Amateur Astronomers Spot Missing Russian Mars Lander

Mars 3 Lander model at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow.
(Image Source: Wikipedia.org )

Using imagery taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2007, amateur astronomers located an object that could be a Russian lander that went dark after a few seconds on Mars in 1971. John Matson reports.

Back in 1971 the Soviet lander Mars 3 scored the first soft landing on the Red Planet. But it operated for only about 15 seconds and then failed. Since that time, Mars 3 has been little more than an historic interplanetary paperweight, its exact resting place unknown.

Now a team of amateur researchers may have located the defunct lander, using imagery taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2007.

More - Link http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=amateur-astronomers-spot-missing-ru-13-04-15&WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20130415

Source: Scientific American Magazine.

More on the Russian Mars 3 Mission:

Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_3

Other Citizen Science Projects:
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/FAQ/citizenscience.html 

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
About the Author: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#GAW >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Twitter: < https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
Facebook: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceWatchtower/238017839577841?sk=wall >
Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetariu p.m. m.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >