|
No word from Mars spacecraft
27/11/2006 11:24 - (SA)
Pasadena, California - Two more attempts to regain contact with Nasa's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft failed this week.
The 10-year-old probe last had radio communication with Earth on November 2, and Nasa said last week that the spacecraft's mission to map the surface of the Red Planet was likely at an end.
But efforts to find out if the orbiting spacecraft was still working continued, including transmitting commands for Mars Global Surveyor to send signals to Nasa rover Opportunity operating on the surface of Mars.
The rover did not detect any signals from MGS during attempts on Tuesday and on Wednesday, according the website for Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission.
MGS has been the longest and most productive mission to Mars, sending more than 240 000 images back to Earth, according to the space agency.
The spacecraft was launched on November 7, 1996, for what was planned as a two-year mapping mission.
On the net:
marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov
- AP
|
