Yep. I become a little more confident with each passing hour that No, the Mars Polar Lander will not find life on Mars.
Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine
*manhattan: Yep. I become a little more confident with each passing hour that No, the Mars Polar Lander will not find life on Mars. *
That’s cuz the Martians saw it land, and they went over and beat the crap out of it, so that we wouldn’t get definitive proof. 
Here’s how the US stacks up so far on Mars missions:
Mariner 3: 1964, Flyby - Failure
Mariner 4: 1964, Flyby - Success
Mariner 6: 1969, Flyby - Success
Mariner 7: 1969, Flyby - Success
Mariner 8: 1971, Flyby - Failure
Mariner 9: 1971, Orbiter - Success
Viking 1: 1975, Lander - Success
Viking 2: 1975, Lander - Success
Mars Observer: 1992, Orbiter - Failure
Mars Global Surveyer, 1996, Orbiter - Success
Mars Pathfinder, 1996, Lander & Rover - Success
Mars Climate Orbiter, 1998, Orbiter - Failure
Mars Polar Lander, 1999, Lander - Possible Failure - TBD
Mars Surveyer 01 Orbiter, 2001, Orbiter - TBD
Mars Surveyer 01 Lander, 2001, Lander/Rover - TBD
Mars Surveyer 03, 2003, Orbiter/Lander - TBD
Mars Express, 2003, Orbiter/Lander - TBD
Mars Surveyer 2005 Lander, Lander and sample return, 2005 - TBD
(The batting average of old vs. new missions becomes much more even if you look at non-mars missions too, since we’ve had a pretty good run of successes recently with other probes, and we had a ton of failures back in the 50’s and 60’s with various other probes like the early Pioneers and Rangers).
So far, even with recent mars failures, NASA still has the best Mars track record. The Russians have faired miserably, and the one Japanese orbiter currently in transit is in trouble although it may yet be partly salvageable.
peas on earth
I wouldn’t call Viking 1 a complete success. Didn’t it land kitty-corner on a rock or something?
“Love 'em, fear 'em, and leave 'em alone.” – Dr. Spockiavelli
I’d blame the First Born for the failure.
Or maybe Ar-Hap.
Okay, so I’m full of shit.
The only problem the Viking 1 lander had, according to a little book I have titled Space Exploration, is that its seismometer failed to operate. Other than that, Viking 1 was a success.
I’ll go sit in a corner now.
“Love 'em, fear 'em, and leave 'em alone.” – Dr. Spockiavelli
Eaten by a Banth!
Polar lander has discovered life on mars!
<p align=“center”>Tris</p>
I know I should have said “eaten by a banth” or “stepped upon by a zitidar”, but it has been quite a while since I visited Helium.
Dr. Fidelius, I thoat you might post something of the sort! 