Looking For Mars Polar Lander
In our last PDS release, HiRISE made available our images (to date) of an area where the Mars Polar Lander is suspected to have crashed in 1999. MPL was the first mission to the high latitudes of Mars, but failed mysteriously, the first [Correction: second] of two high-profile failures in America’s Mars program at the time. An assessment team found a number of potential causes of the crash; the condition of MPL, if found, may help to resolve what actually happened.
There is a large area covered at high resolution in these images. I think some of our team members have looked over the images but they have not found a trace of MPL. You may in fact be the first person to see MPL in the nearly ten years since it left Earth.
In the wake of MPL, NASA canceled a planned 2001 lander. The University of Arizona, which had a significant presence in both missions, proposed the Phoenix Mars Scout mission, “rising from the ashes” of these missions. Phoenix, as you might expect, it said to be very thoroughly tested. On 2008 May 25th, Phoenix will be landing in the high northern latitudes (above the equivalent of the Arctic Circle on Earth).
In this PDF document graciously provided by Tim Parker, you can see what various types of hardware look like to HiRISE. It also shows examples of cosmic-ray hits in order to distinguish them from real space junk.
Here are links to our web pages providing information and downloads for our images of the MPL site.
May 10th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I see something that looks like some of the sample lander images from the supporting PDF file in the file PSP_005114_1035_RED.abrowse.jpg It is likely a rock, but it seems out of place compared to the surroundings. Look at X=737 Y=1244
May 11th, 2008 at 9:51 am
MPL, if whole, is around 2 meters in size. The JP2 is 25 cm/px and the browse is around 2.5 m/px and you need at least a few pixels to resolve it. Translation: the way to look for this is to view the JP2 files (NOMAP preferably) at 100% zoom. Hope that helps, happy hunting.
May 11th, 2008 at 9:54 am
You might want to talk to the Galaxy Zoo people (http://www.galaxyzoo.org/)–they ran a very successful project to have the general public help catagorize galaxys. They’d set up a training module, and had systematic ways for people to get images to analyze and report results, which might work well for you also.
Good luck!
May 11th, 2008 at 10:19 am
It would have been fun to set this up in Amazon’s mechanical turk. Break up these 18 observations into 64,000 browser screen-sized 800×600 pixel sections would be easy with a little kdu_expand script. I’m sure it would be very popular (like the search for Steve Fossett). It would only take 640 people looking at 100 sections each to systematically cover the images. It would be a very economical way to do it. But no doubt it would require approval from very high levels (beyond our project).
May 11th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Second the Mechanical Turk (http://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome), this is PRECISELY the kind of task for which it is designed.
May 11th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
MPL would be the second of the two high-profile failures in the Mars program at that time, not the first. MCO inadvertently entered the Martian atmosphere and was destroyed in September 1999, and MPL properly entered the Martian atmosphere in December 1999, but was never heard from again.
May 11th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
It’s in PSP_005035_1030. Between 9 and 12 o’clock.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I thought it had been established that you had found MPL in 2005. There was an article in Sky and Telescope about it.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/3310281.html?page=1&c=y
Does this mean that you no longer believe the objects in this image to be MPL?
May 12th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Sorry. I see that announcement was retracted.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Does the object at (15362, 6232) in PSP_005536_1030_RED.NOMAP.JP2 strike you as interesting? It looks too big to be the lander and is oddly tilted, but pretty conspicuous nonetheless. Additionally, at (10981, 6942) there’s something resembling a half-buried parachute at about the right size (compared to MER chutes). Just in case you might wanna check it out.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Image PSP_002846_1040_RGB.NOMAP.JP at coordinates Pixel 150, 3706 – viewed at 400% there is an “object” that seems strangely straight-edged – I would have said it was an artefact but it also has a a sharp shadow… don’t know what it is but more expert eyes might … could be that armchair you claim to be able to see
I Nth the Mechanical Turk idea…
May 12th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Egads! Entities like IBM get a bundle of money from the US Government in contracts and whatnot. NASA is so “sexy”, just get one of their big machines on it, with a command to look for inorganic objects to the scene, and let them have the PR benefit from finding the crashed machine. It should take less that 5 minutes with the right programmer on it.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
in PSP_005470_1035_RGB.NOMAP.browse.jpg at pixels 133×4544 there is something weird looking.
in PSP_005813_1030_RGB.NOMAP.browse.jpg there’s something interesting at pixels 339×9441. Looks a bit machine like.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Found it. clear darkened impact crater with device in the center.
look at the lower right hand middle of the picture.
the crater is fresh and there is an object of the right size in the middle.
