Posted by tourdemars to Mars Polar Lander at February 11, 2000 12:00 PM

At first, Ivan Linscott just didn't think the odd signal amounted to much. The scientist had been using Stanford University's 15-story-tall radio telescope to listen for messages from the wayward Mars Polar Lander. But the only data he had gotten back were one or two arcs that were all but obscured amid a Jackson Pollack tableau of multicolored specks.