Mars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2 | Missions

Mars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2

Artist's concept of the Mars Polar Lander

Mars Polar Lander was an ambitious mission to set a spacecraft down on the frigid terrain near the edge of Mars' south polar cap and dig for water ice with a robotic arm. Piggybacking on the lander were two small probes called Deep Space 2 designed to impact the Martian surface to test new technologies.

Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 were lost at arrival December 3, 1999.

Mission Fact Sheet

Ten sample tubes, capturing an amazing variety of Martian geology, have been deposited on Mars’ surface so they could be studied on Earth in the future.

NASA's Perseverance Rover Completes Mars Sample Depot

Filled with rock, the sample tube will be one of 10 forming a depot of tubes that could be considered for a journey to Earth by the Mars Sample Return campaign.

NASA's Perseverance Rover Deposits First Sample on Mars Surface

The mission has concluded that the solar-powered lander has run out of energy after more than four years on the Red Planet.

NASA Retires InSight Mars Lander Mission After Years of Science

The 10 sample tubes being dropped on Mars’ surface so they can be studied on Earth in the future carry an amazing diversity of Red Planet geology.

NASA's Perseverance Rover to Begin Building Martian Sample Depot

The agency’s Perseverance rover will establish the first sample depot on Mars.

NASA and ESA Agree on Next Steps to Return Mars Samples to Earth

The Mars lander’s seismometer has picked up vibrations from four separate impacts in the past two years.

NASA's InSight 'Hears' Its First Meteoroid Impacts on Mars