Almost looks like it didn’t land THAT hard.
Look in the picture below and click it with the mouse to enlarge the photo. Then scroll the screen all the way down and to the right and the crater will be in the almost exactly halfway in the middle between the angled sides and near the top of the screen (if viewing in a 1280 by 1024 screen.) it’s darker and you can see the debris splash and see the device in the center of the crater.
http://hirise-pds.lpl.arizona.edu/PDS/EXTRAS/RDR/PSP/ORB_005400_005499/PSP_005470_1035/PSP_005470_1035_RED.abrowse.jpg
May 12th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
did my comment not get posted? I’ll post it again.
I found it in this image.
open the image and click on it to enlarge it.
now scroll it all the way down and to the right and the crater is in the middle between the angled edges ofthe photo near the top of the screen in 1280 by 1024 size.
the crater is fresh and darker than the rest and you can claerly see the device on the left inside of the crater. it is the right size and lokks like it didn’t land that hard which would be right.
the cratering object is on the surface still which is wrong for a rock but right for a lander.
http://hirise-pds.lpl.arizona.edu/PDS/EXTRAS/RDR/PSP/ORB_005400_005499/PSP_005470_1035/PSP_005470_1035_RED.abrowse.jpg
May 12th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I looked at the images and saw a few interesting features that stand out from their surroundings, but I have no way to clearly describe or locate them for referencing. i.e. the best I could say is something like, ” in the last image listed in the upper left dark field adjacent to the leftmost light field there is what looks like a raised circular depression which is dark but with a bright rim that considerably looks out of place considering the normal pattern for that field.” or, ” in the first image in the upper right there are a few bright pixels on the raised features to the right of the adjacent bright field.” I think this is a good idea, but my suggestion would be to break the images into much smaller boxes (grids) at max magnification and let the users scrolls through them. It would be really helpful to have a grid overlay with coordinates that can be toggled on or off so that a person viewing could reference anomalies better. For example, “in image 43 grid C-7 there is something unusual that looks like… .”
May 12th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
If you break these images up into smaller squares, you could set this up as a Google Maps application so that people could pan, zoom, and mark possible points of interest right inside their web browsers.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:26 am
What about this?
http://xs227.xs.to/xs227/08202/psp_005958_1025_circle708.jpg
in negative: http://xs227.xs.to/xs227/08202/psp_005958_1025_circleneg191.jpg
Clearly not the MPL but still interesting.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:43 am
On PSP_005470_1035_RED.NOMAP.browse.jpg, there is a darkish, lightly curved “scrape” or “track” from
about pixel 500x,7370y to about pixel 1204x,7960y. Don’t know how narrow those dust devil tracks are,
but at 25cm/pixel somewhat hard to imagine. But unless something was blown across the surface there,
what is it?
More machine-like, on the same image, at 1934x, 7433y there is also an interesting fan or cone shaped
feature. But if you stare too much, you could imagine almost anything…
May 13th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Amazing detail on some of these images. Rather than describe the location, here is an updated (and edited) image uploaded to better view what I think may be the long lost little bot.
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x213/majorly1972/MPL_Search.jpg
May 13th, 2008 at 5:29 am
http://hirise-pds.lpl.arizona.edu/PDS/EXTRAS/RDR/PSP/ORB_005100_005199/PSP_005114_1035/PSP_005114_1035_RED.NOMAP.browse.jpg
At 850×2908 pixels (100% zoom) there appears to be an round object that looks to be 13×14 pixels slightly oblong, most likely a large boulder, but worth noting. The shadow being cast indicates it has some height. It looks out of place with respect to the surroundings. There is also an interesting dark spec at 1005×3090.
-Dave
May 13th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Some feedback from the ’staff’ would be nice. By the way, who should we contact when we find the MPL (or something that resembles it)?
