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Mars Probe May Have Spotted Lost Rover
New Scientist ^ | 1-12-2007 | Maggie McKee

Posted on 01/12/2007 3:33:00 PM PST by blam

Mars probe may have spotted lost rover

01:02 12 January 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Maggie McKee

Objects just 30 cm across can be seen in this MRO image of Pathfinder's landing site (Image: NASA/JPL/U Arizona)

The 63-centimetre-long Sojourner rover (which appears multiple times in this composite image by Pathfinder) was last seen at a distance of 13 metres from the lander. New orbital images suggest it later came within about 6m, after the lander's death (Image: NASA/JPL/U Arizona)

The most powerful camera ever sent into orbit around Mars has spotted yet another lander lying lifeless on its surface: Mars Pathfinder, which operated for three months in 1997. It may also have found the mission's tiny rover, Sojourner, which appears to have crawled towards Pathfinder after the lander had already died.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which arrived at the planet in March 2006, has previously spotted four spacecraft on the planet's surface – the current rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, and the twin 30-year-old Viking landers.

Now, it has used its ultrapowerful camera, called HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment), to identify the Pathfinder lander and scattered hardware from the mission, including the parachute and backshell it used during its descent a decade ago.

The lander and some of these components had been seen before from orbit by NASA's now-lost Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. But HiRISE can resolve details between two and five times as small, imaging objects just under 30 centimetres across.

"Before HiRISE came along, it was a lot like having a state road map to find a neighbourhood address," says geologist Tim Parker of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, US. "Suddenly, it was like having a residential street map, or maybe even photos showing houses so you can recognise them."

Re-establish contact

Such images

(Excerpt) Read more at space.newscientist.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: lost; lostmarslander; lostmarsprobe; mars; probe; rover
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1 posted on 01/12/2007 3:33:03 PM PST by blam
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To: blam

Large image.

http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/2007/details/cut/MPF_parts_2.jpg


2 posted on 01/12/2007 3:35:24 PM PST by cripplecreek (Peace without victory is a temporary illusion.)
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To: KevinDavis; sig226

Ping


3 posted on 01/12/2007 3:36:16 PM PST by JerseyJohn61 (Better Late Than Never.......sometimes over lapping is worth the effort....)
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To: blam; Molly Pitcher
Sojourner, which appears to have crawled towards Pathfinder after the lander had already died.

I know its only a machine...it was trying to get back to the mothership.

4 posted on 01/12/2007 3:36:21 PM PST by Dog
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To: cripplecreek

Pic looks like a black and white close-up of Karl Mauldin's nose. Or Rosie O'Donnell's ass.


5 posted on 01/12/2007 3:38:11 PM PST by Lusis
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To: Dog

There will be more talk like this as robotics becomes more important in space exploration. Our little creations are already nearly autonomous but are reprogrammable, which right there is a superiority to biological units.


6 posted on 01/12/2007 3:42:28 PM PST by RightWhale
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To: Dog

LOL! the article does imply human characteristics..


7 posted on 01/12/2007 3:47:59 PM PST by Molly Pitcher (We are Americans...the sons and daughters of liberty...*.from FReeper the Real fifi*))
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To: blam
No pictures of the Cydonia complex? I sense a cover up.


8 posted on 01/12/2007 3:50:25 PM PST by operation clinton cleanup
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To: RightWhale

No. Gene therapy already shows that we can reprogram bio DNA code.


9 posted on 01/12/2007 3:52:15 PM PST by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: cripplecreek

Does anyone havea microscope here?I looked at the photo,even after enlarging it and I can't see anything.Maybe I should have brought my seeing eye dog.


10 posted on 01/12/2007 3:54:03 PM PST by puppypusher (The world is going to the dogs.)
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To: Lusis
Or Rosie O'Donnell's ass.


Oh your are way off. The rover 63 centimeters in size. The above would have been measured in meters. I also the rover would have those little Pusey things all over it.
11 posted on 01/12/2007 3:54:41 PM PST by Recon Dad (Marine Spec Ops Dad)
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To: Lusis
Or Rosie O'Donnell's ass.

If I saw Rosie O'donuts ass, I sure wouldn't post the fact.

12 posted on 01/12/2007 3:55:07 PM PST by Doomonyou (I voted and all I got was a FUBAR Congress.)
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To: Southack

There's no sci-fi material in that that hasn't already been used and used up. But robotics is a new field that is hardly touched.


13 posted on 01/12/2007 3:55:33 PM PST by RightWhale
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To: blam

14 posted on 01/12/2007 3:59:48 PM PST by Sopater (Creatio Ex Nihilo)
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To: Sopater

15 posted on 01/12/2007 4:26:55 PM PST by frankenMonkey (Are there any men left in Washington, or are they all cowards?)
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To: blam

Perhaps it can also spot the European probe that presumably crashed (at one of the poles if I recall correctly) several years ago.


16 posted on 01/12/2007 4:42:27 PM PST by Buck W. (If you push something hard enough, it will fall over.)
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To: Sopater

Ha ha ha, Sopater ... we're on to you and your futile attempt to trick us with that obvious photo-shop fake ... There's no water on Mars ... ha ha ha.


17 posted on 01/12/2007 4:58:09 PM PST by knarf (Islamists kill each other ... News wall-to-wall, 24/7 .. don't touch that dial.)
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To: blam
It may also have found the mission's tiny rover, Sojourner, which appears to have crawled towards Pathfinder after the lander had already died.

That's creepy.

18 posted on 01/12/2007 5:08:18 PM PST by gotribe (There's still time to begin a war in Iraq.)
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To: puppypusher

Scan across the large image (see post # 2).
Several interesting bits (heat shields, parachutes, etc.) are labeled in huge yellow letters.


19 posted on 01/12/2007 5:14:55 PM PST by Repeal The 17th
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To: gotribe

They don't go anywhere without being told to do so.


20 posted on 01/12/2007 5:29:12 PM PST by Bob J (RIGHTALK.com...a conservative alternative to NPR!)
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