Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Entered Mars orbit on September 11, 1997 Missing presumed lost November, 2006

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In1998 I created this first image using a previously existing MGS model. It appeared in various places including on a postage stamp - see below on this page. In 1999 I created this realistic version for the Mars Program. It's probably the best artwork of MGS ever done so it gets a lot of mileage.

Mars Global Surveyor arriving at Kennedy Space Center, 1996   Mars Global Surveyor team Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 1996: The men and women of the MGS team just before launch. Behind them is the rocket with Mars Global Surveyor onboard.   Mars Global Surveyor - Welcome to Mars! I created the image above for both the Mars program and secondarily for Dr. Sally Ride's 1999 children's book, "The Mystery of Mars". I heard she was asking JPL for the best available Mars Global Surveyor image. There were no good images available, in my opinion. So I took the opportunity to create a new one. Regarding Sally's book: nearly every Mars spacecraft image used in it was created by me. It was pretty cool exchanging emails with her, although I didn't get to meet her in person. When she first emailed my co-worker Kirk Goodall to inquire about artwork, he emailed back, "Are you THE Sally Ride?" and she just replied, "Yep, I'm afraid so!" Click on the book cover to read the reviews for "The Mystery of Mars" at Amazon.com. The comments include "sophisticated artist renderings throughout" & " full of spectacular pictures and illustrations". Even though my name did not appear in the book I was pleased to read such glowing comments by a reviewer! Corby Waste and Dr. Sally Ride Sept. 20, 2006 at JPL: I finally got to meet Sally in person. It's kind of mind-boggling when I think about it now. She couldn't have been friendlier and I know she enjoyed meeting the guy who had illustrated 3 of the pics in her book. Later she led the GRAIL education and public outreach through Sally Ride science but I never saw her again. She died unexpectedly in 2012. In the pic I was wearing a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shirt with the "alternative logo" I created.     One of the many projects Sally was involved with is science education for girls.    My image was featured on the Mars Global Surveyor homepage

The First Look at the Real Face on Mars Historic April 6, 1998: I happened to be one of the first people on Earth to see what the true "Face on Mars" looked like. Mars Global Surveyor had just returned the first decent pictures from the Cydonia region and Dr. Tim Parker, whose office was practically next to my cubicle, was involved in the image processing. The Face turned out to be an optical illusion but it was still amazing to be there when a discovery like that was being made.      The "Face On Mars" before Mars Global Surveyor, on the left. The 2 images on the right were snapped by MGS and reveal the true situation. Some people are still convinced there was a past human civilization on Mars, no matter what the new images show.

"Richard Hoagland is a nut" - quote from Mars artist Corby Waste,

Mars Global Surveyor sites of interest   Mars Global Surveyor website with my artwork           Mars Global Surveyor collected more data than all the previous Mars missions combined. True, that's already been surpassed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter but it was an outstanding accomplishment.           It's a thrill when the company that built the spacecraft uses my artwork.   Old Mars Global Surveyor website home page with my artwork  I created all the graphical links on the old MGS site.

July 20, 2005

Mars Global Surveyor postage stamp Palau issued this stamp using my old modified image of Mars Global Surveyor. Click on the stamp to learn more.

Mars Global Surveyor art link

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