May 13th, 2008 at 9:09 am
http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/12_99_MPLsearch/moc2_msss_mplsearch2.gif
…provides a sample of what MPL would look like if deployed, from various different resolutions. Using the jp2’s and Guy’s description, we’ll be closest to the bottom left sample. If nothing else it gives a very good “feel” for the scale of the main body of the craft.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:31 am
in PSP_005958_1025_IRB.NOMAP.browse.jpg at 166x, 5778y there is a mostly horizontal ‘artifact’ that appears to be a straight line, and not a regular geographic feature.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Does this blog work with Safari, I submitted some data Tuesday AM, but my post never showed up?
May 13th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
OK, I’ll try again, it looks like the test worked.
PSP_005114_1035_RED.NOMAP.browse.jpg
844×2908 – could just be a larg boulder, but it is ~12px x 12px, looks round and doesn’t look similar to other features in the area.
1002×3085 – a black dot that looks like it could have been a small object impact that made a hole, again, doesn’t look like other features in the area.
-Dave
May 13th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
There needs to be some form of management for this project.
We need to be able to have some structured manner of submitting our results for peer approval. More so than just a half arsed post.
If there is some sort of verification process in the pipelines please let us know, otherwise relinquish credit and responsibility for this task and let someone else attempt it.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
What would happen if the lander landed on a deep ice sheet (either water or CO2)? The lander would have been heated by entry into the Martian atmosphere, could it have been entombed in ice when it landed by melting its way below the surface? Is this a scenario that has already been considered?
May 14th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Check PSP_005958_1025 – less than halfway down the image (IRB non-map) there’s what looks to be either an impact site, or the lander, now covered in dust. There is, what appears to be, additional debris around that spot as well.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:52 am
People: for one, stop using the browse versions of images, e.g. those that have *.browse.jpg extensions. They are MUCH lower resolution than the full resolution data and the lander would appear smaller than 1 pixel in them. In other words, if you see something that’s say 10 pixels across in a browse image, it can NOT possibly be the lander because the object is something like 10x the lander size. Maybe that should have been made clear in the original blog post, as well as tips like using non map-projected data for best results.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:00 am
On image (PSP) 005892-1025 (Lat.-77.3 Long. 165.0). In the extreme upper left corner of the image is an object that has to be some thing mechanical. It is so clearly defined that I can’t believe it could be formed by ice or terrain movement. Sorry I don’t have sufisitcated
instruments to tell you what pixel etc: You should take a look at it!
May 14th, 2008 at 7:23 am
On Image (psp)-005892-1025 (Lat.-77.3 ;Long. 165.0) IN THE EXTREME UPPER LEFT CORNER of this image appears an object
that must be something mechanical. I don’t believe this object can be formed by ice or terrain movement . It is very clearly defined
I think it is worth taking a look at !
Don
May 14th, 2008 at 9:41 am
http://www.simonjproductions.net/lost-mars-lander.html
Take a look at some of the photos that I posted – some very bright blue spots and a strange shape in one area of photo (PSP_004824_1030)
look at it and use the email link to give some feedback on it – or I will look for something here….
May 14th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Gordan,
If you click on a .browse.jpg image you get the full res version, at least I am assuming that it is the full res version.
PSP_005114_1035_RED.NOMAP.browse.jpg is 2044 x 8682 pixels, I am assuming that is the full res version, if not, please explain where they are.
-Dave
May 14th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Gordon & Guy,
OK, I see my problem. I think when I first looked the JP2 products links were not enabled in Safari, they seem to be working now.
Obviously my previous posts can be ignored.
