Flight controllers doomed Mars craft

NASA flight controllers doomed the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft by inadvertently sending computer commands that sapped its electrical power and pointed its prime communications antenna away from Earth, investigators said today.

Contact with the craft was consequently lost, and ground controllers were blind to the slow depletion of the spacecraft's two power-producing batteries.

The ground controllers, however, were not at fault -- they followed all spacecraft operations procedures as written, the investigators said.

But the procedures were "inadequate to catch some of the errors that followed," said chief investigator Dolly Perkins, a deputy director at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

You can see the full text of NASA's preliminary investigation report here: MGSreport.pdf

The $150 million spacecraft fell silent last November after beaming back data which indicated that its solar wing was not pivoting as commanded. Several attempts to reestablish contact with the craft were unsuccessful.

Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in November 1996, the spacecraft arrived in Martian orbit the following September. The spacecraft operated for nine years, or more than four times longer than originally anticipated.

During that time, it beamed back 240,000 images of the planet, including photos that show what apparently is water pooling in two Martian gullies. The discovery, announced shortly before contact with the craft was lost, is the strongest evidence yet that the planet might be hospitable to primitive life.

An investigation into the failure ramped up in January. Its aim: to pinpoint the cause of the loss and prevent a recurrence on both ongoing and future Mars missions.

NASA's next Mars mission is set for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Aug. 3. A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket is scheduled to blast off that day with the Phoenix lander, which is designed to study Martian arctic soils for signs of water.

IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the NASA artist's concept of the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft high in orbit above the red planet. Photo credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.