TES Mission Highlights

This page will become a summary of TES mission milestones as the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft completes its mission of mapping the planet Mars. The most recent information about the TES instrument can be found on The Latest From TES! page. For a complete history of TES, read our TES News newsletters-- they date from August 1992 to the Present.

On November 7, 1997 MGS resumed aerobraking.

On October 12, 1997 the MGS orbit was raised to keep the spacecraft out of the Mars atmosphere during its close approaches to the planet. This was in response to concerns about the structural integrity of one of the two solar panels. During previous "drag passes", this solar panel appeared to be flexing more than it should have. Raising the orbit and suspending the aerobraking activity gave engineers a chance evaluate the condition of the solar panel. During the two week hiatus, the engineers concluded that it was safe to resume aerobraking, but at 1/3 the drag pressure originally planned. This reduced aerobraking level will extend the amount of time required to achieve a circular mapping orbit.

The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, carrying the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES), was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral on 7 November 1996. The cruise phase of the mission is now over, and Mars orbit insertion (MOI) was successfully executed 11 September 1997.

On 9 September 1997, MGS Project Manager Glenn Cunningham and TES Principal Investigator Phil Christensen announced the return of a grain of the Zagami meteorite (one of the 12 known martian meteorites) to Mars orbit attached to the TES instrument on Mars Global Surveyor.

In August 1997, the TES was turned on again in order to make observations of Mars as MGS speeds toward the Red Planet. The instrument was functioning well, is in excellent health, and acquired the first spectra of Mars.

In late November 1996, the TES instrument was successfully turned on and made fantastic observations of the Earth, indicating that the instrument is healthy and functioning well.