Thanks,
-Dave
May 14th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Moderators: After 1:10h of waiting, I completed the download of the image: PSP_005813_1030_RED.QLOOK.jp2 and now my Windows XP can’t open it. Just writting here are the images and do your best might not cut it. A little tutorial in this web page can be useful, as well as an indication on how to submit possible hits. On stand by for assistance to assist you.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:27 am
PSP_005114_1035_RED.JP2
34487, 72669
A small set of pixels that seem out of place relative to the surrounding pixels. Round and bright.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:20 am
I see bright object on PSP_003690_1035_COLOR.abrowse.jpg. Coordinates by pixels are X:1346 Y:2434. Same bright things and their surround looks diffrenet than this. Thanks.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:58 am
My guess is PSP_005536_1030_RED.NOMAP.browse.jpg @ x=1268, y=5857. However I don’t see the parachute.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Hi everyone,
It’s great that you’re all interested in this! Just a note that our “browse” products are reduced-resolution JPG files. As Gordan said, you really need to look at the full-resolution JP2 products to see something of the size we expect these objects to be. On the individual image pages, look under “JP2 Quicklook”. The “Full image (grayscale, non-map projected)” is your best bet for these searches, because the pixels aren’t reprojected like in the map-projected products. You can download the images if you want, but it takes a LONG time. Instead, I’d recommend using the IAS viewer. It’s quite fast, and it allows you to pan, stretch, and zoom to full resolution. This blog entry has some more details about the IAS Viewer:
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/HiBlog/?p=156
If you look around on the blog and the main website, hopefully you’ll find more guidance as well.
Happy hunting!
May 15th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
In PSP_002846_1040_RGB.NOMAP Pixel: 1074,6245 Data: 195,188,184 Display: 183,181,177 Probably only a natural strange formation
May 15th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
In PSP_002846_1040_RGB.NOMAP Pixel: 1663,24358 Data: 189,209,212 Display: 183,200,200 Just in case
May 15th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
For anyone is interested, here is a report on the MPL loss ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/2000/2000_mpl_report_1.pdf
As far as I can tell, the most likely scenarios don’t necessarily end up with the solar arrays deployed, or the lander landing upright, so it may well not look anything like the image on this blog entry.
Here is the story of the previous suspected discovery and subsequent retraction (based on MGS images) http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/10/17/
As kite says, use the “JP2 QUICKLOOK (IAS Viewer)” links. The browse .jpg images, huge though they are, do NOT provide sufficient resolution to see anything the size of the lander.
You can see how the candidate images relate to each other geographically at this site: http://global-data.mars.asu.edu/bin//hirise.pl?clat=-76.0625&clon=164.8374161200139&res=5&psz=1&rel=0&bgrnd=3&cookie=0
You can also select them from there. If there are overlapping images of a suspect object, that might prove helpful in identifying it. You can also find MOC images on the same site.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I see all kinds of inscrutable features on polar terrain. In many other areas, an amateur like myself can say “oh theres some boulders and craters and dunes” but much of the polar imagery just leaves me going “huh????” Regardless of MPL, it’d be neat to have an expert give us a tour of them.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
In PSP_005470_1035/PSP_005470_1035_RED.NOMAP.JP2 object at Pixel:18575,53148 Data:230 Display:255 looks like an irregular shaped object.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
hey guys…I followed this sort of “track” on PSP 005470-1035….i dont really know how to figure out the coordinates, but I’ll just give u the pixel, data and display data:
Pixel: 35872,71156
Data: 78,87,102
Display: 93, 108,123
otherwise, you can check out that out-of-place line on the “southernmost” part of the image and follow it down. Almost to the end of that track, there’s some sort of object lined against a sort of hill…the line, however, keeps going a little more…possibly from broken-off debris spraying further…..just check it out and tell me what u think it is!
cheers
May 16th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Just as a thought, you might all try looking for areas in the full resolution JP2 images, take snapshots (I think IAS viewer might allow that, but it’s been a while since I’ve played with it…), and post the browse images on a web forum, such as http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/ . The reason I recommend them is many of the people who work with HiRISE have a known presence there, and there are quite a few lurkers. I think that such a solution would be the best for everyone involved.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
That is good advice from Tuvas (former HiBlogger). I am following the thread in the UMSF “past and future mars missions” forum. It is great to see you all self-organizing, and I hope that will include confirming/rejecting claims, based on screencaps from the full-res RED NOMAP JP2 or RED JP2 (PDS product), to make it simpler for everyone involved. Also, I’ve heard that some are downloading files and finding that they are too big to open. I need to update the FAQ with this, but you definitely do not gain anything by downloading the files, the IAS viewer provides access to the same data a screenful at a time. And, yes, it does do screen shots, though in lossy Jpeg format.
