Mission managers have decided to send another set of commands to Mars to investigate the possibility that a signal detected by a radio dish at California’s Stanford University came from Mars Polar Lander.
January 25th, 2000
Mars Polar Lander: The search continues Space Today
Since mid-December 1999, the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) onboard the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft has been taking pictures of Mars Polar Lander’s landing zone near 76
January 25th, 2000
NASA checking possibility that Mars Lander sent signal to Earth
Mission managers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory say the Mars Polar Lander may have tried to phone home after all — on a bad connection — and they sent new commands to the lander Tuesday in another attempt to achieve contact with the presumed lost mission.
January 25th, 2000
Signals revive hope for Mars lander
NASA says it is transmitting new commands toward Mars amid indications that its Polar Lander spacecraft has been weakly trying to phone home. Mission managers say the radio signals, received twice in last two months, are so faint that it
January 21st, 2000
Why Did Mars Polar Lander Fail? A Conversation with Donna Shirley
NASA is still trying to figure out what caused the demise of the Mars Polar Lander. There are a number of possible fates: perhaps the lander malfunctioned; perhaps it was destroyed by a landing on hazardous martian terrain, or buried in a blanket of soft, deep dust. A NASA review board is expected to release its report on the Polar Lander’s loss sometime later this winter. space.com’s Andrew Chaikin. Executive Editor, Space & Science spoke recently with Donna Shirley, former manager for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. She offered her perspective on the failed mission. Shirley, now assistant dean of engineering at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, is also a member of space.com’s board of advisors.
January 18th, 2000
Lost Canyons and Missing Corpses
On Monday the last long shot efforts to contact the Mars Polar Lander were abandoned. Project Manager Richard Cook said, “The final set of planned commands were sent on Jan. 6 to place the spacecraft in UHF safe mode.
January 17th, 2000
NASA Gives Up Search for Lost Mars Lander
NASA ended on Monday a six-week, intermittent search for its latest Mars mission that was to land on the red planet’s surface on Dec. 3 but instead fell out of contact minutes before touchdown.
January 17th, 2000
Nasa ends search for Mars probe
Nasa has abandoned its attempts to locate the Mars Polar Lander, which landed on the red planet last month. Mission leader Richard Cook said the MPL was definitively lost and that all efforts to trace the probe had been halted.
January 14th, 2000
Mars Polar Lander Investigative Panel Embarks on Two-Month Task
The panel investigating the loss of the Mars Polar Lander wrapped up three days of meetings at NASA
January 13th, 2000
Scientists have not yet given up on Mars mission Excite News
After a month of searching, scientists from UCLA and JPL continue to look for the $165 million Mars Polar Lander and are planning for the future of the Mars program. Because of disappointing recent events, NASA is making efforts to restructure its program. After early successes completed with a new philosophy of working cheaper and faster, the program’s last two launches have resulted in the confirmed destruction of one spacecraft and the disappearance of the other.