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Mars Probe Probably Lost Forever
David Shiga writes, "NASA's silent Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft is likely lost forever. The space agency attempted to take a picture of the 10-year-old spacecraft using the newer Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, but did not detect it, either because its orbit has shifted since last contact, or because it isn't reflecting enough sunlight to be visible. NASA has now ordered its Opportunity rover to listen from the planet's surface for MGS's radio beacon. If that fails, the agency may call on the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft to join the search. But MGS may already have run out of power and NASA officials are not optimistic about recovering it."
I am, for the simple reason that I was having fun rendering high-detail Mars planetoid 3D art. The sheer amount of data I've downloaded from the MGS project alone and NASA's JPL webservers would probably astonish you.
The resolutions available would STUPIFY you.
3D art is nothing more than a hobby to me, but it's fun to render still-images and sometimes video of a simple sphere with more detail than is available even with Google Earth.
Goodnight, sweet prince.
It might be time to update the Mars Scorecard.... although we got some good work out of the MGS, it might be time to mark this one up for the green guys.
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1) Because it's fairly close to us?
2) Because there is evidence that there used to be water on the planet, which means it's possible there used to be life there?
3) Because it's atmosphere is relatively mild, which makes it easier to build machines that can stand it?
4) Just because?
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
for a while longer. The two spacecraft, launched in the mid 1970's, are almost 30 years old. And they're still working, 9 billion miles away. They're well beyond the orbit of Pluto. Now that's impressive. Not to take away from Mars Global Surveyor or the twin rovers.
There truly is nothing more to see on that rock, for we have all seen the countless images from mars.
We've all seen pictures of the top of Mt Everest. Does that mean we should no longer climb mountains? We have seen pictures of the ocean floor. Should we no longer SCUBA dive? By no means! We explore because it is human nature to test our limits, to push the boundaries, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
We have not even seen one tenth of one percent of the Martian surface, yet there "is nothing more to see". Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the Solar System, three times as tall as Mt Everest, but who cares. There is nothing to see. Tourists flock by the millions each year to take in the Grand Canyon. The Valles Marineris is the deepest canyon system in the Solar System. Five times deeper, and hundreds of times longer, it makes the Grand Canyon look like a tire rut. But who cares. We've seen a few pictures of a couple of Martian rocks, so there's no point in going to the Valles Marineris. Well, Here's a picture of some Earth rocks, and here's a link to some maps. So now you don't ever have to leave your house.
As for Mars being lifeless, we do not *know* that there is no life on Mars. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Why, Opportunity could find lichen on a rock tomorrow afternoon.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
What I'm incredibly impressed over is the fact that they're mobilizing other space craft in the area to look for the missing probe. The fact that NASA can get spacecraft designed for complete autonomy in extreme environments, and designed years apart by different groups at that, to cooperate with each other all while tens of millions of miles from the closest human, well, that's a pretty impressive bit of engineering.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Same thing. First, verify it's where it's supposed to be. Second, if the resolution is good enough (and they weren't sure it would be) see if it seems to be oriented correctly.
If it's not where it's supposed to be, then there's a partial explanation of why it's not responding -- it's off course -- and also tells them their options are limited to setting it straight again. If it is, but it's oriented incorrectly, then the batteries are not getting recharged and you focus on getting it oriented correctly so it can get power again. If it is present, oriented correctly, and still not responding, then you've got a different set of options.
More information can only help.
Hi, yes looking at the spacecraft over a few frames would give you the opportunity to work out the orbit of the s/c. Once the rough orbit is known, the doppler shift can be worked out, and therefore the frequency. MGS has also been heard by radio hams, so its possible that some could watch for a signal. http://www.uhf-satcom.com/mgs/ has some info on the signals detected from MGS earlier this year. Lets hope NASA manages to either image this s/c, or chat to it with one of the rovers.