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The Mars Surveyor Program will launch a lander vehicle to the southern polar regions of Mars in January, 1999 to evaluate Martian earth sciences and climatology. The lander vehicle will examine Martian soil samples take pictures of the Martian surface in the vicinity of the landing site and record weather data. As a “Faster, Better, Cheaper” program exposed to widely variant thermal and gravity environments, a robust yet cost-effective thermal design is mandatory. The need is amplified further by the extraordinary resource constraints on vehicle mass and power. A capillary pumped loop design has been selected because it provides a flight-proven adaptive control capability to match the range of environments encountered on the Martian surface, as well as during Earth-to-Mars cruise. During pre-launch spacecraft operation, the two phase system will be operated at low power in 1-g field.

The COMmercial Experiment Transporter (COMET) is a satellite will launch aboard the Conestoga rocket. COMET provides the United States Commercial research and development community with a dependable and economical means to access space. The COMET program is defined and funded by the NASA Centers for the Commercial Development of Space (CCDS). The Center of Space Transportation and Applied Research (CSTAR) was given the authority to establish and implement the COMET program. The COMET Service Module is designed, integrated and tested by Defense Systems Incorporated for Westinghouse Commercial Space. The Capillary Pumped Loop (CPL) was integrated into the Service Module by OAO Corporation for Defense Systems Incorporated. The Service Module's primary function is to carry payloads to space, providing them with utilities such as a tightly controlled thermal environment, electrical power, attitude control, data management, and communications while in orbit.