They just don't build 'em like they used to. After studying Mars
-- for, it must be noted, four times longer than originally planned
-- NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter appears to have succumbed to
battery failure in early November 2006, caused by a complex
sequence of events involving the onboard computer memory and ground
commands.
NASA's next manned spacecraft, the Orion, will parachute to the
ground in the western United States at the end of its missions,
much as Russia's Soyuz space capsules (and China's similar Shenzhou
capsules) do today. Orion, however, will also have the ability to
land in the ocean in the case of a launch failure, similar to the
landings used during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions... and
that's an area many NASA engineers aren't as familiar
with as they'd like to be.
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