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NASA's Mars Polar Lander Found at Last?
Ant wrote in to mention that the Sky and Telescope is running a story (with photographs and other images) that NASA's Mars Polar Lander (MPL) may have been found. From the article: "On December 9, 1999, it was supposed to touch down near the red planet's south pole but disappeared after entering the Martian atmosphere without a trace. 5.5 years later, scientists think they may have finally located the lander's wreckage and confirmed what went wrong with the mission...The search for Mars Polar Lander was hampered by inexperience: the team didn't know what a parachute should look like or how the ground would be disturbed by the landing rockets. Lessons learned from observations of the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites helped team members identify what they think are the parachute, the rocket-blast zone, and ultimately the lander itself."
Today the Council disclosed the news that the repulsive beings inhabiting the blue planet third from our star have located the wreckage of one of their invading spacecraft near our planet's southern pole.
Strangely enough, their newscasts mentioned nothing of the warning plaque errected alongside the downed invader.
Some scientists theorize that the translation of our warning into their bestial language was imperfect, while others maintain that the plaque is simply too small to be imaged properly with their feeble, childish astronomical instruments.
K'Breel, speaker for the Council, voiced another, more pesimistic theory:
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Change the project name to
Mars Polar Plummeter
and call it a "smashing success"!
Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
Here's the text of the article:
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Photo: .
Enlarged: o
Mars Deep Impact.
Money for nothing, pix for free
With businesses like http://www.marsshop.com/ selling acre tracts of Martian land, how long before we have someone claiming that the Mars Polar Lander wreckage belongs to them?
We have [usually sunken] treasure laws, accidentally-delivered-merchandise laws but we'll need an inter-planetary-law expert to sort this out, anyone knows a good one?
It was also reported that NASA had to pay the local martian towing company an exorbiant amount to get their vehicle back. "The towing company just ripped us off", said the mission control head. It is learnt that the local martian city council has awarded the monopoly in towing unclaimed spaceships to 'Tow-ards a Better Future Inc'.
For those of you keeping score in the grand game... http://www.bio.aps.anl.gov/~dgore/fun/PSL/index.ht ml
the team didn't know what a parachute should look like?!! It is a soft fabric device made up of Cowboy Neal's worn out underwears (if he wears any...)
If they didn't know what a blast zone looked like they could always walk down to their server room.
Under 50 replies and the story is down. Sheesh.
There should be a cache link requirement for a story to be accepted from now on.
Leo Wong: We own entire western hemisphere. That the best hemisphere.
Professor Farnsworth: It's the same way on Earth.
It was as close to "-1, Retarded" as they could get.
A quick calc shows its more like 5.408219178 years based on a 365 day year and counting today.
This way to the egress...
Does my memory fail me, or wasn't there a news article back then that showed how some defense dep't. spy satellites were trained on Mars and found the thing? It was pretty much where NASA said it would be. And my memory says the pictures we're now seeing (again...) look a LOT like those that the spy cameras saw.
This happened not long after the mishap.
But within a VERY short while, all the news postings and pictures taken by the spy satellites VANISHED from the 'net.
Am I the only one who remembers this?
They found it in a props warehouse at Paramount studios, right next to the Apollo 11 LEM.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
google has become all powerful, all knowing.
The search for Mars Polar Lander was hampered by inexperience: the team didn't know what a parachute should look like or how the ground would be disturbed by the landing rockets.
...and my favorite Calvin and Hobbes of all time was the strip when the went to Mars.
NASA Janitor 1:
NASA Janitor 2: You mean when they see Voyager and take their wagon to meet a new alien?
NASA Janitor 1: Yeah they just launch into outer space by riding their wagon down a hill and projecting into space!
NASA Intern passing by: Why didn't I think of that! How did they land?
i don't know.
... it's about the only way to live anymore what with the damn taxes.
abandoned at sea, if you recover, it's yours
abandoned on land, on your property, it's yours
abandoned on the side of the road on trash day, it's yours. this how where I get all my lawn equipment. mower, weedwhacker, seed spreader, wheel barrow. other stuff too, radio, tv, computer, coffee pot, couch, lawn chairs, hammock, pots and pans, dishes, building materials,
abandoned on public property? I don't know.around here, abandoned cars and motorbikes are removed by a towing company that has a contract. if no one claims, they get sold for storage. not so easy for the amateur dumpster diver
Damn it TMM... now I have to go play moo3.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
That cache link can be found at mirrordot.org:
the article including some pictures.
Here is the direct link to the Malin Space Science Systems page with the data and images.
In addition to MPL, they have found Viking 2.
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/05/05/inCool stuff.
