The Mars Observer known as the Mars Geoscience / Climatology Orbiter was a robotic spacecraft with a mass of 1,018 kilograms launched by NASA on September 25, 1992. It was the first robotic mission sent to study the surface, atmosphere, climate, and magnetic field of Mars. However, this mission failed and lost communications on August 21, 1993, three days before the mission entered orbit, so any attempt to restore communications at that time was declared a failure.