NOTICE: Because this page had grown so large (~168K), I have split it into 14 pages, including this page for acronyms that begin with M and N. Some direct, named links will no longer work. If you are looking for information about a particular mission, please select the appropriate file from the following alphabetical listing. If you cannot find information on the mission you are looking for, you may find some information in the "Pages with Information on Many Missions" section of the General Information page.
NASA Venus Radar Mapping Mission, launched May 4, 1989, arrived at Venus on August 10, 1990. Magellan's orbit decayed to the point where it entered the Venusian atmosphere on October 12, 1994, and was crushed by the pressure of Venus's atmosphere. Magellan's signal was lost at 10:02 Universal Time (3:02 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time) that day.
MAGION is a name of the serial of small MAGnetospheric and IONospheric satellites manufactured in Czech Republic to be launched as Russian scientific S/C hitch-hikers. MAGION-1 was launched as a part of the Interkosmos-18 experiment and separated from this parent spacecraft on November 14, 1978. MAGION-2 S/C was manufactured as the subsatellite of the ACTIVE S/C (INTERCOSMOS-24), launch date September 28, 1989, separation date October 2, 1989. MAGION-3 S/C was manufactured as the subsatellite of the APEX S/C, launch date December 18, 1991, separation date December 28, 1991. The MAGION-4 and MAGION-5 spacecraft were designed as part of INTERBALL project.
Launched October 30, 1979 on Scout 101 from WSMC (reentered June 11, 1980). Magnetic Field Satellite Applications Explorer Mission to map magnetic field of the Earth. See also AEM.
Map will be launched on a Delta 7325 in the year 2000. The Microwave Anisotropy Probe has been selected (April, 1996) by NASA for a MIDEX mission, planned for launch in 2000 (approx.).
For some information on the USSR and Russian series of Mars Missions, Mars 1960A (October 10, 1960, failed to reach Earth orbit), Mars 1960B(October 14, 1960, failed to reach Earth orbit), Mars 1962A(October 24, 1962, failed to leave Earth orbit after the final rocket stage exploded), Mars 1 (November 1, 1962, communications failed en route), Mars 1962B (November 4, 1962, failed to leave Earth orbit), Mars 2 (May 19, 1971), Mars 3 (May 28, 1971), Mars 4 (July 21, 1973), Mars 5 (July 25, 1973), Mars 6 (August 5, 1973), and Mars 7 (August 9, 1973) see the Chronology of Space Exploration: Mars page. Mars '96 is scheduled for launch November 20, 1996 (as of Nov. 4).
Images:
The Mars Climate Orbiter was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) Space Launch Complex 17 (SLC-17) on December 11, 1998 by a Boeing Delta II 7425 launch vehicle. MCO was lost September 23, 1999, due to a navigation error.
The Mercury project, the United States' first manned space flight project, included a total of 25 flights, 6 of them manned, from August 1959 to May 1963.
With the loss of MO, the plans for MESUR have been replaced by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS).
There appear to be US and Russian spacecraft named METEOR.
Meteor-3 and NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). A Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) was launched aboard a Russian rocket (Cyclone) and spacecraft (Meteor-3) on August 15, 1991 from Plesetsk, Russia. It stopped producing useful data on December 27, 1994. Work is ongoing to recover the experiment.
The METEOR spacecraft was destroyed in a Conestoga launch failure on October 23, 1995.
See also POEM.
Launched November 7, 1996.
Previously known as IMI.
MicroLab-1 was launched April 3, 1995 on an Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus launch vehicle. MicroLab-1 carries two instruments in its payload, an Optical Transient Detector developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and the GPS Meteorological Experiment sponsored by the National Science Foundation. ORBIMAGE now uses the name OrbView-1.
Optical Transient Detector
GPS/MET
The IMAGE and MAP missions were selected for definition in (April or) May 1995 through the first MIDEX Announcement of Opportunity (AO). In addition to IMAGE and MAP, the HESSI and HUBE missions were selected as possible alternates. See also Explorer.
The first Spanish satellite MINISAT 01 launched April 21, 1997 on a Pegasus XL over the Canary Islands (Spain). Orbital's L-1011 aircraft departed from Gando Air Force Base in the Canary Islands at approximately 7:00 a.m. E.D.T. (1100 G.M.T.) and flew to a predetermined location at 39,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean, where the Pegasus XL rocket was released at approximately 7:59 a.m. E.D.T. (1159 G.M.T.). After an approximate 10 minute and 45 second flight, Pegasus deployed MINISAT into its proper orbit of approximately 570 by 577 kilometers, inclined at 151 degrees to the equator. Pegasus also carried a small payload from Celestis, Inc., which was also placed into its planned orbit.
