Launch of Mars Observer

Mars Observer was a NASA mission to orbit Mars and study its geology, climate and magnetic field. It was the first American Mars mission since the Viking landers of the 1970s, and was launched on a Titan rocket. Communications were lost a few days before it was due to enter orbit, when the spacecraft was pressurising its fuel tanks, and it was never heard from again. A review board concluded that the most likely cause was a rupture in the propulsion system, though this could not be proved. The loss was a blow to planetary science, and NASA salvaged much of the work by flying duplicates of several of the instruments on later missions such as Mars Global Surveyor.

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