Mars Global Surveyor is a robotic spacecraft designed to study Mars while in a polar orbit around the planet. It was launched from Earth on November 7, 1996. Mars global Surveyor completed its mission in January 2001, and as it is still orbiting Mars today, it is currently in an extended mission phase. The satellite has returned more data about Mars than all of the previous missions to Mars combined. It has sent back thousands of images including 3-D images of the northern polar ice cap, studied the magnetic field of Mars, found possible locations for water, and studied the Martian moons.