Invader From Earth
Credit & Copyright: Courtesy
JPL,
NASA
Explanation:
These technicians are working on the solar-paneled
Mars Polar Lander -
yet another robotic spacecraft scheduled to invade the
red planet.
Mars Polar Lander is part of a
series of missions focusing on a search for
evidence of past or present life.
Successfully launched atop a Delta II
rocket on January 3rd, it should
be the first to make a soft landing near Mars' South Pole.
Its arrival is planned for December,
springtime for the Martian Southern Hemisphere.
Riding along are
two separate microprobes intended to
penetrate up to 2 meters beneath the soil in
an attempt to directly determine if subsurface water ice is present.
Mars Polar Lander
will also carry another first to Mars ...
a microphone.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