I received a note about the coverage of the landing ellipse shown in the plot above. It could very well be that MPL is in the part that we have not yet imaged (or something happened to it so that we cannot detect it). Due to changing seasonal conditions, we did not finish imaging the entire ellipse.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Emily Lakdawalla of The Planetary Society has generously organized a coordinated search effort.
You can sign up and see the details on The Planetary Society’s website.
May 16th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Very interesting feature at (8962, 1646) in image 1040. Looks like a star-shaped crack in the surface with an object smack in the center. Check it out!!!
May 16th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Correction, that’s (8962, 1686) or (x=8962, y=1686). This area looks like an object may have impacted the surface causing cracks and debris in a star shaped pattern around the impact site. Dead center there appears to be a brightly colored object remaining. Certainly warrants further scrutiny.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Here’s a suggestion. If you spot an interesting anomaly you might try running a deconvolution on the area of interest in order to improve the spatial resolution of the image (Maximum Entropy, Van Cittert, etc.). It would be nice to get the PSF on the HiRISE camera for use in deconvolution software.
May 17th, 2008 at 7:30 am
BTW – I just realized I neglected to put the name of the image file. In case anyone is interested, it is image PSP_002846_1040. (8962, 1686) or (x=8962, y=1686). Looks interesting. Not really sure what the craft should look like at this resolution. Anyway the specs for that image say 50 cm per pixel. The formation/object at the center of the star-shaped crack looks to be about 5 or 6 pixels across. So that’s 250 to 300 cm or about 8 to 10 feet across. It’s probably just an interesting natural formation. But who knows? Maybe ….
May 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I found something interesting on PSP_005958_1025. Using the IAS viewer, near pixel location 18575, 24732. Another nearby at 28465, 24268. These are probably rocks, but they stood out for me. They stood out from a low zoom due to a strange cratery appearance of the surrounding landscape.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
are there any more instructions for sharing images? i posted what i found to flickr…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43103096@N00/2500077925/sizes/o/
May 18th, 2008 at 2:59 am
Hi!
I’ve found something looks like a cylindrical tank with a valve on the top.
file: PSP_002846_1040_COLOR.QLOOK.jp2
pixel: 8962,14234
May 18th, 2008 at 9:08 am
I too am hoping to help with this, once I can get the software to work.
I really, really hope that the we can get to the bottom of this.
Anyway the thing is, we would like to know what happened. Was it the current favoured theory that a software fault aboard MPL, gave a false reading, telling the lander was down, when it fact it was still 40 or so metres up (even under Mars’s 37.8% gravity, that is still a serious fall).
However other options are still open, such as:
1). Did the cruise stage not seperate?
2). Did the heat shield fail & MPL burned up as a meteor?
3). Did the parachute not deploy?
4). Did the landing rockets not ignite?
5). Did the parachute / backshell not seperate?
6). Did MPL land successfully, but the antennas, etc did not power up?
Perhaps Mars itself scuppered the landing:
1). Strong winds caused the MPL to drift & land hard.
2). MPL landed on a large boulder & tipped over.
3). MPL landed on a large boulder & was punctured underneath.
Worth mentioning Viking 1 landed only a few metres from the Big Joe boulder./ Had Viking 1 landed on it, the mission would have failed. Did MPL meet that fate???
Really we should also be looking @ the HiRISE imagery to look for the parachute, backshell & heatshield as well as for the actual MPL. One thing though, we will learn much about the actual landing site from this search by default.
Andrew Brown.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Surprinzatoare imaginile de la suprafata lui Marte, cele 18 imagini impresioneaza prin ineditul exotic, unele imagini ridica probleme de intelegere-interpretare, probabil ar fi bine sa le discutam cu cei de la Centrul De Stiinte Spatiale Amiral V. Urseanu, fiind un grup mai mare rezultatele cautarii ar fi mai aproape de reusita ! Astept sugestii utile in aceasta directie, de la cei in domeniu, si de la cei bine intentionati ! Vreau sa fac si eu cat se poate, in masura care este permis, orice raspuns este binevenit ! La revedere si succes in aceasta actiune binevenita ! In amintirea lui Ion Corvin Sangeorzan ! Matei Alexescu ! Harald Alexandrescu ! Multumiri pentru NASA !
