Old landers on Mars

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gilcost

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Hello, I am new to this board. I don't know a lot about astronomy but it is a science that fascinates me. I read articles on space.com on a daily basis. I was wondering about something so I decided to log in to this DB. <br /><br />Anyone thinks that someday, a roover will return to earth pictures from old artifical objects previously sent to mars ? Maybe I am completely wrong, but I guess the current rovers will never reach those areas. I hope it happens someday though. It seems to me that those pictures would be quite interesting! <br /><br /><br />Mars 2 USSR Hellas Planitia, 45° S - 302° W <br />Mars 3 USSR Sirenum Terra, 45° S - 158° W <br />Mars 6 USSR Margaritifer Sinus, 29.90° S - 19.42° W <br />Viking 1 US Chryse Planitia, 22.480° N - 47.967° W <br />Viking 2 US Utopia Planitia, 48.269° N - 225.99° W <br />MER-A & Spirit rover US Gusev crater, 14.5718° S - 175.4785° E <br />MER-B & Opportunity rover US Meridiani Planum, 1.9483° S - 354.4742° E
 
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mikejz

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From a cost prespective, it would be hard to justify returning to a larder just to do it, there would need to be compelling evidence for a return mission to that area of mars.<br /><br />I have a feeling Meridiani Planum is one of those places that jusify a revist.
 
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lbiderman

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The Vikings landing sites had a lot of interesting features to, so maybe an advanced rover with a precission landing system may visit them. But, as has been said, that probably will take a long time to happen. Mars is really big and interesting to visit only a couple of places!
 
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bad_drawing

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This is a slight tangent, but I always thought it was really cool how the Apollo 12 guys got pictures of Surveyor III on the moon. Talk about precision!<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_12<br /><br /><br />*edit* somehow I missed your post about the same, Anvil. I agree!<br />
 
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kurtwagner

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I too hope that a future Mars mission revisits an old site. A lot can be learned from this, as was the case in Apollo 12. Seeing the effect on various materials caused by the lunar environment was useful (I assume). We've done the same in Earth orbit with the long duration exposure pallet. On the Lunar Surface Journal page - http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/ (one of my favorite spots on the WWW) under 'funny pix' is a photoshopped picture of Conrad and Bean together at the Surveyor. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a12/A12LifeCover.jpg. Very nice! I hope when they get around to mission planning for the next set of lunar visits that they pay a visit to Tranquility Base or another Apollo site. I can't see them not doing this.
 
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earth_bound_misfit

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"I was always curiously fascinated by the pictures of the Surveyor Lander that Apollo 12 took on the Moon. Right there was evidence that colonization was possible."<br /><br />Please enlighten me as to what makes you think this? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>
 
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thalion

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<<Mars 2 USSR Hellas Planitia, 45° S - 302° W <br />Mars 3 USSR Sirenum Terra, 45° S - 158° W <br />Mars 6 USSR Margaritifer Sinus, 29.90° S - 19.42° W />><br /><br />Unfortunately, the locations of the Russian landers are not known to high enough precision to pin them down enough for an orbiter to find them, let alone a lander. I'd love to see what happened to Mars 2, in particular, but I don't think it's going to happen.
 
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gilcost

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Thanks for the replies! and I had never heard of that Surveyor III pic. Very interesting.
 
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shyningnight

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It would be very interesting to be able to do a detailed survey of a couple of the older landers to see what kind of "earth-life" went with it, and how it fared..<br />I'm sure none of them were 100% perfectly sterilized and free of all bacteria. <br />It would be interesting to see how the bacteria has fared on Mars.<br />Worth a mission all by itself? Probably not for a while.<br /><br />Paul F.
 
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no_way

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i just figured that in any reasonable science-related discussion its important to consider the prior art in the field .. er .. wait .. thats not art .. neither is it science
 
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rybanis

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Oh man, I don't think I've ever seen that movie all the way through. I might have to watch it just to put my mind to rest. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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cygnus1

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i don't know, but you know that there was a plan to bring hubble down and put it in museum, before the<br />columbia accident. It would be awfully nice to have<br />viking I or II in a museum or Mars 2 or something. <br />Spirit and Oppurtunity would be nice as well. Someone said that the locations of some of the soviet landers is not known well. Radar should be able to pick them up. As they would be the few geometrically shaped peices of metal around. The others being meteorites.
 
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JonClarke

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Let me add my belated welcome gilcost!<br /><br />I think it would be very interesting to visit an old lander and see how it had fared over the decades. Given the cost of missions I doubt that any of the sites are sufficiently interesting in their own right to revisit. <br /><br />On the sterilisation issue the US landers except Viking had level IV protection (ultraclean). Viking had level V (ultraclean + sterilisation). Beagle 2 was level IV+ (components sterilised and then assembled in ultra clean facility. The Russian probes flew before these levels had been defined but were both cleaned and had some sterilisation, so there were probably level UV or thereabouts.<br /><br />As for Red Planet, I watched it after "Mission to Mars" so it did not seem so bad in comparison.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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