“No signal was heard from Mars Polar Lander on Mars at the 12:39 PST (20:39 UTC) opportunity … There is a window on Saturday evening, December 4, during which the lander would transmit if it experienced a slightly different safing event. You will recall from the above that the lander would transmit on Friday afternoon if it entered safe mode immediately upon touchdown. If it went into safe mode sometime after touchdown but before its first transmission session began, it would shut itself down and wait until Saturday evening to transmit to Earth. This signal would be expected during a window between 8:30 and 10:45 p.m. Saturday, December 4.”
Link:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98
