Engineers at SBRC first built a prototype of the TES, in order to understand all of the hardware and software involved in the project. This prototype, or "engineering model," is presently (1994) on display on the campus of Arizona State University. The actual TES flown on Mars Observer was built next. It was completed in 1991 and delivered to the General Electric Astro Space Division (now Martin Marietta Astro Space) near Princeton, New Jersey, in early 1992. The Mars Observer spacecraft was assembled at the Astro Space facility in New Jersey, and TES was mounted on the spacecraft there. The spacecraft was moved by truck to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in June 1992. Mars Observer was launched using Titan III rocket on September 25, 1992.
The journey to Mars took 11 months. Along the way, TES was turned on 3 times to check its health. These turn-ons occurred in November 1992, February 1993, and August 1993. The final TES turn-on, August 1, 1993, actually involved pointing the TES at Mars, which at that time was still only a tiny point of light. The spacecraft was to enter Mars orbit on August 24, 1993. On August 21, 1993, communication with the spacecraft was lost. An independent review board headed by Dr. Timothy Coffey of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory concluded in a report to NASA released on January 5, 1994, that the failure of Mars Observer might have been caused by a ruptured fuel line. Mars Observer never transmitted any data indicating that there was a problem, thus the exact cause of failure is not known for certain.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
JPL Mars Missions
Homepage | WHAT is
TES? | Lab Spectroscopy
K-12 Outreach | ASU Facility & People
| Mars Links
ASU Planetary Exploration Lab Homepage