SPACE : Clues to Magellan Glitch Sought

Engineers carefully maintained contact with the balky Magellan Venus probe today and sifted through computer data to find out what twice threw the craft into hibernation and out of touch with Earth.

Magellan project representative Steve Wall said engineers could not rule out the possibility that whatever caused the spacecraft to turn away from Earth last week and Tuesday might trigger a third loss of signal in the days ahead.

Wall said while Magellan was out of contact Tuesday, the spacecraft’s maneuvering rockets burned nearly seven pounds of fuel--a “tremendous amount.”