Designing a robust machine to gather data that will yield 
clues into the mystery of Mars is not an easy task. Consider the 
fact that from launch in November 1996 to the completion of 
mapping in January 2000, Surveyor must operate without major 
malfunctions. If a component on the spacecraft breaks, no means 
exist to send a repair crew to Mars.


The Surveyor spacecraft, fabricated at the Lockheed Martin 
Astronautics plant in Denver, appears nothing like the Space 
Shuttle or the saucer-shaped UFOs depicted by Hollywood over the 
last half century. Instead, Surveyor looks like a rectangular-
shaped box with wing-like projections extending from opposite 
sides. 

	When fully loaded with propellant at the time of launch, the 
spacecraft weighed only 1,060-kilograms (2,342 pounds). Most of 
Surveyor’s mass lies in the box-shaped module occupying the 
center portion of the spacecraft. In reality, this center module 
is made of two smaller rectangular modules stacked on top of each 
other. One of the two smaller modules, called the equipment 
module, holds all of the spacecraft’s electronics and science 
instruments. The other, called the propulsion module, houses 
Surveyor’s rocket engines and propellant tanks.