The Mars Global Surveyor, launched November 7, 1996, was a successful NASA project that mapped the surface of Mars, helping future missions identify potential landing sites. It traveled about 10 months to Mars, reaching it in September 1997.
It began its primary mapping phase in April 1999, after a series of aerobraking maneuvers to get it into an optimum orbit.
Its mission was extended in February 2001, and it was extended a second time in February 2002. In October 2006, its mission was extended a third time for another two years, but in November it suffered an error attempting to reorient a solar panel. A few days later, NASA detected a weak signal that it had gone into 'safe' mode and was waiting for instructions. Attempts to re-establish contact with the probe failed and NASA officially ended the mission in January 2007.
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