NASA spacecraft over Mars goes dark

After two weeks of futilely searching for the Mars Global Surveyor, NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory officials said Tuesday that the missing spacecraft is probably lost forever.

In its 10 years, the probe has sent back more than 240,000 images, providing the first strong evidence that water flowed on the red planet as recently as 100,000 years ago.

It also charted weather cycles and mapped landing sites for the two rovers now operating on the Martian surface.

“We may have lost a dear old friend and teacher,” said Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program.

A radio communication from the craft two weeks ago indicated that it was having trouble maneuvering one of the two solar panels used to collect energy from the sun. If the panel cannot be positioned correctly, the craft’s batteries would be drained and it no longer would be able to communicate with JPL controllers in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.

The craft had “an illustrious career,” said Fuk Li, JPL’s Mars Program manager. “We are still holding out hope, but we are fully prepared in our heart that we may never talk to it again.”

Launched Nov. 7, 1996, the Mars Global Surveyor has exceeded its intended lifetime fivefold and produced a string of discoveries. Among them:

“The craft found gullies cut into slopes that have few impact craters, indicating the action of liquid water in modern times.

“Its infrared camera found concentrations of hematite, a mineral that generally forms under wet conditions.

“Its magnetometer found traces of a global magnetic field, like the Earth’s, that once shielded the planet from damaging cosmic rays.