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NASA Struggles To Contact Lost Mars Probe

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the lost-in-space dept.

David Shiga writes "Just when NASA was about to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, the probe suddenly lost contact with Earth, New Scientist Space reports. NASA last heard from the MGS probe on November 5, two days before the 10th anniversary of its launch from Earth. The MGS team is not sure yet what the problem is, but a micrometeorite could have jolted the spacecraft's main antenna out of alignment with Earth, or it might have a solar array problem and too little power to talk to Earth as a result. If they can't re-establish communication this week, NASA may try to diagnose the problem by taking pictures of MGS with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The two spacecraft come within about 100 kilometers of each other several times each week."

3 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Opportunity by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I had been wondering why updates from Opportunity had been so scarce over the last couple of weeks, given that the rover has reached the most interesting part of its traverse. The communication bottleneck created by the MGS problem may be partly to blame.

    Actually it is because Mars is nearly on the opposite side of the sun from Earth such that the sun interferes with transmissions between the two planets. Thus, the activity of Mars probes has been scaled way down for a few weeks until the sun moves out of the way.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  2. Keep in mind... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For the "oh NASA can't do anything right" folks, keep in mind that Mars Global Surveyor finished its primary and extended missions years ago and has continued to operate as a communications relay aiding the Spirit and Opportunity rovers since then. It can only be described as an overwhelming success, especially considering its budget and trailblazing design.

    Moreover, even if we discount MGS, NASA has 2 operational orbiters and 2 operational rovers on Mars (ESA also has an operational orbiter). With MGS, there had been 6 operational spacecraft on or around Mars, which is unprecedented in human history.

  3. Re: Opportunity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...until the sun moves out of the way... Hum... I wouldn't wait for THAT to happen...