A momentous occasion has been bestowed upon us. The Mars Polar Lander will try to reach its destination of Mars’ southern polar ice cap. The Lander was presumed to touch down on Friday December 3, 1999. It was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17 on January 3, 1999 and hopefully it has finally reached the surfaces of Mars. This mission is worth $327.6 million total for both orbiter and Lander (not including Deep Space 2). Those figures …showed first 75 words of 644 total…

…showed last 75 words of 644 total…its destination. The endless days have elapsed and the mission team fears that all hope is lost. They have been trying desperately to communicate with the Lander, but there is no response. The first days, but they remained optimistic. Now as the days go by and the communications have failed. It seems they have given up hope. If they have given up hope, it will be for this mission, not for the missions to come.