Pasedena, California - Nasa's Mars Climate Orbiter was about a
week away from wrapping up an 11-month journey to the Red Planet
in 1999 when engineers noticed a problem - the spacecraft,
designed to study Mars' environment, was not where it was
supposed to be. The gap grew alarmingly over the next few days.
On Sept. 23, Climate Orbiter began the brake to enter Mars'
orbit as planned, but disappeared behind the planet 49 seconds
early, severing radio contact with Earth. It was never heard
from again. Launching probes to Mars is not for the faint of
heart. Out of the 40 spacecraft dispatched to the Red Planet,
only 14 lived to fulfill their missions. Against those grim
odds, Nasa is poised for its most unorthodox and risky landing
yet. The $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory is scheduled to
touch down at 1:31am EDT Monday (0431 GMT) next to a mountain
that may harbour life-friendly environments. “This is the
hardest Nasa robotic mission ever attempted,” Nasa's associate
administrator for science John Grunsfeld