[ Kate/NASAChatHost - 1 - 13:06:31 ]
During this MARS FORUM, you may post questions to the chat room beginning Tuesday, November 30 at 8 am, Pacific. Mars experts will be online at various times to answer your questions. Check back throughout the 18-day chat period to find answers to your questions. This MARS FORUM is moderated, so while you may not see your question posted immediately, it will remain in the moderator's queue. PLEASE DO NOT REPOST YOUR QUESTIONS. Thanks :-)

[ Marc/NASACalifornia - 3 - 06:34:42 ]
Hi Roger, The primary purpose of Mars Polar Lander is to learn more about the current water resources and past climate history of Mars. The Deep Space 2 part of the mission will test a bunch of new technologies including the ability of a spacecraft to survive a 400MPH crash landing. In terms of benefits, I'd list new science data, useful engineering data and the fabulous thrill of discovery. Other people might say other things.

[ Michael/JPL/Architech - 21 - 14:31:53 ]
RE: [RogerJWhitbeck] What is the main reason and benefits for sending the spacecraft to Mars?
This is one of the steps necessary for human exploration of the planet and solar system. The benefits are in two types: Present- allows a way for new technology to be designed and transferred to those who pay for the mission, the Second is more long term in that the US Government has determined that there is a role for government to encourage development in areas that are not yet practical and profitable for industry. The issues that usually are discussed is what are the limits to which we should go into an area. That is the role of congress to select.

[ Michael/JPL/Architech - 22 - 14:34:05 ]
RE: [amado] If you do colonize Mars, How long will it it be before we start sending people.
The plans for people to go to Mars is in the early 21st century.

[ Michael/JPL/Architect - 23 - 14:36:25 ]
RE: [Mike] Did the Lander land successfully?
We don't know yet. At about 6:30 PM PST will be the next time we have an opportunity to know.

[ Michael/JPL/Architect - 24 - 14:38:34 ]
RE: [amdrewmatt] What do you hope to find on Mars?
Water, Historical conditions for the live of Mars, increase science, information that will help plan if men were to go to Mars.

[ George/JPL/Systems - 26 - 14:39:44 ]
RE: [Gaurdian] when was the first mars lander launched?
The first lander was launched by the Soviet Union in 1971, called Kosmos 419, it failed before reaching Mars. The United States launched Viking 1, the USA's first lander in 1975.

[ Mark/SysEngineer - 27 - 14:43:21 ]
RE: [Gaurdian] when was the first mars lander launched?
The first successful lander was Mars 3 launched by the USSR on 5/28/71. There were several earlier attempts but they either failed to leave Earth orbit or were destroyed on the surface of Mars.

[ George/JPL/Systems - 28 - 14:44:17 ]
RE: [amdrewmatt] What do you hope to find on Mars?
The Mars Polar Lander hopes to study the history of the climate. It will be looking for water under the soil with it's robotic arm.

[ George/JPL/Systems - 29 - 14:47:18 ]
RE: [JohnJosh] What if there is water on Mars?
Water on Mars can mean many things...one is that it will make human exploration of Mars easier because it is easier to harvest the existing water on Mars than to bring all the water you need to live on Mars from Earth

[ Mark/SysEngineer - 41 - 14:49:26 ]
RE: [amdrewmatt] What do you hope to find on Mars?
The key scientific objective of MPL/DS2 is to determine how the climate of Mars has changed over time and where water, in particular, resides on Mars today.

[ George/JPL/Systems - 42 - 14:53:11 ]
RE: [RogerJWhitbeck] What is the main reason and benefits for sending the spacecraft to Mars?
The more we learn about Mars, the more we can understand our own planet. A good example is atmospheric studies of Mars: since the Martian atmosphere is simple compared to our atmosphere, we can gain understanding on Mars which can be applied to learn about the more complex weather patterns on Earth

[ Mark/SysEngineer - 43 - 14:54:18 ]
RE: [Matthew] What is the tempature difference on Mars? Day to Night
The surface temperature on Mars averages -64 F (-53 C). It varies from -199 F (-128 C) during polar night to 80 F (27 C) at the equator during midday at the closest point in orbit to the Sun.

[ George/JPL/Systems - 50 - 14:58:13 ]
RE: [Jens] The lost of the Mars Climate Orbiter was due to the use of different units (km-miles). Was this mistake also a problem for the Mars Polar Lander? What are the consequences and the drawbacks due to the lost of the Mars CLimate Orbiter to the whole NASA Mars programm?
Good question. First, the lessons learned from the loss of the orbiter was applied to the lander and will be applied to future missions. Second, the original plan involved the lander using the orbiter as a relay station to transmit data back to Earth. Since the loss, the lander will now use the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft as a relay. This will reduce data that the lander can return but the loss of orbiter did not ruin the lander's mission.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 51 - 14:58:23 ]
More questions will be posted in the chat room later. Thanks to Michael, Mark, George and other Mars team members for dropping in to answer our questions today!

[ George/JPL/Systems - 52 - 15:01:22 ]
RE: [MarsCrazy] Is there any other missions planned after Polar Lander
Yess Crazy!!! Next up is a sample return mission in which a rover like Sojourner will collect samples, place them on a rocket and then launch them into orbit around Mars for another spacecraft to catch and return to Earth.

[ George/JPL/Systems - 53 - 15:05:24 ]
RE: [Trista] why is mars called the red planet and why did they name the plaet mars?
Not my area of expertise...but here ya go. Mars is visible with the naked eye sometimes during the year. It appears as a red dot in the sky that doesn't sparkle like a star. I guess seeing the red made people think about blood and name it after the Roman god of war, Mars.

[ tien/reliabilityengineer - 54 - 15:09:08 ]
RE: [MarsCrazy] Is there any other missions planned after Polar Lander
Yes, at least four more. Mars 01: this mission will be similar to Mars' 98. It has an orbiter and also has a lander with a rover. Mars' 03: this mission is also the same but it will carry different science instrument. Mars sample return: This will be an awesome mission. It has something similar to the Eagle lander of Apollo 11. The lander come pick up sample. Then it flies back to the orbiter. Then flies back to earth. It will release the sample back to earth. Mars' 05: not define. Basically we will send at least one space-craft every to year. This is an optimum time to use the least energy to send a space-craft to Mars.

