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1997
Pathfinder lands on Mars, Mars Global Surveyor begins mapping of Mars. The Pathfinder lander and the Sojourner rover it carried landed in an ancient Martian riverbed. The Mars Global Surveyor is sending back pictures of Mars that have unprecedented clarity and detail. -
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Astronomy
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1998
Lunar Prospector obtains evidence of possible water on the Moon. -
1998
Japanese researchers find evidence that neutrinos (possible candidate as "dark matter") may have mass. -
1998
Gamma ray bursts proven to originate in distant galaxies, not our own, thus deepening the mystery of their origin and power. -
1998
Astronaut John Glenn returns to space aboard the Shuttle Discovery in October. -
1999
NASA received a double set-back when first the Mars Climate Orbiter and then the Mars Polar Lander space craft fail. -
1999
Lunar Prospector intentionally crashed into Moon in attempt to identify water. None is found. -
1999
NEAR spacecraft orbits an asteroid (Eros) for the first time. -
2000
Spacecraft NEAR-Shoemaker makes historic first landing on the asteroid (Eros). -
2001
Leonid meteor storm on November 18. At times near the peak of shower, up to 5 or 6 meteors could be seen per second. -
2001
Sudbury neutrino detector in Canada demonstrates that neutrinos emitted from the Sun's core change their type as they travel to Earth. This resolves the many decade long mystery of the "missing solar neutrinos" and proves these tiny particles have mass. -
2002
Observations from a spacecraft orbiting Mars suggest large deposits of ice may lie below the Martian surface