The failure to communicate with the spacecraft Sunday morning was a serious blow. If the lander's main data transmitter wasn't working, the craft was pre-programmed to send a signal via another transmitter Sunday. That signal would go to the Mars Global Surveyor, a satellite circling the planet since 1997 to map the Martian terrain. Surveyor was then supposed to send the signal to Earth. I do hope this won't discourage us from brushing ourselves off and getting back to it.
Scientists have ample evidence that Mars was once a wet place, but it has no liquid water now.
The lander, and the probes carried with it for the 157-million mile journey, were to look for ice in the polar soil. If water were found, it would be the first sign that the Red Planet might once have nourished life. Scientists could only speculate about what might have gone wrong. The lander was in fine shape as it plunged toward the Martian surface. Researchers guessed that the lander had touched down in a perilous or inaccessible spot.