[ tien/reliabilityengineer - 55 - 15:11:22 ]
RE: [Craig] How do scientists know that rocks that they find in places like Antarctica actually came from Mars - or is it only a guess?
From the study of data from Viking mission, and studies of the environment at mars from previous mission. We can tell some special features of rock from mars. And we also know what features are belonged to Earth.

[ George/JPL/Systems - 56 - 15:13:02 ]
RE: [Craig] How do scientists know that rocks that they find in places like Antartica actually came from Mars - or is it only a guess?
Gases trapped in the rock match the composition of the Martian atmosphere.

[ tien/reliabilityengineer - 57 - 15:14:50 ]
RE: [ParagJoshi] Even we find water on Mars, would it be edible? I mean there might be some chemical contents that are not for human consumption. How will we analyse that?
Water is very pure. If there is some other chemical in the sample beside water, the chemical analyzer from the spacecraft will tell us what it is . And we can learn from there.

[ Michael/JPL/SystemEngineer - 83 - 15:19:27 ]
RE: [lEMUELpATTERSON] wILL IRON OXIDES BE IDENTIFIED IN THE FROZEN ICE CAPS IF SO HOW MUCH CAN BE EXPECTED?
the spectroscopy is done with a small laser and heater. The data is sent to a camera on Mars Surveyor. The details of just home much can to done is not known yet.

[ Expert - 84 - 15:21:09 ]
RE: [Stephanie] Since MPL will be in daylight its whole primary mission, will spacecraft operations go 24 hours a day?
Not really, the spacecraft will take periodic breaks to charge batteries

[ Michael/JPL/SystemEngineer - 85 - 15:22:02 ]
RE: [Gary] Can we create an atmosphere of breatheable air on Mars?
No, We will have to create an atmosphere to breath

[ George/JPL/Systems - 86 - 15:25:19 ]
RE: [Odog] just how exactly will the microphone aboard the vessel operate and will those sounds be available
Hopefully from the microphone we should hear the motors of the arm and other sounds from the lander itself plus maybe some wind noise...and maybe other things.

[ tien/reliabilityengineer - 87 - 15:25:21 ]
RE: [Danny] Question about Master timer and landing events. Are all the evnts ties to this master timer? That is to say, if, for the sake of discussion, MPL were to completely miss the planet, would the backshellcome off at it's set time, the parachute deploy and MPL attemt to land on nothing?
The space craft has its own master time. And this time is always checked by the ground mission. The clock has very accurate time. The sequence is programmed with many fault protection scheme. So the chance to miss the sequence is very unlikely. The spacecraft design with only one single point failure. Something has to be major failure before this can happen.

[ George/JPL/Systems - 88 - 15:26:52 ]
RE: [David] Has there been any thought to asking individuals like Bill Gates to pay for a meend mission to mars if he is assured sole marketing rights to any public relations and R&D benfits? With personal wealth exceeding 100 billion he alone could actually pay for the current technology based proposal being floated by NASA.
Sounds like a good idea...do you think he needs a systems engineer?

[ tien/reliabilityengineer - 89 - 15:27:38 ]
RE: [Daniele] Hi, I'm writing from Italy. I have two questions for you. When it will be possible the first human mission to Mars? And how Mars Polar Lander could contribute to?
One of the NASA plan is to send the man mission to Mars in next 20 years. The lander will help us to survey more about mars. It is in different place than Mars Path Finder and Viking.

[ George/JPL/Systems - 90 - 15:30:23 ]
RE: [Daniele] Hi, I'm writing from Italy. I have two questions for you. When it will be possible the first human mission to Mars? And how Mars Polar Lander could contribute to?
I don't think anyone knows when or if humans will venture to Mars...but the discovery of water by MPL would definitely start the process of sending humans to Mars

[ tien/reliabilityengineer - 91 - 15:31:15 ]
RE: [Odog] just how exactly will the microphone aboard the vessel operate and will those sounds be available
It acts like a normal microphone. It will sense any signal which is less than 10 KHz. It will send to the computer in the space craft. Then the computer will send this data back to earth. This data will be shown in Mars web site.

[ Michael/JPL/SystemEngineer - 92 - 15:32:01 ]
RE: [Odog] just how exactly will the microphone aboard the vessel operate and will those sounds be available
The Mircrophone is a $15 sound mirophone. The sounds will be sent via the spacecraft to the DSN antennae. These files will be translated and then made available [for] listening

[ Michael/JPL/SystemEngineer - 93 - 15:34:03 ]
RE: [Jaco] what happened to the wreckage of the last Mars mission, will it be examined?
It is where it is and it will not be examined.

[ Mark/SysEngineer - 94 - 15:35:06 ]
RE: [Mike] Why cant we send a lander to study the "Face on Mars" and the "City Square" In the Cydonia area ? Please respond !!
Theoretically we could send missions to those areas. We do not do so because there are better areas on Mars to look for water.

[ tien/reliabilityengineer - 95 - 15:37:11 ]
RE: [David] Has there been any thought to asking individuals like Bill Gates to pay for a meend mission to mars if he is assured sole marketing rights to any public relations and R&D benfits? With personal wealth exceeding 100 billion he alone could actually pay for the current technology based proposal being floated by NASA.
Man Mission is extremely expensive. I do not think Bill can pay this. Because Space Environment is filled with radiation. So it is extremely dangerous for human. All the missions to mars so far only contained hardware. So they can handle radiation. The shielding for the space-craft is not much. But with human-being inside, the shielding will be very thick. This will be very heavy. It will take a very expensive rocket engine to send this human-being. Another thing is we have to send these people back to earth. We need to carry a lot of fuel. It is very hard.

