The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) first acquired images of Mars during its approach to the red planet in mid-1997. The spacecraft began orbiting Mars in September 1997. The primary mission was conducted for one Mars year, through January 2001. An extended mission phase followed. The current plan is to keep the spacecraft operational through September 2004.

Hundreds of highly detailled images with captions describing their contents have been compiled and released at Malin Space Science Systems since 1997.