The Planetary Observer program is a cancelled space exploration program designed by NASA to provide cheaper planetary orbiters by using Earth-orbiting satellite components and technology, using solar panels for power, and a common spacecraft bus platform for all Planetary Observer-class probes. Only one spacecraft of this class was eventually constructed—the Mars Observer .
9-459: After the flagship multibillion-dollar missions of the 1970s, in the 1980s NASA was looking for a new, more affordable direction for the 1990s and beyond. Two projects were conceived by NASA's Solar System Exploration Committee in 1983, the Planetary Observer program and Mariner Mark II . The Observer program, starting with Mars Observer , was envisioned as a series of low-cost missions to
18-637: The Comet Nucleus Sample Return or CNSR (later Rosetta , without the sample return); Pluto Fast Flyby , a flyby of Pluto (later Pluto Kuiper Express , eventually realized as New Horizons ); and a Neptune Orbiter with an atmospheric probe. However, congressionally imposed reductions to FY 1992–93 funding requirements forced NASA to terminate the CRAF mission and to delay the Cassini launch from April 1996 to October 1997. In order to save it, NASA
27-472: The inner Solar System , based on commercial Earth satellites, while the Mariner Mark II was to be a series of large spacecraft for the exploration of the outer Solar System . Mariner Mark II spacecraft were to use common design, hardware and software solutions, much of it derived from previous missions such as Voyager and Galileo as well as select new technologies, such as advanced gyroscopes, all with
36-481: The Soviet Union, and there was a suggestion that they might cooperate with NASA to field some instruments for it. Lunar Observer was proposed for FY1991 at US$ 188 million by President George H.W. Bush. Mariner Mark II Mariner Mark II was NASA 's planned family of uncrewed spacecraft for the exploration of the outer Solar System that were to be developed and operated by JPL between 1980 through
45-632: The aim of cutting costs. It was hoped that this new approach would reduce the mission costs to about $ 400 million each, about half the price of Galileo. The first two missions of the project were to be a mission to Saturn and its moon Titan, the Saturn Orbiter/Titan Probe , or SOTP (later Cassini ) and the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF), both of which were approved by Congress in 1990. Other planned Mariner Mark II-based spacecraft were an ESA led follow-on to CRAF,
54-484: The inner Solar System, based on commercial Earth satellites. The Mariner Mark II, on the other hand, was to be a series of large spacecraft for the exploration of the outer Solar System. The first Planetary Observer spacecraft to be approved was Mars Observer , in 1985. Lunar Observer (LO), proposed for a 1997 launch, would have been sent into a long-term lunar orbit at 60 miles above the Moon's poles. The Mercury Observer (MO)
63-537: The year 2010. After the "flagship" multibillion-dollar missions of the 1970s, in the 1980s NASA was looking for a new, more affordable direction for the 1990s and beyond. Two projects were conceived by NASA's Solar System Exploration Committee in 1983, the Planetary Observer program , and Mariner Mark II. The Observer program, starting with the Mars Observer , was envisioned as a series of low-cost missions to
72-454: Was also proposed for a 1997 launch. However, congressionally imposed reductions to FY 1992-93 funding requirements forced NASA to terminate the Planetary Observer program, with just Mars Observer funded. Mars Observer was a robotic spacecraft designed to study the geoscience and climate of Mars . The first of the proposed Observer series of planetary missions, it was launched by NASA on September 25, 1992. Three days before Mars Observer
81-457: Was scheduled to enter the orbit of Mars, contact with the spacecraft was lost. Attempts to re-establish communication with the spacecraft were unsuccessful. A few photographs were indeed taken, and these were the bulk of data collected. The Lunar Observer program was started with an estimated budget of US$ 500–700 million. The proposed orbit was 70 km (43 mi) above the surface. The Lunar Observer spacecraft garnered some attention from
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