Mir means peace in Russian. Mir is the Russian Space Station that is now nine years old.
Mars Observer was launched on September 25, 1992, aboard a Titan III launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Mars Observer had completed an 11-month, 711-million-kilometer (442-million-mile) journey to Mars and was within three days of entering orbit around the planet when it fell silent at about 1:00 Universal Time on August 22, 1993 (6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on August 21).
ESA candidate mission to map lunar chemistry. Currently proposed for a 2003 launch, carrying a high-resolution multispectral stereo imaging system and several chemical mapping instruments.
The Mars Pathfinder mission is scheduled for launch December 2, 1996 (as of November 4, 1996), and will be the second of NASA's low-cost planetary Discovery missions. On July 14, 1995 NASA announced that the name Sojourner was chosen for the Mars Pathfinder rover after a year-long, worldwide competition in which students up to 18 years old were invited to select a heroine and submit an essay about her historical accomplishments.
Mars Polar Lander (MPL) launched on January 3, 1999 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) Space Launch Complex 17 (SLC-17) on a Boeing Delta II 7425 launch vehicle. The lander was last heard from on December 3, 1999, just before entry into the Mars atmosphere. The Mars Polar Lander also carried two New Millennium Program (NMP) microprobes as the Deep Space 2 (DS-2) Mission, which were not heard from either.
A decade-long program of Mars exploration beginning with MGS in 1996 and MS'98 in 1998.
Scheduled for Launch in 1998 (the lander is scheduled for launch in January 1999). DS-2 will ride to Mars on the Lander spacecraft.
See also MSTI-1, MSTI-2, and MSTI-3.
Launched on November 21, 1992.
Launched May 8, 1994 on a Scout. From 1994: The Year in Review, Department of Defense Space Activities : "For the second launch of DOD's Miniature Sensor Technology Integration (MSTI) satellite in May, NASA used the 118th and final vehicle of its highly successful Scout series of small launchers (MSTI failed during orbital checkout)." Reentered on March 20, 1995 (according to SPACEWARN Bulletin Number 498).
Launched on May 17, 1996 from Edwards Air Force Base, California on a Pegasus launch vehicle.
MSX launched successfully on April 24, 1996 on a Delta II Launch Vehicle.
Japanese twin spacecraft launched toward the moon in August 1990. The MUSES-A satellite was renamed Hiten after its launch in 1990. Hiten is the name of a figure from Japanese mythology.
Scheduled for launch in January/February 1997. The working name of the VSOP satellite is MUSES-B -- as it is the second Mu Space Engineering Satellite. Mu is the name of ISAS's launching rocket.
See also Three Corner Sat, ION-F, Emerald, Constellation Pathfinder, and Solar Blade.
The fifth Space Technology (ST-5) mission under the New Millennium Program.
The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission was launched February 17, 1996, at 3:43 p.m. EST. NEAR is the first of NASA's low-cost planetary Discovery missions.
Also see Origins for more information.
See also DS-1, DS-2, EO-1, EO-2, EO-3, and ST-5.
NOAA assigns a letter to the satellite before it is launched, and a number once it has achieved orbit. For example, NOAA-11, now in orbit, was designated NOAA-H before launch.
Currently, NOAA is operating two polar orbiters (also know as TIROS or POES): NOAA-11, launched in September 1988, and NOAA-12, launched in May 1991. NOAA-14 was launched on December 30, 1994.
NOAA-AVHRR -- NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers
As recommended by Vice President Gore's National Performance Review, the US is combining its military and civilian weather satellite programs (expected to save American taxpayers up to $300 million through 1999, with additional savings through the life of the program). The first satellite under the new system, called the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), is expected to be launched in 2006. To acquire and operate the NPOESS, the Department of Defense, NASA and NOAA have established an Integrated Program Office (IPO).
See Shuttle.
Deployed from STS-51B in April/May 1985.
Created September 19, 1996. Last update: April 21, 1997 (additional, minor updates as late as September 6, 2000). Due to changing job assignments, I no longer actively maintain this page, and no one has taken over. I will continue to update and correct problems on a best effort basis.
Please see my Disclaimer and Web Policy page. Maintained by Gordon Johnston:
Gordon.Johnston@hq.nasa.govThe world wide web uniform resource locator (URL) for this page is:
http://ranier.hq.nasa.gov/Sensors_page/MissionLinks/mlmn.html
