Mars needs company
Posted on: Saturday, 21 June 2003, 06:00 CDT
Flotilla of spacecraft to study Red Planet
If there is anything intelligent -- on Mars, it is about to have a lot of company.
A flotilla of exploratory spacecraft is already circling the Red Planet and will soon land on the surface.
A joint European Space Agency-British mission will plant a small stationary robot on the surface and the first of two U.S. probes will land in January. A Japanese craft has experienced some problems and will be delayed a few years.
Two NASA craft already are in orbit around Mars. When all the spacecraft finally arrive it will be the greatest convergence of craft on a single planet at the same time.
The mission is to look for evidence of life or of longstanding water that could sustain life -- past or present.
Six years ago, small robots traversed the planet and sent back stunning pictures. Since that time there have been some problems with other probes -- bad calculations sent one careening off into the galaxy.
Man has long studied the mysterious planet. There have been numerous theories about life there. After all these centuries, Mars remains a mystery. Maybe this new effort will finally give us the answers we seek.
Related Articles
- Mars Odyssey spacecraft changes orbit
- Mars Phoenix Spacecraft Healthy Upon Approach
- Controlling Robots that Search for Mars Life
- Clues to Mars Life May Lie Underground: Scientist
- The Red Planet Has a Life of Its Own, Nearer and Stranger Than Imagined
- Red Planet Had Life, May Still
- Mars Life: Trouble Without the Rubble?
- Controllers Reposition Mars Express Spacecraft
- Planet Mars as Seen from 3.3 Million Miles
- Of all the planets, Mars holds the strangest fascination
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds