American experts believe that the American spacecraft "Mars Fuller Lander", whose traces disappeared in December 1999, may have been found. The spacecraft disappeared moments before it was supposed to land on the planet Mars.
American experts believe that the American spacecraft "Mars Fuller Lander", whose traces disappeared in December, may have been found. 1999 The spacecraft disappeared moments before it was supposed to land on the planet Mars.
This hypothesis is based on the analysis of high-resolution photographs of the area where the spacecraft was supposed to land. The analysis was done at the "National Imaging and Mapping Agency", an arm of the Pentagon that analyzes spy photos for the government. The agency defines the analysis results as "intriguing but not conclusive".
After the Fuller Lander - built at a cost of 165 million dollars - disappeared, NASA asked the Imaging and Mapping Agency to locate the lost spacecraft. She handed over to the agency photographs taken by another spacecraft, the "Mars Global Surveyor", which swam around Mars. The researchers used advanced analysis methods in an attempt to extract every possible clue that could clarify the ambiguous picture about the fate of the Fuller Lander.
The analysis of the photographs lasted about a year. In the last image examined, three bright points were actually discovered, three pixels that stood out against the black background. The agency's experts believe that the most logical and likely explanation for the bright spots is the presence of the Fuller Lander. However, the researchers have not yet been able to find signs in the other images that would support this explanation.
In an official announcement published by the agency, it was said that a final answer may take some time, and more photographs from the Global Surveyor are required. The spacecraft, which has been orbiting and documenting Mars for four years, will be able to take additional photographs of the region in the coming summer or fall.
The possibility that the spacecraft had been discovered was published for the first time on the website of the news agency.space.com. The hints about the possible discovery ignited cautious excitement in the space exploration community. "It will be the detective story of the century if it turns out that they really discovered something," said Dr. Ed Weiler, who is in charge of scientific research at NASA, to pace.com. "But actually," Dr. Weiler added, "I've seen the pictures, and I'm quite skeptical if the spacecraft is really there. There is still not enough data."
The Fuller Lander was launched on January 3, 1999. It was supposed to land on Mars in December, but minutes before landing on the Martian soil, radio contact with it was lost.
An inspection team established by NASA to investigate the loss of contact with the spacecraft determined that during landing, one of the engines shut down prematurely, causing the spacecraft to freefall about 40 meters. It is likely that this caused it to crash on Mars.
In about two weeks, the "Mars Odyssey 2001" will be launched to Mars, the first spacecraft to be launched to Mars, after the last two attempts to reach it failed. Noel Hiners, vice president at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, which built the Fuller Lander for NASA, told the AP that any discovery could force a rethinking of the reasons for the spacecraft's failure to land. "If there are new data, we will have to go back and re-examine our understanding of what happened and try to formulate more certain things, because everything we know today is just speculation."
The US suspends flights to Mars
Walla News - Science:
Published December 1999
The United States is abandoning its grandiose plans to bring rocks straight from the surface of Mars to Earth, at least for the next decade. This decision postpones for many years the realization of the dream of landing astronauts on the Red Planet. This disheartening news was announced to astronauts this week by Dr. Carl Pilcher, during the annual Astronomers' Conference held in Houston, Texas. Dr. Pilcher is the scientist who heads NASA's space exploration program. "The search for life on the Red Planet will go into a lower gear until the people on Earth learn how to land on Mars without crashing," he said. The loss of two spacecraft launched towards Mars last year forced NASA to re-examine its Mars exploration program. As a first step of streamlining, the plan to launch another vehicle to Mars next year was canceled.