[ Marc/ARC - 98 - 16:31:23 ]
RE: [jaylane] If a baby were born on Mars what effects would it have on the baby? Also would it be considered an alien?
We do not yet know enough about the effects of conditions on Mars such as .38G gravity or possible radiation exposure in terms of how they would effect human reproduction. However, we expect that our research on the International Space Station (ISS) using the Life Science Centrifuge will enable us to conduct experiments on the effects of partial gravity upon living organisms.

[ Marc/ARC - 99 - 16:35:39 ]
RE: [tien/reliabilityengineer] One of the NASA plan is to send the man mission to Mars in next 20 years. The lander will help us to survey more about mars. It is in different place than Mars Path Finder and Viking.
If one reflects that it took the United States less than nine years from the time of the first Mercury program flight of Alan Shepard in 1961 until the first Moon Landing (Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, July 20, 1969, it would seem that we could stage a human mission to Mars in less than nine years, assuming we had the political leadership and will to do it.

[ Marc/ARC - 101 - 16:45:55 ]
RE: [Jim] If water is found, and that suggests life, what are NASA's plans to steer Mars exploration toward the search for that life?
NASA's plans for exploring Mars in the search for life are almost entirely independent of whether the Polar Lander finds water. NASA's plans for the search for life on Mars and throughout the Universe appear in the Astrobiology Roadmap, which has 18 objectives. Objective 8 is the Search for Life on Mars "Past and Present." Search the web on the key words "Astrobiology" and "Astrobiology Roadmap."

[ Marc/ARC - 103 - 16:54:43 ]
RE: [grade4classABgrennwellSchoolCanada] We think that this is really neat. Someday we hope to be part of a team to travel to Mars and find out what it is really like. Do you plan on sending a team of scientists and when?
NASA has been studying many options and making various plans to send a human mission to Mars for several decades. In 1989, President Bush declared the goal of landing a human crew on Mars by July 20, 2019, the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo Moon landing. Right now, that date may appear optimistic, given the recent effort in Congress to cut the NASA budget by $1.4 billion. Assuming that you are a 9 year old 4th grader, you will be 28 years old in 2019, which will be an excellent age to apply to the Astronaut Corps.

[ Marc/ARC - 105 - 17:07:50 ]
RE: [Ryan] If the research done on the Mars Lander's findings results in evidence that ancinet seas once existed on Mars, what is the next logical step that NASA would want to take to determine how that water can be harvested to support a colonization effort of Mars?
Actually, there are researchers already looking at how to extract water and oxygen from various types of soil. The problem is that it takes a great deal of energy to release water from these forms of soil, either by distillation or by chemical reaction. The difficulty is that if the water is mixed in an ice or frost form in very low concentration, we would need to bring large masses of equipment to mine the low grade ore and to process it. Also, the areas of Mars that scientists wish to explore in the search for life are not generally close to the poles, so there would be an added challenge of how to transport the liquid H20 several thousand kilometers to the exploration base or colony where the people would want it.

[ Expert - 108 - 17:12:10 ]
RE: [EdDonovan] The two special penetrator probes (Scott and Amundsen) were supposed to send data to the Mars Climate Orbiter and then to Earth. What is the plan now?
Actually, the two DS-2 penetrators were supposed to communicate through MGS which is now in orbit. So if they survive, we should hear from them.

[ Marc/ARC - 112 - 17:14:13 ]
RE: [tiffanychurch] Hello,will youemailmy schoolteacherwww.northhabersham.com.We are learning abot mars willyou tellme if you youthink we will live on mars.
Sorry, I can respond to you only via the chat room right now. I believe that it is entirely possible for people to live on Mars and that we will send people to Mars within the next 20 years.

[ Marc/ARC - 114 - 17:20:53 ]
RE: [Gary] If there is water on Mars, how long will it be before a manned mission is launched?
NASA's plans to send people to explore Mars are entirely independent of the possibility of finding water at the poles or elsewhere on its surface. The current optimistic view is that we may succeed in fulfilling President Bush's goal of landing a human crew on Mars by July 20, 2019, the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo Moon landing. The larger exploration or Astrobiology research goal is the search for possible life on Mars, past or present.

[ Marc/ARC - 116 - 17:26:42 ]
RE: [Robert] Do You Hope To Send People To Mars Before The Year 2015?
We can hope. NASA has done a number of studies that show it would be possible to send human Mission to Mars earlier than 2015. However, there would need to be strong public support and political leadership to initiate and carry out such a mission because of the need for considerable funding.

[ GeoffBriggs - 118 - 17:32:37 ]
RE: [Ryan] If the research done on the Mars Lander's findings results in evidence that ancinet seas once existed on Mars, what is the next logical step that NASA would want to take to determine how that water can be harvested to support a colonization effort of Mars?
We don't expect that this mission will conclusively determine whether Mars ever had ancient seas. However, we do expect a big improvement in our understanding of the history of water on Mars. Access to water for in situ use on a human mission could be achieved by extracting the tenuous water vapor from the atmosphere or by heating the soil to release the adsorbed water. We might also try to gain access to and mine ground ice -- which may be available at depth over much of the planet. Another possibility is to drill down to the postulated Martian hydrosphere -- several kilometers down -- where temperatures may be warm enough to allow the ground ice to melt and be available as a liquid.

[ Marc/ARC - 119 - 17:32:38 ]
RE: [Moises] Will the use of anti-matter engins shorten the travel time to Mars? By how Much?
REgretably, we do not have anti-matter engines yet, nor do we have any idea of how to make them. Anti-matter engines appear only on Star Trek and possibly other works of science fiction. What we rely on now to launch rockets and spacecraft are basically chemical engines -- either liquid or solid -- that propel the vehicle with the chemical reaction or rapid oxidation (burning) the fuel. Mind that there is nothing wrong with science fiction, it is one of my favorite genres. However, it is essential always to distinguish clearly between real science and engineering and their fantasy counterparts.

