Word: lander
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...latest spin on the fate of the Mars Polar Lander suggests that the vessel may have accidentally been guided by NASA to a touchdown in a canyon, where it broke apart on impact. This theory, put forward in the Denver Post by an unnamed Lockheed Martin scientist, has refocused attention on the state of affairs at America's aerospace agency, where a spate of recent high-profile (and high-priced) gaffes has led to declining confidence, with many saying the agency's cost- and time-cutting measures have led to negligence. In fact, the Polar Lander mission was billed...
...science writer Michael Lemonick says the failed December mission has suffered an unfair level of scrutiny by being linked to its sister mission, the Mars Climate Orbiter, which was lost because one of its programmers used inches instead of centimeters. Lemonick points out that the Martian region the Polar Lander touched down on has very few canyons, so NASA was right to expect a smooth landing. "Until the day when we can survey the entire planet with incredibly high precision, which is probably 100 years away, you can't control exactly where you're going to land," says Lemonick...
...hand wringing over what happened to NASA's Mars Polar Lander [SPACE, Dec. 20]? The Martians took one look at the ugly contraption, said, "There goes the neighborhood," and zapped it. It's as obvious as the noses on my face. FORREST G. WOOD Bakersfield, Calif...
...latest catastrophic crackup involving the $194 million Mars Polar Lander clearly shows--once again--that NASA's remote-control system to land its unmanned spacecraft softly on other planets incorporates unacceptable limitations. The best stage in the exploration of Mars will lie in a manned mission. But this can't happen until there are significant breakthroughs in rocket-fuel flights to attain far higher speeds. All exploration of Mars should be put on hold. The Red Planet can afford to wait. If life ever existed on that icy, parched-dry, dead world, it petered out not less than 3 billion...
...NASA's critics agree that doing things faster, better and cheaper makes sense--if it's done right. Says Pike: "This should provide an opportunity for a midcourse correction." Some sort of correction may already be under way. Goldin has launched a new investigation to look into the Polar Lander loss, and NASA chief of space science Edward Weiler said last week the agency would rethink its ambitious schedule of sending multiple missions to Mars every 26 months through 2007. After years of tipping the other way, "better" may finally be getting the same attention as "faster" and "cheaper...