Posted: Sat, Nov 15, 2003, 7:48 PM ET (0048 GMT)
A Japanese spacecraft en route to Mars is unlikely to actually collide with the planet, despite earlier reports to the contrary. On Friday the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Nozomi would collide with Mars on December 14 unless spacecraft controllers were able to restore the spacecraft's power system so it can fire its thrusters to move into orbit. However, spacecraft manager Ichiro Nakatani told The Planetary Society that the spacecraft only has a 1% chance of hitting Mars without any trajectory correction maneuvers, and that such a maneuver is planned for December 9. Nozomi, Japan's first Mars mission, was launched in 1998 and intended to go into orbit around Mars in late 1999. However, thruster problems caused mission planners to retarget the mission for a late 2003 arrival. Since then the spacecraft has suffered a number of additional problems, including the power system problem that dates back to a solar flare in April 2002.

Related Links:

•  Yomiuri Shimbun article
•  Planetary Society article
•  MSNBC article