December 22, 2003
Mars Polar Puzzler

Space.com is carrying this article with new details on what actually may have happened to the Mars Polar Lander (MPL) four years ago:

At NASA's request, a team from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) -- recently renamed as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency -- carried out a detailed search of the primary MPL landing area utilizing MOC images and an array of high-tech analytical equipment.

The NIMA people think they found it all right, and it wasn't smashed to bits. This conclusion directly contradicted NASA's own report, so the NIMA report was suppressed by NASA "to avoid embarassing NIMA." Yeah right. To their credit, the NIMA people have stuck by their guns. It's just possible a new probe scheduled to arrive in '05 will solve the mystery, but it may take someone walking out there to find out for sure.

Posted by scott at December 22, 2003 01:51 PM

eMail this entry!
Comments
Post a comment
Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember info?