* Astronomy

NASA will hold a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST, Tuesday, Nov. 21, to discuss the status and science accomplishments of the Mars Global Surveyor. The 10-year old spacecraft is the oldest of five NASA spacecraft currently active at the red planet.

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On November 2, 2006, a mere five days before the tenth anniversary of Mars Global Surveyor's launch, an onboard malfunction caused the oldest operational Mars spacecraft to lose radio contact with Earth. Contact was briefly restored on November 5, but the spacecraft hasn't been heard from since. Mission controllers are now exploring a complicated array of scenarios for what could have caused the spacecraft to stop transmitting to determine whether the spacecraft is presently alive but mute, or dead in orbit. Plans for the coming days include attempts to capture images of the errant spacecraft from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and to communicate with it using the Mars Exploration Rovers.

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MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR November 13, 2006

o Mars at LS 137 Degrees (Released 07 November 2006)

These images capture what Mars typically looks like in mid-afternoon at Ls 137 degrees. In other words, with the exception of occasional differences in weather and polar frost patterns, this is what the red planet looks like this month (November 2006).
Six views are shown, including the two polar regions. These are composites of 24-26 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global mapping images acquired at red and blue wavelengths. The 'hole' over the south pole is an area where no images were obtained, because this polar region is enveloped in wintertime darkness.
Presently, it is summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the southern hemisphere. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360 degrees around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0 degrees, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. Northern summer/southern winter begins at Ls 90 degrees, northern autumn/southern spring start at Ls 180 degrees, and northern winter/southern summer begin at Ls 270 degrees.
Ls 137 degrees occurs in the middle of this month (November 2006). The pictures show how Mars appeared to the MOC wide angle cameras at a previous Ls 137 degrees in March 2001. The six views are centered on the Tharsis region (upper left), Acidalia and Mare Eyrthraeum (upper right), Syrtis Major and Hellas (middle left), Elysium and Mare Cimmeria (middle right), the north pole (lower left), and the south pole (lower right).

Engineers are striving to restore full communications with NASA's Mars Global Surveyor on the 10th anniversary of the spacecraft's Nov. 7, 1996, launch.
The orbiter is the oldest of five NASA spacecraft currently active at the red planet. Its original mission was to examine Mars for a full Martian year, roughly two Earth years. Once that period elapsed, considering the string of discoveries, NASA extended the mission repeatedly, most recently on Oct. 1 of this year.
The orbiter has operated longer than any other spacecraft ever sent to Mars. It has returned more information about Mars than all earlier missions combined and has succeeded far enough beyond its original mission to see two later NASA orbiters arrive: Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Among many important accomplishments so far, Mars Global Surveyor has found many young gullies apparently cut by flowing water, discovered water-related mineral deposits that became a destination for NASA's Opportunity rover, mapped the planet topographically and examined many potential landing sites on Mars.
On Nov. 2, one orbit after commands were sent for a routine manoeuvre to move the solar panels, the spacecraft reported that the motor moving one of the arrays had experienced errors. Onboard software responded as programmed, switching the spacecraft to a backup motor controller, then to a backup circuitry connection.
Following these indications of difficulty, a two-day lapse in contact occurred on Nov. 3 and 4. The signal from the spacecraft was received on Nov. 5 during four different orbits, but it did not carry any data from the spacecraft. The signal's frequency indicated that the spacecraft had entered safe mode, a pre-programmed state of restricted activity in which it awaits instructions from Earth.
No further signal was heard during subsequent orbits on Nov. 5 and Nov. 6. Engineers concluded that the spacecraft had made an additional pre-programmed response, intended to help it survive when it senses that a solar array is stuck. The spacecraft turns that array toward the sun to maintain its power supply and rotates the rest of the spacecraft in the same direction, thereby making communication with Earth less effective.

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