Editing Deep Space 2 (section)

===Spacecraft===
Each probe<ref name="Gavit1996">{{cite journal|last1=Gavit|first1=Sarah A.|last2=Powell|first2=George|title=The new Millennium Program's Mars Microprobe Mission|journal=Acta Astronautica|volume=39|issue=1–4|year=1996|pages=273–280|issn=0094-5765|doi=10.1016/S0094-5765(96)00145-2|bibcode=1996AcAau..39..273G}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> weighed {{convert|2.4|kg|abbr=on}} and was encased in a protective [[aeroshell]]. They rode to Mars aboard another spacecraft, the [[Mars Polar Lander]].

Upon arrival near the south polar region of Mars on December 3, 1999,<ref name="dates"/> the basketball-sized shells were released from the main spacecraft, plummeting through the atmosphere and hitting the planet's surface at over {{convert|179|m/s|abbr=on}}. On impact, each shell was designed to shatter, and its grapefruit-sized probe was to punch through the soil and separate into two parts. The lower part, called the forebody, was designed to penetrate as far as {{Convert|0.6|m|sp=us}} into the soil. It contained the primary science instrument on board, the Evolved Water Experiment.<ref name=":1" /> The upper part of the probe, or aftbody, was designed to remain on the surface in order to transmit data through its [[Ultra high frequency|UHF]] antenna to the [[Mars Global Surveyor]] spacecraft in orbit around Mars. The Mars Global Surveyor would act as a relay in order to send the data collected back to Earth. The two sections of the probe were designed to remain connected via a data cable.<ref name="NSSDC"/>