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 The BBC's Rachael Payne reports"No news was not good news"  real 28k  Project Leader Dr Richard Cook"Our expectations for the success of the mission are remote" real 28k The BBC's Leo Enrigth"The communications failure was a huge disappointment to controllers"  real 28k |
Mars probe silence signals failure
Richard Cook explains what should have happened in front of a model of the probe |
The Mars Polar Lander (MPL) failed again early on Tuesday to communicate with Earth, signalling what may be the end of Nasa's latest Martian expedition mission.
 You could say that our expectations for the success of the mission are remote  |
| Richard Cook, MPL project manager |
The satellite was met by a stony silence from the $165m lander.
This seventh attempt to contact the lander had been by the MPL project manager Richard Cook as the last attempt with any "high probability" of success.
One more try
At 0820 GMT Wednesday morning, Nasa will try yet again to communicate with the missing probe.
The Mars Global Surveyor satellite will pass almost directly over what should have been the touchdown point of the craft.
MPL should have landed near the Martian south pole |
If that attempt fails, Nasa will resort to attempting to put the MPL's systems into neutral, or "safe mode", by sending a command via the satellite.
The scientists can then try to launch the probe's systems from safe mode.
Mr Cook said that there was no great expectation that this last ditch attempt would succeed. He said Nasa would continue for a "couple of weeks" to listen for a signal from the MPL, and his "team is working on other possibilities".
Miniprobes also missing
The MPL has been out of contact with Earth since it turned its back on home and began the descent on to the Red Planet on Friday.
An artist's imnpression of the MPL landing safely on Mars |
Also of concern to Nasa is the lack of contact with the two mini-probes which comprised the $30m Deep Space Two project. These were released from the Polar Lander during entry.
They were designed to collect atmospheric data and analyse soil samples once they had smashed into the planet's surface.
Mars 'on the cheap'
The apparent failure of MPL comes just 10 weeks after the Mars Climate Orbiter was lost because of an embarrassing mix-up over metric and English units.
Already commentators are calling on Nasa to rethink its "cheaper, faster, better" policy of investing in low-cost Mars missions.
"It really looks like these missions haven't had enough money or people working on them so mistakes have crept in that have led to these failures," John Pike, Space Policy Director for the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), told the BBC.
"We've been trying to go Mars on the cheap - we've been trying to take a 15-gallon trip with just 10 gallons of gas in the tank."
Are Mars missions a waste of money?
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06 Dec 99 | Sci/Tech |
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Mars: Mission impossible? |
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05 Dec 99 | Sci/Tech |
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Mars probe stays silent |
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04 Dec 99 | Sci/Tech |
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Nasa hopeful despite Mars silence |
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30 Nov 99 | Sci/Tech |
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Polar lander ready for Mars |
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30 Nov 99 | Sci/Tech |
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Martian mysteries under microscope |
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11 Nov 99 | Sci/Tech |
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Orbiter loss blamed on 'silly mistakes' |
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Federation of American Scientists |
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Nasa Mars |
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Mars Polar Lander |
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Exploring Mars |
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SpaceRef.com |
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