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Mars Polar Lander Lost Again

Posted by samzenpus on from the alien-joy-ride dept.

IZ Reloaded writes "The Mars Global Surveyor during one of its latest scans of the area where the Mars Polar Lander was originally spotted, discovers that the spacecraft is no longer there! Space.com reports, "We conclude that our interpretation of these features was in error. This is not the location of the Mars Polar Lander. Because the landing uncertainty ellipse is so much larger than our images, and we do not have another candidate to which to target...we cannot continue to hunt for the lander," the MSSS site explains."

29 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Damn martian tow-away zones.

    1. Re:sigh... by sdpuppy · · Score: 4, Funny
      No, they actually found the Polar Lander 1/4 mile away with wheels and engine gone.

      That's what happens when you park your Polar Lander in the wrong neighborhood! :-)

    2. Re:sigh... by timothykaine · · Score: 4, Funny

      Damn martian tow-away zones.

      But officer, *all* the curbs on this planet are red!

  2. REAL Polar Landers.. by rylin · · Score: 5, Funny

    REAL Polar Landers don't ask for directions.

  3. Oh Great! Not again. by bjason82 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Proof again that when left to the responsibility of the government, they do things best. Then again, the martians could have taken it! Someday those little green bastards are going to get a knuckle sandwich.

    1. Re:Oh Great! Not again. by hey! · · Score: 2, Funny

      Proof again that when left to the responsibility of the government, they do things best

      Yep. Better to leave it to all those private interplanetary exploration outfits. I've read Doc Smith so I know how this goes. If it weren't for gummint interference we'd have intergalactic travel and be driving around in cars made of Osnomean Arenak.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:Oh Great! Not again. by Winkhorst · · Score: 3, Funny

      There seems to be an element here of the old "Heaven is perfect and immutable" belief system popularized by those ever so happy-go-lucky inhabitants of the Vatican over a couple of thousand years. Every time something changes, especially on Mars, the earlier observations are assumed to have been in error and the present conditions are assumed to be permanent and never changing. This goes back to the original observations of "canali" on Mars and includes the "proof" that the Martian face really wasn't there because it is no longer there. Now a spacecraft has been found; but NO, it couldn't have been found; because it's NOT THERE NOW! The parachute couldn't have blown away? The dust couldn't have covered the crash site? NO! IMPOSSIBLE! Why? Because it's not there now.... Perfect and immutable, just like the religious authorities have been telling us all along.

      --
      "Is this Winkhorst a nova criminal?" "No just a technical sergeant wanted for interrogation."
    3. Re:Oh Great! Not again. by Blue-Footed+Boobie · · Score: 2, Funny

      They thought there were cannolis on mars? What a bunch of maroons...

      --
      DAMN YOU OCTODOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
  4. Isn't this the point...? by Jeff_at_RAD · · Score: 4, Funny

    in the movie where you cue the scary music?

  5. V'ger by eno7 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe it will return one day as P'Lander to search for the makers.

  6. Call the police by dedazo · · Score: 1, Funny

    Looks like there's a landerjacking in progress up there!

    --
    Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
  7. I knew it! by qazsedcft · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's THEM! THEY stole it to hide the truth from us! I told you!

  8. Race you! by Frantactical+Fruke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Let me be the first to say:

    Good job with the brooms, Martian dudes!
    Hope you enjoy the hardware.
    Sorry we forgot to pack any porn on the hard disk.

    1. Re:Race you! by Kjella · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sorry we forgot to pack any porn on the hard disk.

      Since it'd be roughly as exciting as seeing two dogs mating to them, I think that might be just as well...

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:Race you! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Sorry we forgot to pack any porn on the hard disk.

      The guys discovering the Pioneer 10/11 probe sure are in for a treat though!
      Imagine their disappointment if they come to us, only to find out we aren't all living nude in harmony.

    3. Re:Race you! by Frantactical+Fruke · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Let's do it like they do it on Discovery Channel..."

      Well, you're one fewer to bid against me when the Martian porn recovered from the Earth Polar Lander goes on Ebay, then.

    4. Re:Race you! by Harry+Coin · · Score: 2, Funny

      If '50s science fiction movies are any guide, there's nothing that the Mars-Men want more than to breed with our women.

      If they turn out to be inaccurate in some small detail, then my whole life has been a lie.

      --
      That's pre 7-11 thinking....
  9. Bloody mind tricks! by Jugalator · · Score: 4, Funny
    We conclude that our interpretation of these features was in error.

    But you put forth some pretty darn convincing evidence! I recall an earlier Slashdot story that covered all this in detail, where you announc...

    This is not the location of the Mars Polar Lander.

    ...

    That was not the location of the Mars Polar Lander.

    Move along, move along!

    --
    Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
  10. Hurry! by werewolf1031 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Click the randomly appearing Mars Polar Lander to win a Free iPod!

    Err, wait...

  11. um by martin-boundary · · Score: 3, Funny

    Um, maybe I'm missing something, but have they checked for it on Google maps? I lost a black monolith once on the dark side of the moon, but it took all of two seconds to google for it. It was stuck in between some cheese.

  12. Don't get paranoid... by meringuoid · · Score: 1, Funny
    ... there's a perfectly innocent explanation. It eloped with Beagle and got married in secret in the Russian Orthodox monastery where all the Soviet probes defected to over the years.

    They're now setting up home in a pleasant spot on the slope of Mount Olympus overlooking the Mariner Valley and hoping to raise a family of small Lego buggies.

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  13. little green terr'ists by hrm · · Score: 3, Funny

    Which is exactly why GWB is funding Nasa's Mars mission: to take the fight against these little green terrorists to their own planet.

  14. Re:The mods strike again by FullCircle · · Score: 4, Funny

    It wasn't me, but some people refuse to mod funny because the poster gets no karma for it.

    That's why you get underrated, insightful, interesting, etc on funny posts lately.

    --
    If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
  15. Re:Area 51 on Mars too? by ken+kenobi · · Score: 3, Funny
    Extra-marital life?

    They're hiding evidence of their affairs with space probes fom their spouses??

  16. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  17. Overheard by zr-rifle · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Dude, where's my Polar Lander?"

    --
    Hack your mind out of its sandbox.
  18. Yours got inverted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I think you got modded funny, instead of informative, because no one wanted to give you karma points.

  19. Clarke warned us!! by blakespot · · Score: 2, Funny

    All these worlds are yours except Mars

    Attempt no polar landing there


    blakespot

    --
    -- Heisenberg may have slept here.
    iPod Hacks.com
  20. Who doesn't love this by jonathanduty · · Score: 2, Funny

    Who doesn't love spending money looking for broken crap? Its like the ebay of space.