Human error triggered a cascade of events that caused the battery to fail on the Mars Global Surveyor last year, according to a preliminary report released Friday. An internal NASA board determined that power loss likely doomed the spacecraft after almost a decade of meticulously mapping the Red Planet. But the problems can be traced to September 2005 when a routine update to onboard computers caused inconsistencies in the spacecraft’s memory. Engineers trying to fix the problem sent incorrect software commands then didn’t catch the mistakes because the existing procedures to do so were inadequate.

After studying Mars four times as long as originally planned, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter appears to have succumbed to battery failure caused by a complex sequence of events involving the onboard computer memory and ground commands. The causes were released today in a preliminary report by an internal review board. The board was formed to look more in-depth into why NASA's Mars Global Surveyor went silent in November 2006 and recommend any processes or procedures that could increase safety for other spacecraft. Mars Global Surveyor last communicated with Earth on Nov. 2, 2006. Within 11 hours, depleted batteries likely left the spacecraft unable to control its orientation. "The loss of the spacecraft was the result of a series of events linked to a computer error made five months before the likely battery failure," said board Chairperson Dolly Perkins, deputy director-technical of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft has failed to check in with Earth for the fifth straight day in a row, after losing contact during a routine adjustment of its solar array. If contact is not reestablished by Saturday, NASA might try to have another Mars-orbiting spacecraft take pictures of MGS to assess its condition. On Nov. 2, MGS mangers sent commands for the spacecraft to adjust the position of one of its solar power arrays to better track the sun. Returning data indicated a problem with the motor that moves the array, so a backup motor and control circuitry were switched on. No signal was received on Nov. 3 and 4, but a weak signal was received on Nov. 5, suggesting the spacecraft had switched to a safe mode and was awaiting further instructions from Earth. The signal cut out completely later that day and nothing has been heard since.

New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune. That's just one of the surprising discoveries that have resulted from the extended life of NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which this month began its ninth year in orbit around Mars. Boulders tumbling down a Martian slope left tracks that weren't there two years ago. New impact craters formed since the 1970s suggest changes to age-estimating models. And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress.

A NASA spacecraft circling Mars has spied, for the first time, two of its fellow probes orbiting the red planet. Red planet veteran Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) successfully photographed NASA’s Mars Odyssey probe and the European-built Mars Express spacecraft during a series of observations released Thursday. From its polar orbit around Mars, the MGS probe found Mars Express first as the two spacecraft flew over the red planet on April 20. Separated from its orbital target by a distance of 155 miles (249 kilometers), the MGS probed turned its Mars Orbiter Camera lens toward the passing spacecraft to snap the first two images of a red planet orbiter.

One of the more interesting and appealing activities of the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) observational objectives identified in the original 1985 Mars Observer proposal was to image landers on the martian surface. The scientific goal of this objective is to place the landers into their geologic context, which in turn helps the science community to better understand the results from the landers. In addition to this, the MOC team believed that it would be "really neat" to see the landers sitting on the surface. In previous releases, we have shown images of Viking Lander 1, Mars Pathfinder, and the two Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. To this group of landers we can now add with certainty Viking Lander 2 (VL-2), the location of which has been uncertain by many kilometers for nearly 30 years. We also believe that we have found a candidate for the location of the Mars Polar Lander, which failed without a trace on 3 December 1999.

The search is back on for a spacecraft that disappeared during a landing attempt nearly six years ago. And there are hints that the probe might have been found. Mars Polar Lander was headed for a touchdown near the planet’s south pole Dec. 3, 1999. But the spacecraft never reported home.

Five spacecraft are circling Mars and creeping across its ruddy surface, looking for traces of long-gone waters and signs that the cold, arid planet may once have been hospitable to life. The robotic martian invasion - three orbiters and two six-wheeled rovers - has already uncovered strong evidence that water once flowed on Mars and is now locked in subsurface ice. But big questions about water on Mars remain. When did it flow? How long did it last? How much was there? Where did it come from? Where did it go? Perhaps the most tantalizing question: Were there long-lived watery environments where microbial life could have gained a foothold?

A spacecraft orbiting Mars photographed one of NASA's rovers and its tracks on the surface, the space agency said Monday. The image made by a camera aboard the Mars Global Surveyor shows a dark dot identified as the rover Spirit next to giant Bonneville Crater and the thin dark line of its tracks leading back to its lander. The picture was made by rolling the entire spacecraft, adjusting its rotation rate to match the ground speed under the camera, a process that produces sharper images.

This latest volume brings the exploration of Mars up to date. Including the latest results from the amazingly successful Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, as well as progress reports from the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey missions. 416 pages with 248 pages of color images INCLUDES DVD-V / DVD-ROM.

The venerable Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, completed its 25,000th orbit around Mars recently and is still going strong. Built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in partnership with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Mars exploration program, MGS achieved this major milestone May 26, demonstrating its yeoman's performance as the "big brother" of orbiters circling Mars and mapping the planet's surface since 1997, as no other Mars exploration spacecraft has done before. The Mars Global Surveyor is approaching the beginning of its eighth year of mission operations in orbit around Mars and continues its record of collecting more information about the red planet than all previous missions combined.

Happy St. Valentine's Day from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) team! This collection of images acquired over the past 3 Mars years shows some of the heart-shaped features found on Mars by the MGS MOC.

Two full Martian years of global Mars temperature readings, equal in time to about four Earth years, from the Mars Global Surveyor's (MGS) onboard Thermal Emission Spectrometer are revealing a planet where global dust storms, water ice, and the distance to the sun trigger long-lasting changes in the Martian climate.

Scientists have used an orbiting Mars craft to photograph robotic landers that have been sitting dormant on the surface of the red planet since their missions ended. Using a newly developed trick, the researchers imaged Mars Pathfinder, which in 1997 thrilled earthlings with its photographs and the wandering science exploits of its Sojourner rover. Pathfinder appears as a dark dot near a rock that scientists named Yogi during the mission. The Viking 1 lander from 1976 is also visible, as a bright dot in a separate image.

Like a celebrity under constant photographic scrutiny, Mars continues to show fresh and surprising faces. And as with an enigmatic Hollywood star, more than 10,000 new images of the red planet reveal more puzzles than answers. "Mars just keeps astounding us with its complexity," said Ken Edgett, staff scientist for Malin Space Science Systems, which built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor.