It was the longest-lasting orbiter of another world, but NASA's Mars Global Surveyor fell silent a few days ago, and scientists have lost any hope of reviving it.
“We may have lost a dear old friend and teacher,” Michael Meyer, chief scientist for Mars exploration, said Wednesday, blaming a faulty solar panel for the loss. The panel, pointed in the wrong direction, can no longer generate enough energy to power the satellite's communications system.
It seems almost symbolic: a replacement, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, arrived barely weeks ago and went live just this month. It even made an attempt to photograph the Global Surveyor, in a last-ditch attempt to find out exactly what happened to it. The imaging was unsuccessful, NASA said.
Personally, I think the Reconnaissance Orbiter's word shouldn't be trusted. I think he was right there, cackling, stamping on the old man's fingers as he reached for the phone.
Aging Craft Orbiting Mars Appears to Have Succumbed [Associated Press]
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