project (scheduled for 1990), its scientific objectives, and plans for operations. The Mars Observer mission will provide a spacecraft platform about Mars from which the entire Martian surface and atmosphere may be mapped for at least one Martian year. This first Planetary Observer mission will reveal how a series of low-cost missions can be planned and implemented to fit within constrained NASA budget for planetary operation.