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

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