Scientists may have found the Mars Polar Lander, a Colorado- built spacecraft that disappeared more than five years ago after plunging through the Martian atmosphere.
Malin Space Science Systems has released images that show a faint white dot on the planet’s surface, within a larger dark region. It could be the lander’s parachute, lying within a darker zone made when the spacecraft crashed, said Michael Ravine, a Malin manager.
Experts will try to shoot a sharper picture of the possible crash site later this year, he said, but proof may have to wait for a 2007 Mars spacecraft.
Confirmation would provide closure to Lockheed Martin and NASA researchers, many of whom spent years on the Polar Lander project, Ravine said.
“To have it disappear without a trace, without a word, just gone … well, it would be nice to get a little sense of closure,” Malin said.
Lockheed engineers built the Mars Polar Lander during an ill-fated time when NASA was pushing “faster, better, cheaper” space exploration. Many of those missions failed.
In an incident review of the polar lander failure, NASA found that the spacecraft’s engines shut down prematurely during landing, so it most likely smashed into the planet’s surface.
Lockheed Martin officials said they’ve seen the extremely low- resolution images, which represent the entire spacecraft with a few pixels.
An image that shows the lander’s condition would be particularly revealing, said Lockheed spokeswoman Joan Underwood.
“That would answer so many questions for us,” Underwood said. “How far through the entry, descent and landing process did it make it? Did the drogue parachute deploy? Did the aeroshell deploy? … If we could answer those questions, it would tell us what processes did work, and what didn’t.”
The new images were shot by the Mars Global Surveyor, another Lockheed-built spacecraft currently orbiting Mars.
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-820-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.
