Monday, April 15, 2013

Amateur Astronomers Spot Missing Russian Mars Lander

File:Mars3 lander vsm.jpg

Mars 3 Lander model at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow.
(Image Source: Wikipedia.org )

Using imagery taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2007, amateur astronomers located an object that could be a Russian lander that went dark after a few seconds on Mars in 1971. John Matson reports.

Back in 1971 the Soviet lander Mars 3 scored the first soft landing on the Red Planet. But it operated for only about 15 seconds and then failed. Since that time, Mars 3 has been little more than an historic interplanetary paperweight, its exact resting place unknown.

Now a team of amateur researchers may have located the defunct lander, using imagery taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2007.

More - Link http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=amateur-astronomers-spot-missing-ru-13-04-15&WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20130415

Source: Scientific American Magazine.

More on the Russian Mars 3 Mission:

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