[ Susan/NASAChatHost - 123 - 17:38:14 ]
HI! I AM SITTING HERE WITH Geoff Briggs at NASA Ames, he tells me that at the Mars Polar Ice Cap, the temperature is probably around -120 degrees Celsius, but a distance away from the pole itself the temperature is probably -80C. Great question

[ Marc/ARC - 124 - 17:41:01 ]
RE: [TheKarateKid] If You Send People To Mars, How Many Will You Send? Would You Need A Lot Of People With Different Expertise?
NASA mission planners and designers have been studying the question of how many people should comprise a Mars exploration crew. The two big considerations are that the more people we send the more capability we have but that the more people we send, the more the mission will cost. In terms of skill mix, the current thinking is that five crew members could furnish the necessary range of expertise, but without any back-up redundancy (a good thing to have) among the crew members. With six people, we could have two crews of three people each. The small group/decision-making literature seems to indicate that small groups in odd numbers work better than even numbers for purposes of teams or missions such as exploration. A crew of eight people would afford very substantial positive skill redundancy. The current range of consideration runs from five to eight people.

[ Marc/ARC - 132 - 17:50:07 ]
RE: [paul] Will we be able to mow grass on mars?
Almost. When we establish a permanent human presence on Mars, we will include a large component of bio-regenerative life support (also known as Closed Ecological Life Support). This system will rely on plants to remove carbon dioxide and restore oxygen to the atmosphere, process waste water and solids, and to grow food. Wheat and wheat grass are crops currently under experimentation as candidate crops for these systems. When the crew cut the wheat, it may resemble mowing it, although the correct Earth terms would be reaping or combining the wheat.

[ Marc/NASACalifornia - 214 - 10:26:01 ]
RE: [Tess] Hi i would like to ask a question on the millenium mars project
Hi Tess, The best place for info on Mars Millennium is at their web site: http://www.mars2030.org

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 216 - 09:38:04 ]
RE: [Tess] Hi i would like to ask a question on the millenium mars project
Tess, if you still have questions after visiting the Mars Millennium web site, you can chat with different scientists and researchers involved in future missions to Mars. Find out about these chats on the NASA Quest Space Scientists Online project, at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/sso.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 217 - 09:40:42 ]
RE: [ed] my collage paper is on what it takes to be astronaut and i was wondering if you could tell me about what you make and long term benifits
Ed, the best way to learn about the requirements for becoming an astronaut is to visit the NASA Johnson Space Center web site, at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov. Good luck!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 218 - 12:33:34 ]
The latest news on the Mars Polar Lander is available on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory web site - http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

[ mark/sysengineer - 219 - 16:32:10 ]
RE: [Mike] hi guys why do we spend so much money on searching for life when we have life here on earth and god tells us that there are many worlds i have created so why can't we just accept that and go on searching for life on this earth and let the other people do their searching too? I know it's cool to look in a telescope and wonder,and say are they looking back
We are not just looking for life on other planets, we are trying to understand what things are necessary to create and sustain life. Some scientists theorize that life could have existed on Mars long ago. By sending probes to Mars we could determine if this is true and if there was life what happened to it.

[ Expert - 220 - 17:02:41 ]
RE: [NicholasD] How do you think the water resourcews you find on Mars will help us on earth?
Finding where the water is currently located on Mars (and analyzing it's geology) will help us understand how the climate change on Mars occurred, whether it was driven by a catastrophic change, episodic variation or was the gradual evolution of the planets environment. Knowing this we can better understand what might happen to our own planet.

[ mark/sysengineer - 221 - 17:10:46 ]
RE: [Melissa] I read something about the Polar Lander using some of the energy from the solar arrays to keep itself warm. What is its operating temperature and how does it maintain that temperature?
The central electronics needs to be kept above -22 F (-30 C). The lander uses thermal heaters to maintain this temperature. The heaters are supplied with power by a rechargeable 16-amp-hour nickel-hydrogen battery. The solar arrays are used to recharge the battery.

[ mark/sysengineer - 222 - 17:14:53 ]
RE: [melissa] what is the size of mars?
Mars has an average diameter of 6,780 kilometers (4,217 miles).

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 223 - 21:02:50 ]
RE: [Miguel] As you know the two polar ice caps of mars consist of carbon dioxide and oxygen. Do you think that there probably was some form of air on mars?
The Martian atmosphere is about 95.3% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and only about 0.13% oxygen. The average pressure is only about 6 millibars (compared to 1000 millibars at "sea level" on Earth). So, Mars DOES have an atmosphere -- just much thinner than Earth's. The ice at the polar caps is thought to be water ice and carbon dioxide ice; CO2 ice appears to last throughout the year in the South Polar Cap, but only during the winter in the North Polar Cap.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 224 - 21:07:17 ]
RE: [Robert] Can you update us on the most recent developments? Looks like there has been another window of opportunity. Any signals from the Lander or the probes ????
Check out the MPL web page for the latest status update:

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 225 - 21:08:33 ]
RE: [Steve/UnivColorado] Check out the MPL web page for the latest status update:
http://marslander.jpl.nasa.gov

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 226 - 21:12:29 ]
RE: [Paul] Once the lander lands, how will it stay in place with the winds blowing so fast?
The Martian atmospheric density is only about 6 millibars (compared to about 1000 millibars at "sea level" on Earth). So, the force exerted by the wind on the Lander will not be large enough to move it.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 227 - 21:17:43 ]
RE: [don] What is the latitude and longitude that the polar lander is landing in ? Thanks Don
The tracking before MPL entered the atmosphere indicated the likely landing site to be at 76.1 S latitude and 195.3 W longitude.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 228 - 21:19:20 ]
RE: [Stephanie] Will MGS be used as a relay?
Yes, MGS has the capability to act as a radio relay for both the MPL and the DS-2 probes.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 229 - 21:25:17 ]
RE: [James] If you never recieve a signal from the polar lander,are there plans to send another lander to the polar caps?
Landers are planned for launch in 2001, 2003, and 2005. Although the exact landing sites for those missions have yet to be selected, none are currently planned for the polar regions.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 230 - 21:42:46 ]
RE: [Adam/BurnsvilleMN] The title of the mission is Deep Space 2. What is the significance of the number 2. Also what is the predicted depth that the probe will reach? Thank you.
The DS-2 probes are the second mission in NASA's New Millennium Program. This is a program designed to test new technologies for use on future missions. Deep Space 1 was launched in Oct., 1998, and has tested solar electric propulsion (an "ion drive"). For more details on this program, check out: http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/mis/index.html The maximum depth the DS-2 probes were designed to penetrate the surface was about 2 meters.

