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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Past and Future _ A new campaign - find the Mars Polar Lander!

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jul 10 2009, 10:59 AM

More info here:

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_013368_1035

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/07/09/help-find-the-mars-polar-lander-2/

Posted by: SpaceListener Jul 10 2009, 02:15 PM

In spite of the fact that the southern hemisphere is already in Summer (Ls 300.4). The summer time starts on Ls 270 at May 22 and the picture, most of the surface is covered, seemingly by dioxide carbone ice with some patch caused by the sublimation of water from underwater.

I tried to find any indication (parachute, and/or crumpled lander on the ground) but was not able to spot any of them. Maybe, it is too early and must wait for a while so that there would be more dioxide carbone sublimation to uncover the spacecraft : Mars Polar Lander's parts. The Mars' summer would last for 6 months (ending by October).

Posted by: Phil Stooke Aug 8 2009, 03:07 AM

Well, I hope something will turn up in time for me to put it in my Mars atlas. Meanwhile here's an example of some work I've been doing recently, on the MPL site. The top map shows the various ellipses that were considered (taken from an old JPL press release that I can't find now... good job I'm a digital pack rat). Site 2 was the chosen ellipse. The map of all ellipses is drawn over a mosaic of MGS MOC wide angle images. The close-ups of the ellipse and the crash areas are drawn on THEMIS image mosaics. I find that a big part of planning these maps is deciding which base materials will give the best results.

Phil