Mars exploration

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 18:07:30 GMT, "Bob Doyle"
wrote:

It's a long, long way to Mars, and transversing that void is going to
require some leadership, imagination, and funding. None of those seems
likely from my government, how about yours?

We are far too busy wasting money on other important issues.

Andrew

Do you need a handyman service? Check out our
web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk

Bert blurted out:

Two Of Nasa's explorations of Mars in 1999,and one in 1997 all ended up
as failures.

Bert, when will you get a decent calendar?? In 1997, only one NASA
mission was intended for Mars, and it (Mars Pathfinder) was ENTIRELY
SUCCESSFUL!! The two failures (Mars Climate Explorer and Mars Polar
lander) were in 1999. You have little credibilty here Bert!
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

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* Attend the 10th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
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David you are right I was going to post the two 1999 failures,and one
shortly before that time. I took a calculated guess when I said 1997.
Still NASA had three failures in a very short time. That was the main
point of my post. Bert David why did you use a bad term like
"blurted out"

Bert posted:

David you are right I was going to post the two 1999 failures,and one
shortly before that time. I took a calculated guess when I said 1997.
Still NASA had three failures in a very short time. That was the main
point of my post. Bert David why did you use a bad term like
"blurted out"


Because you are still grossly wrong Bert! There were not *three
failures* when it comes to the Mars probes. There were only two. You
can't stretch the timeframe from 1999 to 2003 and call it "a very short
time".
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 10th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 27-Aug. 1st, 2003, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

David I was not grossly wrong. You are grossly wrong in saying I'm
grossly wrong. NASA had a Mars failure before their two Mars failures in
1999,and that is a recorded "FACT" Bert

Bert posted:

David I was not grossly wrong. You are grossly wrong in saying I'm
grossly wrong. NASA had a Mars failure before their two Mars failures in
1999,and that is a recorded "FACT"

Its a recorded FACT that there were a *lot* of failures in various
probes to Mars before 1999. You are being almost completely
unspecific. What you stated "Still NASA had three failures in a very
short time", was wrong even after I pointed your earlier error out (and
thus you are grossly wrong this time Bert). There were only *two*
failures in 1999, not three, and *none* in 1997. Before that, you have
to go all the way back to *1993* to find a Mars probe failure, and
before that, you have to go back to 1971. The 1999 failures were in a
relatively short time (less than a year), but you have to go back 6
times as long to find another one.

Since you seem unable to dig up the correct information despite your
presumed access to the Internet, I will supply the real facts this
time. In the 1960's, the first attempts at reaching the moon and
planets had frequent failures. For example, Rangers 1 through 6 all
failed, with 7, 8, and 9 finally succeeding (only a 33% success rate).
As far as planetary probes are concerned, Mariner's 1 (Venus), 3 (Mars),
and 8 (Mars) all failed. Then, there were the nice successes with
Mariner 4, 6, 7, and 9 all reaching Mars. Vikings 1 and 2 were complete
successes, but the Mars Observer failed just before it reached Mars in
August of 1993. Its loss was effectively "replaced" with the successful
Mars Global Surveyor in 1997 and Mars Odyssey in 2001, along with the
successful Mars Pathfinder lander and rover. There were two failures in
between as previously mentioned. So, NASA has had 5 failures and 9
successes out of a total of 14 attempts (a 64% success rate). The
Russians didn't have much better luck (in fact, it was worse), and the
Japanese have had problems also. What all this means is that sending
probes to Mars and getting them to operate properly in the hazardous
environment of deep space for a long period of time to yield a
successful mission is a difficult task no matter who is doing it.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 10th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 27-Aug. 1st, 2003, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************