May 19th, 2008 at 3:54 am
PSP_002846_1040_RGB.NOMAP – XY:(1253,59471)
May 19th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Hi gentlemen.
As I only have dial-up I am unable to download hi-res versions (30 hours is tooooo long ) but am enjoying the “Browse” lower res images. It shows an absolutely marvelous surface detail even at this lower resolution. Many thanks to JPL, NASA, University of Arizona and HiRise for making these images available to us.
I would like to add my voice to the possibility of smaller images so those of us on dial-up can assist in this search.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Hi Lance,
You don’t have to download the full files if you use the IAS viewer. It pulls what you need from the server, so you only download a screenfull at a time. Basically, it does the job of dividing up these huge images into smaller images automatically for us. We’ve tested it with dial-up connections, and it should work fine.
Also, we’re not all gentlemen.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Hi!
I found two interesting objects in PSP_005892_1025_RED.NOMAP.browse.jpg at x1678,y3712 (a linear structure = parachute?) and nearby at x1808,y3929 a reflecting object with a size of 3m. Any comments?
Alexander
May 20th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Hi Kite,
Thanks for that, I didnt understand the workings of the IAS viewer before so I shall give it a go…
And my appologies to all the women… LOL…
May 20th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Hi Alexander,
I checked these out with the IAS viewer and these objects are natural depressions/craters. In the browse screens each pixel looks to be about 3m in size when compared to the hi-res images.
I concur with what others who have stated in this posting that the only way to spot the lander is to either download the full hi-res version or , as I am , use the IAS viewer. The viewer acts just like the Google Earth viewer and only takes 4min to download and install on dial-up. And the images of the serface are truely magnificent.
Thanks to Kite and others for directing me to the IAS viewer.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I have a candidate on map 5114 1035 at pixel 8926,9552 there is a lateral spray on aprox 200′ travel, it apears to have struck a low ridge. There is not enough here to discern if it is the lander or an inbound solar object so I would like to hear what you think.
Do we have a projected trajectory and landing site for the lander in relation to the non map projected images ??
May 21st, 2008 at 10:07 am
Please can someone point me to the IAS? I have repeatedly tried using it, only for it to hose up my computer. I would love to help with this project but frustrated in not being able to. Also I would use it to find evidence of more recent volcanism, etc (though the recent finding suggesting Mars has a much thicker crust & colder upper mantle, probably rules that out).
It is fascinating reading this blog & seeing what other contributors are saying & finding. If nothing else, we are going to learn a great deal about the MPL’s landing site from this worthwhile exercise. I just hope that I can join in & help.
Keep up the excellent work everyone,
Andrew Brown (3488).
May 30th, 2008 at 9:10 am
In the bottom middle of PSP_005035_1030 there is something that resembles a parachute. its Mid-Right, at the very bottom of the page
May 31st, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I’m pretty sure I found the Polar Lander. It’s lying on its side, casting a shadow that’s a meter wide and less than ten meters long. Given the angle of the sun, that’s make it about three meters tall (wide), which are the dimensions of the spacecraft. The craft is the bright white area. If you look at the far end of the shadow you’ll see a faint cross. I believe that to be the shadow of the antennae, the shovel arm, or a combination of them.
The image is PSP_005536_1030_RED.QLOOK.JP2. The vehicle is at pixel 33798,67852.
June 1st, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I’ve searched some for the parachute, but have not found it. Comparing the pictures of the lander with the HiRISE image shows a lot of similarities. The size is right and the craft itself shows a trapezoidal shape, as it would if you were looking at a side. If you boost the contrast of the image you can see the shadow of one of the legs sticking out at an angle about 3/4 of the length of the shadow.
Mike
June 4th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Mike, I checked your local but I just think that would be a might big coincidence of it landing where it did and it’s shadow laying directly on the ridge of the dune, as that dark line does.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
IN PSP_005892_1025 I found somethings that could be the rover. They are in the top right corner, maybe a little lower in pixel
19,350 and 8700, somewhere in that general vicinity
June 15th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I doubt this is is, but might as well give it a try in; PSP_005892_1025
Pixels 4835, 16954 there are intresting objects, I’m not sure of what size they apear
August 1st, 2008 at 9:36 am
Can we get a side view of this satellite, just in case it crashed or dropped on it’s side?