[ MichelleMock/CoronaCA - 235 - 08:16:05 ]
The news media seems to mention the cost of Mars Polar Lander everytime they mention it. My question: how much of the cost actually represents the *parts* (physical hardware) that makes up the lander once you strip off all the $$$ that represent *labor* i.e. salaries? If NASA lost all funding to explore Mars, how many scientists and others would be out of work? It bothers me to hear/read that more money should be spent on education and that funding for space exploration should be discontinued. As a teacher, I KNOW I am underpaid, but taking away NASA jobs wont help me or my students any. However, NASA Quest and all the various Outreach projects from many different NASA sources continually energize me, making me a better (and more enthusiastic) teacher. They also provide a continual real learning experience for my students. I hope MPL *phones home* soon, but in the meantime, every one of the NASA *experts* who reach out and touch students around the world should know that they are very much appreciated. THANK YOU!

[ GaryRowntree - 241 - 09:38:11 ]
Nice message MichelleMock. I agree entirely with your sentiments and I'm sure a lot of other people do. Nasa provide a great escape from boring life here on Earth.

[ MichelleMock/CoronaCA - 242 - 13:08:15 ]
Re: #241 from GaryRowntree. Life on earth boring? I think not! But NASA certainly does make things more exciting and interesting! I find looking at things from a different perspective makes me see the interesting in the mundane. :-)

[ RichHogen/LMA - 240 - 08:51:05 ]
RE: [DennisLyons] My question is why did the two recent probes sent to Mars have so much trouble when in the 70's the probes sent(Viking series) were successful.
In performing any comparisons (spacecraft missions, statistics you hear on the news, anything) you always need to have a "control", or a relevant baseline of comparison. In your comparison of the Mars '98 missions against Viking at least two important pieces of information are missing. First, there have been many Unsuccessful missions to both the Moon and to Mars. From that era we tend to remember only the stunning successes. In other words, it's equally valid to point out that historically we (as a species and as a nation) have lost many spacecraft at Mars. It's always a very difficult thing to do (even if the spacecraft works perfectly, [because] nature can always kill it by behaving differently than planned for, which is what nature tends to do on occasion). We might simply have been lucky with the Viking landers, because they landed in rocky areas when the planners thought they were going to land in safe, non-rocky areas. Every mission has a level of accepted risk. There is no such thing as a mission that you _know_ will succeed. There is always a real chance a mission will fail even though absolutely nothing was wrong with the spacecraft or ground systems. After a mistake we tend to forget that and assume all mission failures must also be mistakes. Second, and more obviously, comparing Viking to Mars '98 is very much an apples versus oranges comparison. Viking used older, simpler technology, with a lot more money and staffing and longer development times, and with radioisotope thermoelectric generators so it didn't have to worry about fragile deployable solar panels. Mars '98 is a Faster, Better, Cheaper-era mission, developed in a very short time with fewer people and a lot less money (Viking 1 and 2, which I believe included two orbiters and two landers, cost 3.14 BILLION 1990 dollars -- that's roughly 785 million dollars per spacecraft -- whereas Mars '98 cost about 300 million 1998 dollars, or about 150 million dollars per spacecraft), including complex new technologies, deployable and articulatable solar panels, extremely complex computer hardware and software to satisfy complex mission requirements (like aerobraking, relay ops, complex cruise and landed ops), and so forth. One might be tempted to think, "we've done this before, so we should know how to do it more reliably", but don't believe everything you think. The truth about space exploration, especially in this modern era, is that we may have done some things before, but never this fast, this cheap, or with this new high-tech equipment. In fact, missions seem to be getting more complex and ambitious even as money and time budgets are reduced. From the beginning it was consciously decided that Faster, Better, Cheaper requires us to accept more risk for individual spacecraft. The idea is that if you can build spacecraft more often for cheaper, it's survivable to lose some of them, which is turning out to be true. I'd like to close by reiterating the need for a "control" or relevant baseline whenever you do any comparisons. One of the things we keep hearing on the news is dramatically inflected quotes of the cost of the Mars '98 spacecraft. If you say it just so, you can make 125 million dollars sound like a huge amount of money, and if you're belligerent you can make it sound like wasted money. But many Hollywood blockbusters cost more and make more money than 125 million dollars, more and more athletes make that much money in a single year for performing manual labor, and the population of the USA spends hundreds of Billions of dollars on luxury spending. Always find that relevant baseline for comparison.

