(For all you at the cutting-edge intersection between privacy/conspiracy concerns and space-exploration fanaticism): Spy Agency May Have Located Mars Polar Lander: “The Mars Polar Lander may have been
found — intact — by a top-secret spy imagery agency.

The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) has been
quietly scanning Mars pictures, looking for the Mars Polar
Lander since early December 1999. According to a source
close to the NIMA effort, photographic specialists at NIMA
think they’ve spotted something. But NASA officials say it’s
too early to tell.

The Mars Polar Lander (MPL) dove into the Martian
atmosphere on Dec. 3, 1999, heading for a soft landing on
the planet’s south polar region. But contact was never
reestablished after the probe was to have touched down. On
Jan. 17, 2000, after a series of efforts to communicate with
the spacecraft failed, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who
managed the mission, declared it a loss.” space.com [thanks, Abby] More about NIMA can be found here.