By the way ..can Satellites be seen in space during the day and can they come down below the atmosphere near clouds? I took a photo of the sky and caught a picture of what looks like a satellite and it’s green in color with a box shaped item that looks like it shines in the light.It does not look like it is in space because it went into a cloud… I can tell you that it was not a plane or jet, it had no wings, but had what looked like antennas. Oddest looking thing I have ever seen..and it is not a spy plane or helicopter. Not joking either! This Thing was next to a cloud..Zooming up you can see it pretty good.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
You should be using the higher resolution images to draw results. If you are still using “browse” versions of images they are way too low of a resolution and will skew the actual size of the lander, tracks, ect…
Great deduction in last post, definitely some interesting objects
September 12th, 2008 at 4:26 am
Here are my two cents, there is an anomaly in PSP_002846_1040 consistent with the probe deployed and the shell. Check the pictures here http://www.flickr.com/photos/30440553@N02/ or here http://www.sondasespaciales.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=33&topic=5499.msg62610#msg62610
February 16th, 2009 at 4:25 am
I found the following formations:
In PSP_005391_1030_RED.QLOOK.JP2 Pixel: 36135,59264
In PSP_005602_1035_RED.QLOOK.JP2 Pixel: 28249,39378
In PSP_005747_1035_RED.QLOOK.JP2 Pixel: 18532,10450
July 9th, 2009 at 8:07 am
I support the (obvious) idea of breaking the whole imagery into thousands of manageable small images, and presenting them to the volunteers at random.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Ola¡¡ he aumentado una fotografia de las que hay en la web y aprecio algo raro cuando aumento la imagen.
No tengo buenos recursos para observacion buena sin embargo tengo una composicion donde se ubica el objeto o lo que sea. ¿Dónde puedo colgar la imagen?
August 10th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Hi there.
I have been scrutinizing one of the pics and found a small dark patch (~1-1.5m diameter) with a small bright white object (2 0r 3 pixels across) in the center.
I was hoping someone could conform for me.
Thanks
Keir
August 10th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
oops – confirm not conform.
August 16th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Hi,
First, I wish that IAS Viewer had a “dynamic” scale label (a km/meter scale segment) in the visualisation window so that we could know which size have the “object” we are looking at.
Second, I found on the picture PSP_003690_1035_RGB.NOMAP (x=582 y=10900) some unbalance angular shape in a relative flat ground ( http://img182.imageshack.us/i/angularshape.jpg/ ) not sure of what it is, and below there’s a shape looking like a parachute. But it seems that the scale of this objects aren’t compatible with MPL, perhaps just my imagination ;>
@+
August 26th, 2009 at 7:19 am
ESP_013368_1035_COLOR.JP2
pixel coordinates: X=362,41 y=605,51
bright yellow dot – looks like a reflection, or is it just a flaw in the image?
kind regards,
jelle
January 2nd, 2010 at 6:49 am
one thing you may consider is NASA mark any object that has been taged and reviewed on the images themselves so there won’t be so much redundancy. if I spot a posable object and some one else has already taged it then i can move on, also you could set up a system there a taged item can be reviewed by peers and given a score, then NASA can check items with the highest score first. also any item that has been reviewed by NASA as not the probe should be flaged this would also server to help us decide what is not interesting.
you may need some standard way of reporting objects like for there location X Y “halfway down the image” does not cut it.
it looks like the black and white non map projected images are the favorites you may consider making these the primary tool for searching and reporting.
December 28th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
The Mars program has been such a disaster from day 1, it’s hard to believe that they ever expected to be able to colonize the Moon or anything else currently. It’s sad to see the state of the Space program (and it’s funding to be frank)
February 8th, 2012 at 1:50 am
PSP_005391-1030 17666X 1221Y
browse through 23 pics here
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=260044904062607&set=a.260044860729278.57405.100001712995783&type=1&theater
MPL still on it’s Heat Shield
Solar Panels deployed and detached
Chute and Backshield still attached
It might not be MPL but it certainly looks like a lander of some sort…… ; – )
February 22nd, 2012 at 9:55 am
I personally think that taking trips to Mars to find the Polar Lander are pointless. It will be very hard to find something like this now since it has been a while since it has existed.