[ Sandy/JPL/Systems - 243 - 18:01:01 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA] On December 3rd, we were experiencing strong gusting winds in Southern California. This made me wonder if wind gusts could interfere with a Mars landing? Are there windstorms around the polar cap(s)? Are the storms on Mars predictable at all or can they come up out of seemingly nowhere as they often do on earth? If a storm developed on the surface in the area of any planned landing, could the landing site be changed and the spacecraft diverted once it has arrived in the vicinity of Mars?
I don't have information on how strong the winds can be, or how quickly they can kick up. I suspect it's hard to observe what the winds are from orbit - the only visible indications would be dust trails, probably not very visible. (On Earth, we can use the effect of winds on oceans to estimate wind speed and direction - not an option on Mars.) A more important problem is: MPL did a direct entry - it went from solar orbit (the Earth-to-Mars trajectory) straight into the atmosphere; it didn't go into orbit first. (Viking went into orbit first - the first Viking landing was delayed ~16 days due to a windstorm.) Descent from orbit is more robust, since it gives you time to think about where you're going to land. However, it costs a lost of rocket propellant to carry the probe into orbit, then deorbit it. MPL and Pathfinder went directly into the atmosphere to save the cost of getting into orbit. However, going directly into the atmosphere means that, once you're launched from Earth, you've pretty much fixed when you're going to land. MPL was able to retarget where they were going to come down, but they could probably change the time of arrival by only a few seconds. They were going to come down in that general area, at that time whether they wanted to or not.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 249 - 17:43:41 ]
RE: [John/HowardUniv] Why don't we simply "take a looksee" at the landing site using one of the numerous powerful telescopes at NASA's disposal ? That would clear up alot of speculation as to the condition of the MPL and probes. Please respond.
The best telescope available -- the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) - wouldn't have the resolution necessary. In May of this year, Mars was at its closest "opposition" since 1990 (the point in its orbit where it's closest to Earth); it was about 87 million km away, and our images from HST provided a surface resolution of about 19 km per pixel. Right now, Mars is about 250 million km from Earth, so HST's resolution would be about 60 km / pixel. MPL is only a couple meters across, so would be invisible at HST's best resolution.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 250 - 18:40:57 ]
RE: [Eric] Why does NASA spent so much time and money to sterilize spacecraft?
The concern is that if spacecraft either land on or impact Mars, bacteria from Earth could possibly contaminate Mars. Even if terrestrial bacteria would perish under Martian conditions, such contamination may make it very difficult to unambiguously determine if life does, or ever has, existed on Mars. So, any spacecraft intended for Mars is thoroughly sterilized before launch to reduce the chances of contamination as much as possible.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 251 - 18:44:28 ]
RE: [Stephanie] Although MOC cannot image the Polar Lander, might the TES be used to search for the lander? The heat absorption of the metal parts would be different from the Martian soil. Perhaps the pieces could be identified too. How about the altimeter?
The TES has a surface resolution of about 3 km, and MOLA has a resolution of a few hundred meters. Since MPL is only a few meters across, neither of these instruments has sufficient resolution to detect it.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 252 - 18:52:53 ]
RE: [CarolynatSchooll3] My first graders would like to know how many years does it take for a person to become a scientist and work on a mission such as this one. How will you test for water in the Martian soil?
Most scientists and engineers involved in the mission have at least a Bachelor's degree (4 years of college). Many also have a Master's degree (5 or more years of college) or a Ph.D. (probably 7 or more years of college). One way MPL planned to test for water was to use the robot arm to place a soil sample into a small oven, heat the sample, and see if water vapor was given off.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 253 - 18:55:44 ]
RE: [JOHN/HOWARDUNIV] Since the Polar Lander and its microprobes now appear lost, why not verify their status by using the Hubble Telescope to search the landing site for the craft(s) or wreckage? Certainly it is powerful enough to accomplish that.
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) doesn't have the resolution necessary. In May of this year, Mars was at its closest "opposition" since 1990 (the point in its orbit where it's closest to Earth); it was about 87 million km away, and our images from HST provided a surface resolution of about 19 km per pixel. Right now, Mars is about 250 million km from Earth, so HST's resolution would be about 60 km / pixel. MPL is only a couple meters across, so would be invisible at HST's best resolution.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 254 - 19:13:33 ]
RE: [Stuart] Is it possible for the sky of mars to be blue at some location on the planet or during some lull in the aolean processes?
If there was no dust suspended in the Martian atmosphere, Rayleigh scattering would make the sky appear to be a very dark blue (similar to what you'd see on Earth at an altitude of 80,000 feet or so). Some researchers believe such a clear sky may occur when dust storm activity is at a minimum, and when water ice clouds are present (during the portion of the year when Mars is near aphelion and the increased distance to the Sun reduces atmospheric temperatures). The water ice crystals would condense on whatever suspended dust particles are present, and the heavier dust/ice particles would rapidly settle to the surface, effectively clearing dust from the atmosphere. In the three surface locations observed so far, however - the two Viking Landers and Pathfinder - such clear conditions have not been seen.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 255 - 19:20:56 ]
RE: [Bryan] What is the relay speed in layman's terms (i.e. kb/s) of the information received from the lander and microprobes disregarding the initial travel time from Mars to Earth.
The Mars Relay on MGS can transmit at a data rate of between 8 and 128 kilobits/sec. For more information, check out this MGS web site: http://www.sgi-mars.com/mgs/sci/mr/mr.html

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 256 - 19:32:36 ]
RE: [Snake] Do you thik tha an astroid hit it and that the explosion was so hot that it evaporated all of the water on the red planet?
Much of Mars is covered with craters, caused by meteoriods and asteroids impacting the planet. The Hellas basin - a crater about 2000 km in diameter - is the largest remaining scar from such an impact. Large impacts certainly "erode" the atmosphere - sizable quantities of gas are lost into space. Any ice or water vaporized by the imapct could also be lost in this manner. Over billions of years, substantial amounts of atmosphere and water could have been lost.

[ Kelly/NASA_Ames_engineer - 258 - 19:20:37 ]
RE: [Rico] Did we just put life on mars with our unsterile lander?
This is a good question, Rico. I was talking with some other NASA scientists and engineers last night at dinner about this. My understanding is that the outside of the spacecraft were swabbed, but that there is quite some possibility for microbes to have been inside the craft and fuel tanks. According to these biologists, it is quite possible that we could have transported life to Mars that could have conditions which would support it and keep it alive for some time. They suggested it would be interesting to go back to this site and have a look during future robotic and human missions.

[ Kelly/NASA_Ames_engineer - 259 - 19:28:52 ]
RE: [Stephanie] For normal surface operations, was MPL going to use MGS as a relay or just use direct-to-earth communication?
MPL was configured to have three possibilitites for communication with Earth: 1) Relay through MCO (Mars Climate Orbiter), 2) Relay through MGS, and 3) Direct to Earth. "Normal operations" could and probably would have included any or all of these three possibilities.

[ Kelly/NASA_Ames_engineer - 260 - 19:36:37 ]
RE: [Mark] What's the liklihood, at this point, that the polar surveyor will transmit?
Not high.

