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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Another anniversary of sorts. The Japanese launched a mission to Mars in July of 1998, but lost it. Too bad, as it's good to have many eyes from different countries on the planet. The Japanese and British lost spacecrafts on way to landing to Mars. Is NASA shooting 'em down with super-secret lasers?

I really don't remember this at all. But I found it quite interesting...

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Mission Overview
The nation of Japan launched its first interplanetary mission on July 4, 1998 (local time), a date which served as a tribute to the US Mars Pathfinder mission, which had landed exactly one year previous. The Japanese mission, known as Planet-B throughout the planning and building phases, was renamed "Nozomi" (the Japanese word for "Hope") immediately after launch.
The $80 million dollar probe is designed to study the atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars, and carries fourteen instruments from five nations, including a NASA Neutral Mass Spectrometer. It's hoped that the Nozomi's results from this instrument can be compared with the results of the NASA Pioneer Venus mission, which used a similar instrument in the 1960s. By comparison, its hoped that the results will help scientists better understand the interactions between planetary atmospheres and ionospheres and the solar wind.

Unfortunately, the spacecraft used up too much fuel during a trajectory correction maneuver and was never able to reach Mars orbit. After years of attempts to do so, the mission was finally declared lost in late 2003.

Launch:
July 4, 1998 3:12am (JPN)
July 3, 1998 2:12pm (EST)
Mission Lost: December 9, 2003

Science instruments:
Mars Imaging Camera (MIC)
Magnetic Field Measurement (MGF)
Probe for Electron Temperature (PET)
Electron Spectrum Analyzer (ESA)
Ion Spectrum Analyzer (ISA)
Electron and Ion Spectrometer (EIS)
Extra Ultraviolet Scanner (XUV)
UltraViolet imaging Spectrometer (UVS)
Plasma Wave and Sounder (PWS)
Low Frequency plasma wave Analyzer (LFA)
Ion Mass Imager (IMI)
Mars Dust Counter (MDC)
Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS)
Thermal Plasma Analyzer (TPA)





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[starbux]

Chicago said:

The Japanese and British lost spacecrafts on way to landing to Mars. Is NASA shooting 'em down with super-secret lasers?

Not unless they're shooting their own probes down. Mars has been merciless to probes from every country. Even the US has probably lost close to half the probes sent there. If I were to speculate on a conspiracy, it would be more likely martians who are taking pot shots at Earth's probes. ;^)

Europe's Mars Express seems to be doing well, even if Beagle 2 was lost.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

On another forum, a very inquisitive individual questioned why they don't put regular video cameras on spacecrafts. The answer back wasn't clear, but some of the thoughts were:

It would be incredibly boring video with hours and hours of nothing. and the energy to operate the camera would not be economical.

They go for more sophisticated instrumentation than rudimentary video. It's so below them.

I personally would like to see a real time video camera on space missions. The still cameras on the rovers for example are too slow to pick up any real time motion, as they were in Vikings time. The real time footage of Cassini's final insertion around Saturn would have been incredible.

In this way, we can see if the indigenous Martians are indeed shooting down our probes.

[stargazer]

If they could put video recorders on some of these Space Missions it would be neat. I would turn them on only when needed. You are right Joe it would have been neat to see the rings in real time. A pic just dont have the same umph as a video. Oh well maybe in the future who knows.

B