Stock Photo - The Mars Surveyor ´98 Climate Orbiter is shown here during acoustic tests that simulate launch conditions. The orbiter was to conduct a two year primary mission to profile the Martian atmosphere and map the surface. To carry out these scientific objectives, the spacecraft carried a rebuilt version of the pressure modulated infrared radiometer, lost with the Mars Observer spacecraft, and a miniaturized dual camera system the size of a pair of binoculars, provided by Malin Space Science Systems, Inc., San Diego, California. During its primary mission, the orbiter was to monitor Mars atmosphere and surface globally on a daily basis for one Martian year two Earth years, observing the appearance and movement of atmospheric dust and water vapor, as well as characterizing seasonal changes of the planet´s surface. Imaging of the surface morphology would also provide important clues about the planet´s climate in its early history. The mission was part of NASA´s Mars Surveyor program, a sustained program of robotic exploration of the red planet, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA´s Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Lockheed Martin Astronautics was NASA´s industrial partner in the mission. Unfortunately, Mars Climate Orbiter burned up in the Martian atmosphere on September 23, 1999, due to a metric conversion error that caused the spacecraft to be off course.