-Caveat Lector- http://www.enterprisemission.com/mco.htm On September 23rd, 1999 at 9:06 AM UTC, JPL lost contact with the $125 Million Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) as it passed behind Mars on it's final orbit insertion burn. The spacecraft was carrying the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera under the control Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems. JPL scientists were unable to reestablish contact with the spacecraft when it should have re-emerged from behind the Martian disk and immediately began a series of emergency measures to communicate with the spacecraft. As with the previous JPL/MSSS $1 billion mission Mars Observer in 1993, these efforts went for naught when it was discovered that a "navigation error" had likely plunged the spacecraft into a terminal crash dive into the Martian atmosphere. According to a tersely worded press release, the spacecraft was thrown off course when one navigational team in Colorado and the other at JPL used two separate measurement systems (Metric and Imperial) to perform key navigational calculations. The Lockheed/Martin team transmitted acceleration data in the English system, and controllers at JPL assumed that it was Metric. According to press reports, this process had been ongoing since the launch of the spacecraft in December, 1998. This highly implausible and bizarre set of circumstances caused some minor upset on Capitol Hill ("I'm speechless." said one Congressman) but otherwise created nowhere near the fire storm that surrounded the loss of Mars Observer. Still, as we will show, this very suspicious and convenient "error" had all the usual earmarks of another NASA ritual killing. To begin with, the notion that this error could have been induced from the beginning of the mission and gone unnoticed is ridiculous. All interplanetary spacecraft take an incredible amount of effort to get from "A" to "B". The considerations of such an undertaking, the relative positions of the two planets (Mars and Earth) at launch, their relative speeds as they orbit the sun, their rotational speeds, the gravitational effects of not only the two major bodies but also of most of the other objects in the solar system -- all must be accounted for in this elegant dance called "Celestial Mechanics." While exceedingly complex, these factors are also exceedingly well defined and predictable. This is why all missions are set up on the concept of waypoints. As the spacecraft travels the hundreds of millions of miles from one world to the next, it passes a series of check points at which its position, speed, and trajectory are checked against the predictions. Any deviation is immediately noted and a course correction burn is initiated as necessary. And, the farther away and faster it goes, the more pronounced an error would become. According to AP: " The bad numbers had been used ever since the spacecraft's launch last December, but the effect was so small that it went unnoticed. The difference added up over the months as the spacecraft journeyed toward Mars." To anyone with the slightest understanding of measurement systems and orbital mechanics, this statement, apparently sourced from inside NASA, is ludicrous. The conversion factor from pounds of thrust (Imperial) to Newton's (Metric) is 4.44 Newton's to the pound. This means that from the beginning of the mission, the velocity calculations should have been off by some 75%! And nobody noticed this "minute" error?! In fact, by the time of the MOI burn, the spacecraft should not have been anywhere near Mars! That is why NASA's explanation (excuse) is so unbelievable. If there were any error introduced and not noticed by the "honest folks" at JPL, it would almost certainly have had to come at the MOI burn itself. Even Dr. Tom Van Flandern, former head of the celestial mechanics (the science of interplanetary navigation and celestial motions) branch of the U.S. Naval Observatory, a staunch anti-consipirasist and defender of the system, has been forced to admit the obvious: "I wouldn't take the cover story literally -- It's just an excuse the public might be able to understand and sympathize with, but with little connection to reality. We'll find out the truth when the outside investigation releases its report." This explanation is in fact so bad, so obviously contrived and untenable, so in violation of the first rule of academia -- "Thou shalt not look foolish to ones peers" -- that it begs the question of whether some inside NASA/JPL actually want to get caught! Are the "Roosters" trying to out the "Owls" by floating an excuse that will actually demand an investigation? We are about to go on a Journey. All Aboard http://sites.netscape.net/gsussnzl/homepage Bargain Books http://bn.bfast.com/bfast/click/mid1349732?siteid=10734186&bfpage=b DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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