PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 

Contacts: Diane Ainsworth, JPL, (818) 354-0850
          Evan McCollum, Lockheed Martin, (303) 977-5364 

MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR CAMERA DELIVERED TO LOCKHEED MARTIN

     One of the first of the Mars Global Surveyor science 
instruments -- a camera sporting the highest resolution 
capability ever flown to orbit another planet -- has been 
delivered to Lockheed Martin Astronautics Corporation's Denver 
facility for integration and testing aboard NASA's new Mars 
Global Surveyor orbiter.

     The camera, built by Dr. Michael Malin of Malin Space 
Science Systems, Inc., San Diego, CA, and the California 
Institute of Technology is one of six science instruments that 
will be delivered to Lockheed Martin, NASA's industrial partner 
for the 1996 Mars Global Surveyor mission. The first of the 
Surveyor instruments to undergo installation on the spacecraft 
last summer was the ultra-stable oscillator, delivered to 
Lockheed Martin in July, and designed to be used as part of 
Surveyor's radio system for radio science investigations.  

     Mars Global Surveyor is a scaled-down version of the Mars 
Observer orbiter, designed to acquire global maps of the Martian 
surface, profile the planet's atmosphere and study the nature of 
the magnetic field.  The spacecraft is scheduled to be launched 
from Cape Canaveral, FL, aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta 7925 
launch vehicle on Nov. 5, 1996.  After a 10-month cruise, the 
spacecraft will enter orbit around Mars on Sept. 11, 1997, and 
spend six months gradually lowering itself into a nearly circular 
mapping orbit 400 kilometers (250 miles) above the Martian 
surface.
     
     The Mars Orbiter Camera will be able to obtain high-
resolution images 10 times better than any previous Mars orbiting 
camera, Malin said. Individual photographs of Mars will be sharp 
enough to show small geologic features such as boulders and sand 
dunes, and cover as much as 45 square kilometers (20 square 
miles). Tens of thousands of photographs are planned during the 
two-year mission.

     "Each individual picture cell will cover less than 1.5 
meters (5 feet), permitting the camera to distinguish surface 
features as small as 3-1/4 meters (10 feet) across," Malin said.  
"This is about 100 times better than most of the Viking pictures 
of Mars obtained in the mid-1970s."

     The camera is a replica of the camera flown on the Mars 
Observer spacecraft, which was lost three days before entering 
orbit around Mars in August 1993. In addition to its high-
resolution imaging capability, the instrument also incorporates a 
low-resolution color system to create daily global maps very 
similar to those produced by Earth-orbiting weather satellites.

     Designed specifically to meet the demanding weight, power 
and data rate restrictions of planetary spacecraft, as well as 
the harsh conditions of space, the camera weighs only 20.5 
kilograms (45 pounds) and stands less than 88 centimeters (35 
inches) tall and 40 centimeters (16 inches) in diameter. Cost of 
the camera for the Mars Global Surveyor mission is $3 million.

     Mars Global Surveyor is the first of a decade-long program 
of robotic missions to Mars, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.  

                              #####

Note to Editors: Information about the Mars Global Surveyor 
Camera, the Mars Global Surveyor mission and its science 
objectives is available via the Internet World Wide Web by 
accessing http://www.msss.com/mars/mars.html#mgs.

12-1-95 DEA
#9586