[ Kelly/NASA_Ames_engineer - 261 - 19:44:41 ]
RE: [Gabriel] hello, what do you think is the cause of the failure?
Hi Gabriel. It's possible there are new theories, but an e-mail from a colleague on the science team who was at JPL for the past week (received Dec 6) said: "Current failure theories are (1) the lander did not separate from the cruise ring (despite redundancy) so the whole thing including DS2 probes crashed on the surface (2) the polar layered terrain could be a low-density, friable sponge cake material of several meters depth into which all 3 probes have disappeared (3) independent failures on all 3 vehicles (e.g. lander hit a big local slope and rolled over and DS2 probes simply broke under impact)." He also relayed a cute antedote about Bruce Murray's "exploding regolith" theory. He said it caused some chuckles in the control room but also that it might have been half serious. The idea was that trapped volatiles in the Martian surface could have been suddenly released upon contact by the probes (or any other unfortunate incoming object).

[ Kelly/NASA_Ames_engineer - 262 - 20:09:35 ]
RE: [StephenCanada] Why was the lander built with pads and legs, would it not have been better to have it impact "soviet style" perhaps as a cushioned ball - it may not have looked as impressive but after coming to rest it could open-up and right itself?
This 'cushioned ball' method was actually first successfully demonstrated by Mars Pathfinder two years ago. Perhaps a member of the MPL engineering team could go into more detail about why the Pathfinder-type airbags were not used this time. The thruster system chosen for MPL provided a much softer and more controlled landing on terrain which about which much less is known than the Pathfinder site. It was the first time this particular type of thruster system was used, and it was to serve as a technology demonstration for future missions in the Surveyor program, slated to use the same technology.

[ Kelly/NASA_Ames_engineer - 263 - 20:20:37 ]
RE: [Ben] In science we have to write an essay about our own mission to mars and our teacher is picking out the best essays and sending them into you guys. So i was woundering were could i find some information about mars and the rooms that our people would have to live and survive in on the planet mars.It would be so helpful if you could send be some info about mars --- e mail, Gumby16@uplink.net
Ben, try http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov!

[ Kelly/NASA_Ames_engineer - 264 - 20:25:22 ]
RE: [Herb] How do the scientists feel about the live webcasts? Are they interested in using this medium to reach space exploration enthusiasts?
I'm a scientist (sometimes, engineer sometimes), and I really like the webcasts. I enjoy learning what kinds of things people are thinking about and hearing the opinions of people outside my immediate work environment.

[ MichelleMock/CoronaCA - 270 - 08:33:57 ]
Sometimes when missions are successful, we forget all about any problems they may have had. Re: #240, luck may play a big part in a successful mission. The following is from NASA SP-425 "The Martian Landscape" a book produced by the Viking Lander Imaging Team in 1978. Thomas A. Mutch writes: "The Viking 2 Lander separated from its Orbiter at 12:40 p.m. on September 3. Minutes later, telemetered data from the Lander to Orbiter abruptly stopped. The cause was uncertain, but the prospects looked dim. It was difficult to imagine that a serious communication failure essentially at the time of separation was not the expression of a more fundamental problem. Had the Lander incorrectly separated? Was it perhaps still dangling from the Orbiter? Was it hurtling toward Mars, out of control? .... Meanwhile, we could track the descent of Viking 2 by using a low-gain antenna on the Orbiter to monitor the signals sent by the Lander. .... During an expected communication blackout immediately preceding landing, we listened as the mission controller called out 'Touchdown minus seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero.' There was a long silence. It seemed like minutes. Over the loudspeaker came the muffled prayer, 'Come on, baby.' Nothing, I looked down at my shoes. I remember thinking, 'You always wondered what a failure would feel like. Now you know.' I mentally composed some remarks for friends standing nearby. Finally, the silence was broken, 'We have touchdown'. .... Two successful landings. It was an outcome that not even the most optimistic had looked forward to." I just wanted to share this quote from the Vikings of 76 with you. Not all missions will be successful, a spacecraft will be lost now and then. This is part of exploration, part of learning, part of life ... we must not give up, even when faced by big disappointments.

[ maczarnyahoocom - 274 - 08:33:57 ]
Howdy Folks Too bad about the lander communication problem, I'll make this as short as I can. I do grading. I use a rotating beacon laser. If some one bumps the laser and it is on a different angle from what I set it up on I can't get the diode to pick up the beam and no signal is sent to the grade pole. Now the lander may have landed on a hill if the angle of hill is a different angle than what you are expecting then you won't get a signal right? We have the global surveyor up there. can you do a computer model of where you landed it. Do a topographic survey of the area and then try to pick up the signal from the lander using the angle of the hills in the landing site? I want to congratulate you all for your work and if no signal is recovered at all you can't let a set back discourage you. I know the media and the press we be all over this as will the left and the liberals saying what a waste of money this is. It is not a waste of money, and you are truley poineers. Hey the Donner party were poineers and they had each other for lunch and dinner. All you did is loose a bit of money if things don't work out. This being said I still feel we need the human element in the mars missions. Didn't Aldrin and Armstrong have to manuever the Eagal 5 miles down range to find a safe landing zone with 17 seconds of fuel left at touch down? Could have helped if we would have had men on board and it would give this country and the world a great boost in self esteem of which we sorely need. Thanks for listening and if you want to comment I'm at maczarn@yahoo,com Thank you Michael A. Czarnecki

[ Bryen - 280 - 08:33:57 ]
Everyone has mentioned that this is NASA's second failure in its quest towards Mars. Howcome no one has mentioned the successful mission when the rover was sent to mars and the wonderful pictures it sent us. If this mission really is a "bust", then I think NASA should learn from its own past and use the same technique of haveing the craft land on Mars by impacting perhaps as a cushioned ball and opening up afterwards. It is the entry phase of the mission which is the most complex and difficult. It was overcome once, why not try it again!!