Better Photo: X
(it did crash after all!)
wot no sig
Ok, MPL has finally been found. But where ist Beagle?
This might help.
These aren't the sigs you're looking for.
Can they can start looking for Beagle 2, so we might have a chance of understanding what went wrong with that one?
If only they had a sensor that measured constant force exterted on a landing leg insted of the short impulse of landing.
Why is there not a standard design mars landing vehicle, one that can be used to deploy any payload upto say 8^3m meters in volume, it would solve a lot of issues and reduce the overall mission costs, if designed well it could be used to land on other bodies (moon/IO/Europa) with only a slight modification to fuel levels/Paracute size/airbag preasure.
In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
How far is the crash site from the mars rover? If it's close, why not send it over to investigate?
But I'll bet most of the geeks at NASA know Goatse looks like. (nah...i'm not gonna link to it.)
GET FREE APPLE STUFF!
Why do you idiots insist on discussing this in Earth years?!!! The probe's on Mars.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
"The search for Mars Polar Lander was hampered by inexperience: the team didn't know what a parachute should look like" In another news! a team of nasa specialist all died while jumping from a plane, seems like they didnt know the difference between a pillow and a parachute. Man what a bad excuses!!
Are we really seeing the best quality photos available ?
From what I can tell, they have extrapolated the final image to the point where it almost looks like Abe Lincolns face here: http://www.balloonhq.com/highlights/hats/lincoln.J PG
I hope I haven't violated any rules with that link, I just did a quick internet search for itm it's not meant as a troll or a advertisment
We, the beings of Mars, welcome our lander overlords.
Right now that probe is as useful as the rusting 76 Chevy Impala out back of my future father in law's trailer.
So long and thanks for all the fish . . . !!!
I did read the failure investigation report (can be found here, search for polar) some time ago and IIRC the most probable failure scenario was a software error involving a single boolean:
MPL was to land under active control (with rocket power, not the air-bag trick). To kill the moter once it had touched down the legs contained contact sensors which were constructed of a pin with a spring, a magnet and a Hall-sensor. The legs were to be extended some time before touchdown.
The problem was the sensors would trigger some intermediate false readings during the leg extension. These false readings toggled a flag, which, once the control system first started looking for contact, immediately killed the engine, having the lander free-fall to death. Clearing the flag after the leg-extension would have saved the mission. The bug was not found because of errors in the software design documents and lack of a system level test. The intermediate false readings were found in a component level test, but its consequences somehow didn't made it in the final design.
karma police: arrest this man, he talks in maths; he buzzes like a fridge, he's like a detuned radio. [radiohead]
The two rovers now in operation are risking issues due to dust covering their solar panels. And we've been reminded over and over how dust and wind have helped shape the surface of Mars for eons, etc.
...is that what we're supposed to believe? How convenient that the raging elements didn't disturb it so NASA wonks could find it later.
But the parachute that has been laying around for the last 5+ years is still in one piece, just as it fell, and is as white as can be...
I say we takeoff and nuke the site from orbit... It's the only way to be sure.
-ubuntu others as you would have others ubuntu you.
Somehow when they said they couldn't find it, I was reminded of the desert scene from Spaceballs. I guess they finally switched to a better comb...
unable to resolve function slashdot.sig(), aborting...
I don't think we've been doing this long enough to have enough data to say what the "best" design is on which to base such a "standard" lander. There have only been four or five successful landings on Mars. When that number reaches 20 or 30, perhaps we'll have enough information that your idea will be possible.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
"Malin hopes the new observations will provide the conclusive evidence needed to officially close the case of the missing Mars Polar Lander."
;)
I'd say the case is closed when it's back on earth. It belongs in a museum!
Maybe they should call in The Squad with their infinite magnifiers!
With that power on hands they could check the expiration date on those retro-rockets..
i wonder if ford and microsoft had a part in this.
taken from the orbiting observation platform and am unimpressed. All I can see is the outline of a vaguely humanoid face.
- Jim
Any space traveller who has lost a package with parachute attached please come to Mars Lost & Found.
Are you going to tell me, unlike Opportunity's or Sprit's landing sites, that at the Martian poles there's no wind? I find it hard to beleive that the parachute and blast zones are still visible.
If the Martian poles are anything like Earth's, there should've been gale force winds there at one point in time within the last 5 years to blow this away. I mean it's a parachute!!! How could it not have moved?
How about the blast zones? It's dust! (possibly melted to glass) Why aren't there dust devil's here like at the other LZ's? Any kind or wind?!?!
To me it still doesn't look like NASA knows what it's looking for!
Expect the investigation to be re-opened. This report suggests that there are makes like you would expect from a rocket firing on the ground. Suggesting that the rockets were operating at touchdown time.