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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."
Did they check Mars? I would bet that it is probably there.
Was that the one crushed by the Decepticons? I don't think we'll be recovering it anytime soon.
...it was obviously captured by aliens.
Mmmm......sacrelicious.
You got to admit, we've been having some fantastic luck with some of the recent Mars missions. Unfortunately, the luck has either been fantasticly good or fantasticly bad.
We just have to keep reminding ourselves that sending something millions of miles through space to a speck of rock and have it function so well for so long is an amazing achievement in and of itsself.
A pink rabbit beating a large bass drum was just spotted in the vicinity of Mars. Communications with the Mars Probe are expected to resume momentarily... ;)
"Nature bats last..."
"either because its orbit has shifted since last contact, or because it isn't reflecting enough sunlight to be visible"
So either it wasn't there or it was there but they didn't see it. I think that has to pretty safe to say they have limited the problem down considerably.
:(){
Why are humans, a plague on this planet, trying to gain dominion over the others?
If God had meant us to fly, he'd have given us rocket engines, day one.
(Yes, tongue is firmly in cheek.)
668: Neighbour of the Beast
Continual probing of a heavenly body for almost 10 years? Beats my record by a long shot.
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better." - Unknown
SO many posts here about the curse of Mars or whatever, but you have to remember Surveyer was on the 10th year of its 2 year mission!! It exceeded its specs and performed beautifully. It's sad to lose an orbiter, but at this point, it shouldn't be considered a failed mission.
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.
Check out our infosecurity industry blog: http://securitymusings.com/
This is what happens when you believed the hype and put the cheaper Radio Shack Energizer Bunny batteries in your mission critical apps way back then...
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.
NASA was trying to cut costs by using off the shelf components. Unfortunately, UPS does not deliver replacement batteries to their current location ;)
What are we going to do tonight Brain?
And I thought losing SSH access to my BSD server 3000 miles away was a tough break. I can't even imagine what kind of inventive hacks would be needed to restore a lost probe orbiting another planet.
We own you. We now possess your land, your minerals, your precious spacecraft. You will surrender or you will die. Sycorax strong! Sycorax mighty! Sycorax rock!
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Forever? Is the submitter implying that humans will Never make it to Mars?
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!
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.
I personally think it's all gone downhill since that whole silly "multicellular" craze. Phffft.
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.
Alternatively, maybe it just had a Sony battery... Have any flashes of light or smoke been spotted above Mars recently ?
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
From the Associated Pres news:
"We have gathered information from inside NASA, that during the last minutes of contacts the Mars Global Surveyor sent out an encrypted message. After a grueling three hours trying to decrypt the message, top scientists at NASA was startled to see what appears to be a message from semi-intelligent beings. It reads 'How are you gentlemen!! All your base are belong to us.' Then the MGS went silent.
Governments of the United States and Western Europe have moved to take of every zig. Although it is widely believed that we have no chance to survive make our time, the scientists insist that we must indeed move zig.
God help us
Implicit in your assumption is that a mission is operated solely by NASA civil service employees, which is a handy assumption for your flip answer, but meanwhile, back in the real world, that's not the case. I'll grant that the people who will be affected have some warning, but I guarantee you Griffin and Co. are already planning on where to reallocate the extended mission money if and when they declare MGS dead. That money doesn't all go to NASA facilities. The science operations for the Mars Orbiter Camera goes to a small company and the Thermal Emission Spectrometer money goes to Arizona State's Mars Space Flight Facility, a place I worked for 4 years and personally witnessed several people get laid off in early '06 because of NASA reallocation for the new manned program and to pay for hurricane damages to NASA facilities.
Yeah, I'm sure the people who got laid off worked something out, and the people who will get laid off will work something out, too. You can continue to choose to "call shenanigans" all you want, but you asked a question, I answered, you didn't like the answer and decided to wave it away with flippant handwaving. This has effects on real people and your "rational ignorance" becomes willful ignorance if you choose to continue to deny it.