The Mars Surveyor ’98 Polar Lander also known as the Mars Polar Lander was a mission part of NASA’s Mars Surveyor program, a sustained program of robotic exploration of the red planet, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The spacecraft traveled 10 months from Earth to Mars to land near the southern polar cap in December 1999 and carry out a three- month mission to search for traces of subsurface water in this frozen, layered terrain. The spacecraft was lost on Dec. 3, 1999. Although investigators had very little evidence to analyze the loss of the the spacecraft, the probable cause for the loss was determined to be the premature shutdown of the spacecraft’s engines as a result of lack of proper testing.
The lander carries three scientific packages:
- The Mars descent imager, furnished by Malin Space Science Systems, Inc., which will view the landing site at increasingly higher resolution;
- The atmospheric lidar experiment, provided by Russia’s Space Research Institute, which will measure the presence and height of atmospheric hazes, along
- A miniature microphone provided by The Planetary Society, to record
the sounds of Mars; - and the Mars Volatile and Climate Surveyor science package.
The Mars Surveyor ’98 Polar Lander is shown during recent
deployment and testing of its surface solar panels. Credit NASA/Lockheed Martin
.
The landing was targeted to the center of the site, a rectangular area 200 kilometers (125 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12-1/2 miles) wide. The site was selected by NASA after the project team studied pictures and altimeter information gathered by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor. The search was narrowed to four sites before the final location was chosen. A backup landing site is located nearby, at 75 degrees south latitude and 180 degrees west longitude.
The December 3 landing was timed to occur towards the end of spring in the Martian southern hemisphere such that the sun will shine all day providing power for the probes solar panels. (This is similar to Earth’s polar regions as well were the Sun moves higher and lower in the sky but never dipping below the horizon at that season) After the nonstop sunshine ends, the lander’s solar panels will no longer provide enough power.
Instead of the spacecraft being near the ground for engine cutoff, it was actually was more than 100feet in the air. The Mars Polar Lander slammed to the surface at 50 miles an hour instead of having a smooth landing.
Problems with the missions software could have prevented the loss of the spacecraft and were easily correctable with a software change. The actual Mars Polar lander was tested this way, but not after a major change was made to the spacecraft. A unrelated wiring problem was discovered and required rework of the spacecraft. After the wiring had been corrected, testing was not redone.
Feedback on the project explained the true root case. The Mars projects were underfunded. In order to make up for the funding shortcoming, corners were cut resulting in unnecessary risks to save money and meet deadlines. NASA isn’t alone in loosing missions.
Mars Polar Lander was planed to set down on the frigid terrain near the edge of Mars’ south polar cap and dig for water ice with a robotic arm. Piggybacking on the lander were two small probes called Deep Space 2 designed to impact the Martian surface to test new technologies. The Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 were both lost at arrival December 3, 1999. CREDIT NASA
