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NASA Struggles To Contact Lost Mars Probe
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."
We always either hear that NASA is doing a terrible job or that they are doing great in the face of great challenges.
I'd love to see a list of projects in table format that show either mission success or mission failure and the reasons behind the failure.
If anyone has a link, please post!
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
That wasn't a "meteorite", and I can tell you that the martians probably don't like being spied on any more than we do.
Push Button, Receive Bacon
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.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
The probe cannot reply to Earth signals because some ahole took away its "Reply" button!
Table-ized A.I.
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.
A perfect example of "Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink'!"
Just last month we learned that Spirit was bored out of its mind with Mars. Obviously the rover has been passing time by trying out its throwing arm on some of those rock specimens it's been collecting.
Either that or it and Opportunity have started one-on-one baseball. You think your neighbors get mad when you hit the ball into their window -- that's nothing compared to what'll happen when NASA finds out Spirit took out MGS with a homer.
With Bush in office, Spirit and Opportunity lasted well beyond their life expectancy. Couple of days after the libs get Congress and Senate, space hardware begins to malfunction.
Ah, well. We'll never get to Mars anyway. When Hillary gets into office 2 years from now, the CEV will be scrapped along with the rest of the space program. More money for social programs and some token medical research.
But at least the internet will be finally reeled in and tightly controlled. It will be an improvement. No more slashdot. No more digg. No more indymedia. Only politically correct and copyright-friendly content from 2008 on. Can't wait.
OK so it's a bit busted (potentially) but isn't it great that there is another vehicle nearby that can take a look? We're talking about Mars here! It's stories like this that show we really are starting to get out there in a big way, none of this one probe every 5 years that then lands and dies in a couple of days.
Let's have a big hand for the human race, people..
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
It's clear what's going on... terrorists have taken over and are trying to steal it. What they'll actually do is send in an ex-black-ops operative called out of retirement, because he's dealt with this kind of thing before, and because his genetic twin is the mastermind. This should be obvious. It's what always happens when dealing with a... Metal Gear. But this time we're not on Solid ground. We're in Space.
And we've got Snakes in Space.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Ahem.. TFA said they only passed each other within 100km several times a week. It's almost incomparable to the ~1000 functioning artificial satellites that are orbiting Earth (plus a few more thousand old satellites that are now classified as space debris) If you track the most notable ones with tools like http://www.heavens-above.com/ then you would see that they pass each other several times a day...
The resolution of MRO is really simple to calculate: at 300km, you get 30cm/pixel. So at 100km, you'd get 10cm/pixel. I'm really looking forward to see that kind of image of MGS, but without contact, how long can they wait before the orbit becomes uncertain? Pointing would be really difficult IMO.
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
mr2cents - it's been done before and while the timing is no doubt a bitch, it's quite possible.
g s-images.html and from Malin Space Science Systems, the San Diego company that built and operates the camera, at http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/05/19/ind ex.html .
linky
One Mars Orbiter Takes First Photos of Other Orbiters
Photographs from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft released today are the first pictures of any spacecraft orbiting Mars ever taken by another spacecraft orbiting Mars.
The new images of the European Space Agency's Mars Express and NASA's Mars Odyssey are available on the Internet from NASA at http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/m
Of course, if all they see is a smear of debris, well I guess they know they won't be getting any more data.
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
The poor thing's probably slashdooted by now ;-)
Every bloody emperor has his hand up history's skirt [Peter Hammill/VdGG]
Oh no! Transformers got to it too!
Working with US satellite programs, I have come to realize how hard it is to actually take care of a bird in flight. There are so much junk flying around in space that could take out your satellite, not to mention things like solar storms and such, all this you have to track and adjust for. Of course, something's you don't see coming.
d =01-074
http://nasaexplores.nasa.gov/show2_articlea.php?i
In addition, a satellite can go anywhere from 500 degrees to -500 degrees in a single orbit. Even with all this, more often then not satellites are lasting years beyond their expected life.
So give 'em a break...
Some of the Rover software initially just allowed three-digit dates. Spirit reach 1000 Sols late October and Opportunity next week. Fortunately the software was repaired during a winter slowdown tuneup. Nice idea: reprogrammable robots.
Yeah, we did. It's called Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. As an engineer who worked on MRO, I can tell you we learn from all of our previous spacecraft - successes and failures. While it is possible we may not restore contact with MGS, MRO will return more scientific data than all of NASA's previous Mars missions combined.