Wreckage of polar lander discovered

[Guest Glenn]

Source: Reuters

 

May 09, 2005

 

LOS ANGELES:The wreckage of a NASA spacecraft that disappeared as it entered the atmosphere of Mars more than five years ago may finally have been found, according to a published report.

 

NASA lost communication with Mars Polar Lander in December 1999 as the spacecraft was poised to enter the atmosphere of the planet. The lander was designed to study martian weather and seek evidence of long-term climate change.

 

By re-examining images taken in 1999 and 2000, planetary scientist Michael Malin found what he believes to be the craft's parachute located just a few hundred meters from a disturbed bit of ground with a large mark in its center.

 

The signs of the apparent wreckage were found as Malin searched for evidence of the spacecraft, which was headed for a landing on the Red Planet's south pole when its engines shut down prematurely.

 

"MPL's descent proceeded more or less successfully through the atmospheric entry and parachute jettison. It was only a few short moments before touchdown that disaster struck," Malin wrote in the upcoming issue of Sky & Telescope magazine.

 

A spokesman for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the apparent picture of the polar lander's wreckage was not yet a "definitive" finding. The space agency is not actively looking for the craft, spokesman Guy Webster said.

 

NASA was criticised for the loss of the Mars lander, its second failed mission to that planet in 1999. In September of that year, the Mars Climate Observer was lost due to human error as it approached Mars.

 

Malin's company, Malin Space Science Systems, had a camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which searched for the missing spacecraft in late 1999 and early 2000.

 

Information gained during the two Mars Exploration Rover landers last year was used to help identify the wreckage.

 

Malin hopes that higher resolution images produced when the crash site is re-examined by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor later this year will officially close the case of the missing craft.