NASA 'skeptical' images show Mars Polar Lander

PASADENA, California -- Fifteen months after the Mars Polar Lander vanished, Defense Department imaging experts say they have spotted what may be a trace of the spacecraft on the surface of the Red Planet, a NASA official said.

But the agency that came up with the news -- an agency trained in deciphering spy satellite pictures -- will do more analysis on photographs because NASA officials are not convinced the picture shows the lander, NASA said Wednesday.

"NASA is skeptical," said space agency spokesman Don Savage.

Experts at the National Imagery and Mapping Agency have spent months poring over high-resolution images of the region where the Polar Lander was to have set down.

INTERACTIVE Mars Polar Lander graphic QTVR Panorama of the Pathfinder landing site   ALSO In-Depth: Exploring Mars   MESSAGE BOARD Destination Mars   RESOURCES Click here to see images of the Mars Polar Lander landing zone (Note: Opens new window)

In at least one image, as few as three lighter picture elements -- or pixels -- stand out against a dark background, suggesting the presence of the $165 million probe, said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's office of space science.

Neither of the agencies, however, can yet confirm whether the pixels show up in other images of the same area, making the discovery still inconclusive.

"If you find a few bright pixels in the right alignment, that's interesting, but unless you find them in different pictures of the same location, it's not so interesting," Weiler said Tuesday.

NIMA presented its findings to NASA last month. Since then, the two federal agencies have gone back and forth on what exactly the images show.

"It could be a while before the agencies agree," said Savage. NIMA officials could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Both NASA and NIMA said they will release statements Thursday, and NIMA said it also will begin releasing much of its information, including the photo, in coming days.

The Polar Lander was launched January 3, 1999. All radio contact was lost December 3 as the spacecraft approached the red planet.

In the months following its disappearance, NASA pressed its orbiting Mars Global Surveyor into the search for the lost probe. NASA used the orbiter's high resolution camera to image as much of the region where the Polar Lander vanished. Analysis of those images is continuing.

"You're really trying to pull a needle out of the haystack here," Weiler said.

A NASA team that investigated the loss of the Mars Polar Lander concluded a rocket engine shut off prematurely during landing, leaving the spacecraft to plummet about 130 feet to almost certain destruction on the Martian surface.

An official at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, which built the Polar Lander for NASA, said any discovery could force a rethinking of why the probe failed.

"If there's new data, we'd go back and relook at our understanding of what happened and try to understand for sure, because all we have known is guesswork," said Noel Hinners, the company's vice president of flight systems in Denver.

CNN's David Ensor and John Zarrella, and The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

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