Glitch forces Mars probe shut-off

Posted on: Sep. 4th, 2005 || Source: news.bbc.co.uk | E-mail Article | Print Article

A glitch has forced Nasa's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft to shut down its science instruments.

The spacecraft has switched into a "safe mode", in which the instruments and some other systems are turned off.

Team members are racing to get the probe out of this mode so it can photograph the presumed crash site of a US Mars mission lost in 1999.

The pictures could decide whether design changes are needed on a probe due to launch for Mars in 2007.

Next week will provide the last opportunity to take images of the crash site of Mars Polar Lander (MPL) for another two years.

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