Retorts

Mars Observer

I'd be very interested in what you could tell me about whatever has happened to the Mars Observer spacecraft. I gather from media reports that it's no longer functional, but they haven't exactly been informative as to what happened.

G. Rogers, Wellington

The Mars Observer's transmitter was shut down on August 21 in preparation for a motor firing a few days before entering Mars orbit. Contact was not successfully re-established afterwards. There's no firm evidence as to what went wrong; a lot of suspicion seems to have been focused on the on-board clock, but there are other possibilities.

While it looks like researchers don't want to admit to having given up hope, things do look pretty bleak. Panels have been set up to investigate the loss of contact and to investigate the feasibility of another mission in the near future.

Phil Anderson, NZSM