[ MichelleMock/CoronaCA - 286 - 08:33:57 ]
Can someone break down the cost of each Mars 98 spacecraft (how much represents the actual hardware, vs. research, salaries etc. etc.). The news media has that irritating habit of stating the project costs as if the entire dollar amount was wasted. How much would it cost to build duplicate spacecraft? What would the approximate additional cost be to launch identical mission (s) in the future? Seems to me that with the development done, NASA could repeat some of these missions if it wanted to.

[ MichelleMock/CoronaCA - 287 - 08:33:57 ]
What are some of the things you have learned about Mars exploration from MCO and MPL? Please mention the successes that these two missions had. Mission completion is not the only guage of success. When you are in school for a whole semester, paying attention, working hard, doing homework and then bomb on the final exam and blow your grade, this does not mean that you wasted a whole semester. There are many successes along the road. What did we learn from MCO and MPL?

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 289 - 12:30:22 ]
RE: [Robert] Hi from Schaumburg, Illinois. If the Mars Polar Lander is resting on its side, could the Hubble Telescope be used to determine if such an event has happened? Also is the Hubble Telescope in service now?
See my answer to Message 253 (above) for the reasons why this isn't possible. Hubble has been in "safe mode" since Nov. 13, when the fourth of its six gyroscopes failed. If all goes well, the shuttle will be launched tomorrow (12/16/99) evening on a "repair mission" to Hubble. If that happens on schedule, HST should be up and running again within a few weeks.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 290 - 12:39:33 ]
RE: [Boyce] How long will it take you to send up another Mars Polar Lander?
There are currently no plans for another "Polar Lander". The next planned mission, the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander, is planned to be launched on April 4, 2001 for arrival on Jan. 22, 2002; it will be targeted to land near the equator. For more information, check out: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/2001/index.html Note that a complete review of the planned future Mars missions is being undertaken following the apparent failure of both MCO and MPL. The results of this review may require changes to be made in the future missions.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 291 - 12:47:52 ]
RE: [JuanMiamiFlorida] I have been following the JPL attempts to contact the lander on the web using the real video streamer. From the scenarios posted on the web for landing it would seem possible that the parachute used by the lander may have interfered with the mission. Mars has a very low surface pressure (~0.1% that of earth) under these conditions why did the mission designers think that a parachute could have arrested the descent of the lander significantly? With such little atmospheric mass I imagine the parachute would be of little value and moreover might even complicate the landing since it would fall to the surface at nearly the same rate as the lander with nothing to hold it back. It might be that the parachute itself has fallen on top of the lander and could be complicating communications by preventing the deployment of the medium gain antenna and/or weakening the signal transmission of the low gain UHF antenna. Perhaps the most disappointing development so far is the failure to establish communication with the DS-2 probes. I am very interested in learning more about the Martian subsurface especially in the polar regions near the ice cap. An equally exciting mission is the one planned for Europa where the plan is to try to penetrate the ice pack and test the theory of a liquid ocean underneath. In my opinion the JPL team deserves credit for taking such a bold initiative. Someone once said that every failure puts us that much closer to success. If this mission fails then hopefully the mission designers can identify what went wrong, learn from the mistakes and redesign another mission to finish what this one started (with the benefit of experience of course). Good Luck!
Large parachutes, designed to slow the spacecraft in Mars' thin atmosphere, have been used successfully on both Viking Landers and the Pathfinder missions. In the case of MPL (if all had gone well), the lander would still have been travelling several meters/sec. horizontally when the parachute separated about 1.6 km above the surface, so it's very unlikely the parachute would have draped itself over the lander after touchdown.

[ Steve/UnivColorado - 292 - 12:59:14 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA] The following came from the Ron Balke/JPL in the MPL status report of Dec. 10th: *Mission planners are also working to implement a plan to use Mars Global Surveyor to take pictures of the landing site for Mars Polar Lander starting sometime next week in hopes of spotting the spacecraft or parachute.* What is the resolution of the MGS camera? Will it actually be able to *see* the spacecraft? Will it be able to detect changes if the DSS2 probes impacted on the surface?
The high-resolution Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) aboard the MGS has a resolution of about 1.5 meters/pixel if the target is passing directly beneath MGS; resolution would be lower if MGS is tilted to try and image a target. So, it's hoped that the parachute (if it deployed properly) may be visible, and possibly the shadow cast be the lander.

[ OPTaylor - 293 - 15:01:37 ]
I'd like to add to the comment made by Sunil who raised a very valid argument...Why do we only expect life (as WE know it) to only exist in environments suitable for our survival. Isn't it somewhat narrow-minded (and arrogant) to only assume that an organism must require H2O for survival? Let alone oxygen? Why couldn't an alien require Hydrogen or CO2? Isn't that why they're "alien"??? Comment?

[ OPTaylor - 294 - 15:01:37 ]
Maybe you guys are "over-teching" these missions. I understand, you're NASA and are held to a very high standard of techno know-how, but why not take a step back for moment, and look at the simplicities of physics. As "unglamorous" as it may have appeared to some, the success you achieved in landing pathfinder as a bouncing ball was brilliant!! The beauty rested in the simplicity of it. Maybe NASA was onto something by using a combination of high-tech/low-tech methodologies. Remember the KISS principle!! Peace out.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 296 - 08:29:08 ]
RE: [Nextspacelaunch] Do you know what the next space launch is about? (the one in ten hours)
Nextspacelaunch, the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-103), is scheduled for December 16, 1999, at 9:18 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. This will be a servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope. For more information on this mission, check the NASA Kennedy Space Center web site, at http://www.ksc.nasa.gov, or the NASA Johnson Space Center web site, at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov You may also wish to tune into NASA TV to see the launch. Check the NASA home page at http://www.nasa.gov for more details.

[ Rajeev - 297 - 15:03:52 ]
I definetly believe that NASA is one of the best space agency on the planet. This(Polar lander) mission I'm sure would have gone through rigourous testing for years. But now as we know it has been a failure. Is it to believe that a man though to the best of his thinking put together Leaves some blank unfilled spaces in his thought.