page_title: Mars 96
section_title: Orbiter
hierarchical_section_title: Mars 96 / Spacecraft design / Orbiter
context_page_description: Mars 96 was a failed Mars mission launched in 1996 to investigate Mars by the Russian Space Forces and not directly related to the Soviet Mars probe program of the same name. After failure of the second fourth-stage burn, the probe assembly re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, breaking up over a 200-mile long portion of the Pacific Ocean, Chile, and Bolivia. The Mars 96 spacecraft was based on the Phobos probes launched to Mars in 1988. They were of a new design at the time and both ultimately failed. For the Mars 96 mission the designers believed they had corrected the flaws of the Phobos probes, but the value of their improvements was never demonstrated due to the destruction of the probe during the launch phase.
  It was, however, a very ambitious mission and the heaviest interplanetary probe launched up to that time. The mission included an orbiter, surface stations and surface penetrators. The mission included a large complement of instruments provided by India, France, Germany, other European countries and the United States. Similar instruments have since been flown on Mars Express, launched in 2003. Its project scientist was Alexander Zakharov.
context_section_description: The Mars 96 orbiter was a 3-axis sun/star stabilized spacecraft which was based on the design of the Phobos orbiters. It had a deployable high and medium gain antennae. Two large solar panels were attached to either side of the spacecraft. It also had a jettisonable propulsion unit to be separated sometime after Mars orbit insertion. Two Surface Stations were attached on top of the spacecraft. Two Penetrators were attached to the propulsion unit. It also had a MORION system which was the central interface, microprocessor, and memory system. The orbiter had a total mass, with fuel, of 6,180 kg. It had a dry mass of 3,159 kg.
caption: Mars 96 Surface Station
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