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NASA's Mars Polar Lander May Have Landed Safely

Posted by timothy on from the your-tax-dollars-in-limbo dept.

JabberBoi writes "On January 3, 1999, NASA lost contact with the Mars Polar Lander after it was supposed to land on Mars. An assessment report by NASA suggested that the lander's legs may have sent an incorrect signal to the craft's computer, which in turn caused a premature shutdown of its landing engines -- resulting in the craft crashing on Mars. However, according to this article from Space.com, analysis of images of the Polar Lander's assumed landing site area obtained by the Mars Global Explorer were sent to a U.S. 'spy' agency called the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) to determine if any signs of wreckage or the spacecraft could be discerned through pixel analysis. The article describes NIMA as an 'acclaimed leader in describing, assessing, and visually depicting physical features on Earth' from imagery taken by spy satellites. NIMA's report states that the images they analyzed suggest a successful landing based on identification of three separate parts of the Mars Polar Lander: an upright Polar Lander, and two 'pixel return' signatures that suggest the lander's parachute and heat shield. These findings suggest that something else may have caused the Polar Lander mission to fail. Conspiracy theories about why the Polar Lander never called home abound."

10 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. I welcome our new Martian Overloards by Kris_J · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oh, wait, this is /., not Fark.

  2. Martians exist. by ForestGrump · · Score: 3, Funny

    yea, they sabatoged the mission.
    The longer they can delay us from further probing their planet, the longer they can keep their privacy.

    Note to space programs.
    Martians want to be left alone. maybe the man on the moon is more friendly to us.

    -Grump

    --
    Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
    1. Re:Martians exist. by uncoveror · · Score: 3, Funny

      Dude! You forgot to link to news stories that prove it. Don't just make claims, back them up, or people won't be convinced. Here are some informative articles.
      MARS POLAR LANDER LOST: SEE, THE UNCOVEROR TOLD YOU SO!
      MARTIANS SHOT DOWN NASA PROBE
      POWER OUTAGE HID MARTIAN INVASION

      --
      The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
    2. Re: Martians exist. by cellocgw · · Score: 2, Funny

      > The longer they can delay us from further probing their planet, the longer they can keep their privacy.

      And I suppose they come around 'probing' us in revenge?
      No, they've reached the limit of what anal probing can teach them.
      (not my idea; you know what show it's from)

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
  3. Re:Interesting polar ice cap picture by DoraLives · · Score: 4, Funny
    NASA Rep: Life on Mars!! Look, pictures of plant life! We want to go there!
    Representative: Here's gobs of cash!!

    So alright already, will somebody please get off their dead ass and preload an "interesting" photo or two into the imaging software for the next lander!

    --
    Is it fascism yet?
  4. Re: Interesting polar ice cap picture by Black+Parrot · · Score: 4, Funny


    > So alright already, will somebody please get off their dead ass and preload an "interesting" photo or two into the imaging software for the next lander!

    I was there on Mars waiting for this one to show up, but I accidentally bent its antenna while I was setting up my diorama in front of its cameras.

    Sorry! I'll be more careful next time.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  5. Darn it! by skookum · · Score: 3, Funny
    In a December 2002 article in Geospatial Intelligence Review ...
    Darn it! Wouldn't you know it, just when I let my subscription run out. I mean they had a few pretty good articles but there were just too many ads, you couldn't take their opinions seriously. It was just turning into one of those trashy Geospatial Intelligence tabloids that you always see in the checkout aisle. Oh well. At least I still have all the back issues from 1986 on.
  6. MAY have landed safely? by Tumbleweed · · Score: 1, Funny

    Is this along the lines of Windows 95/98's message, "The system is busy or has become unstable." That it can't tell the difference between those two conditions is might scary. :(

  7. As mentioned in the article by ColaMan · · Score: 3, Funny

    It looks like to really find out what happend, we'll have to wait (as NIMA suggests) until a visiting mars mission drops by the landing/crash site.....

    Searcher #1: "There it is , over near that rock."

    Searcher #2: "Hey look - the antenna didn't deploy! Give that antenna a thump and I'll reset that circuit breaker."

    (Searcher #1 kicks lander hard... After a pause , the antenna slowly deploys)

    Searcher #2: "Ah, there it goes! Hey, let's not tell the guys at mission control we found it, they'll freak when they hear it talking again!"

    Searcher #1 to Mission Control: "Sorry , Control, that's a negative on grid number 41. No lander here."

    (Searchers depart the area, giggling.)

    --

    You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
    There is a lot of hype here.
  8. Re: But it worked in Iraq! by takochan · · Score: 2, Funny
    Have confidence won't you! Ie. look at all the weapons of mass destruction these very same intelligence agencies found in Iraq, using these very same advanced image analysis techniques!

    [sarcasm off]