[meteorite-list] NASA Has Few Options To Fix Failed Mars Probe (MGS)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Nov 14 12:23:18 2006
Message-ID: <200611141723.JAA06442_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=F2E242A63827051ED7FF1EF0F1AA11BE

NASA has few options to fix failed Mars probe
By Irene Klotz
Reuters
November 14, 2006

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA is running out of options for
fixing a failed Mars probe that has been snapping detailed pictures of
the red planet for a decade, officials said on Monday.

Mars Global Surveyor is the oldest of five NASA robotic probes checking
the planet for signs that Mars once had water, which many scientists
believe to be the key to learning if life ever took root there.

Global Surveyor, which has found evidence of ancient channels and
gullies that likely were carved by flowing water, stopped working on
November 2 after it developed a motor problem while trying to move one
of its power-generating solar panels.

After two days of silence, ground control teams received a signal that
the spacecraft had put itself into an emergency standby mode. There was
no information about what had gone wrong.

Since then, the mission operations team at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has run through nearly all its
backup plans to try to contact the probe.

This week, engineers are preparing for what may be their last chance to
salvage the spacecraft.

NASA plans to use the newly arrived Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO,
to take a picture of Global Surveyor to see how the failed craft is
oriented relative to the sun for power and to Earth for communications.

The picture will be taken on Friday when the satellites are about 93
miles apart. MRO's high-powered camera should be able to image details
of Global Surveyor as small as about 10 centimeters, said Tom Thorpe,
the spacecraft project manager.

"We have a good chance of recovering it still," Thorpe said in an interview.

Flight controllers also plan to try to get Global Surveyor to contact
one or both of NASA's roving geology stations, Spirit and Opportunity,
which are located on opposite sides of Mars' equator.

The rovers would not be able to relay the spacecraft's science data but
engineers at least would get an idea of its general position. The linkup
also could show if Global Surveyor still has power.

If the spacecraft has been unable to charge its batteries due to a
positioning problem or failed component, it could be drained of power
with no hope of resuscitation, Thorpe said.

But if it has power, Thorpe said, "The spacecraft is quite capable of
autonomous control even if it doesn't hear from Earth."

Global Surveyor has far surpassed its design lifetime but scientists
still had plenty more targets for the probe's camera and science
instruments.
Received on Tue 14 Nov 2006 12:23:15 PM PST