Mars Surveyor Missions: 2001 and Beyond

NASA's Mars Surveyor Program (MSP) will launch two mission to the red planet about every 26 months (determined by energy considerations) from 1996 through 2005 at an annual cost of $100 million dollars per year (excluding the launch vehicles). Mars Global Survey (1996) and Mars Surveyor 98 are described in other papers. This paper will focus on the planning that is under way for the MSP missions to be launched in 2001 and beyond.