With the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), which launched November 7, 1996, the United States continued the exploration of Mars with a new orbiter. For the first time, we have obtained a complete portrait of our neighboring red planet. MGS's data will support investigations into the planet's topography, magnetism, mineral composition, and atmosphere. The entire Martian globe will be photographed.

The spacecraft has served the longest and been the most productive of any mission ever sent to the red planet. Celebration surrounding its 10th anniversary from launch was tempered by the loss of communication with Earth on Nov. 5, 2006. Even so, the legacy of information it left will continue to be analyzed for quite some time.

NASA Announces Significant Find on Mars. New science results from the Mars Global Surveyor were presented on Dec. 6, 2006.

All directions for assembly are available online for your use, and to print out if you prefer. Instructions are provided for assembling the kit in any one of several configurations to represent the spacecraft in flight. Click here for assembly instructions to all our spacecraft kits, as well as fact summaries about their missions and suggestions for enhancing their presentation.

Recommended for children over 12 years of age, or with the help of an adult. The kit is made from laser-cut, heavyweight card stock. This advanced design model kit has large areas of gold metal foil, and details in color lithography and silver metal foil. The assembled model is about 1/40 scale, measuring 38 cm (15 inches) overall, including the solar arrays and aerobraking panels. It has a tremendous amount of detail, yet is not very difficult to assemble.

Made in California, USA.

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