E S Strout's "First Contact" (short story, free)

It's a fun story, & a good one; but don't look for logic or enlightenment.

Took me a while to figure out what was going on; had to go back half way through & reread. But that's part of the fun.

Story summary.

Year is 2001. Two groups can see, via their respective instruments, the NASA's Mars Polar Lander that crashed on Mars 2 years earlier. Their interpretations based on available data lead to unusual conclusions & actions...

Fact sheet.

First published: Aphelion, sometime in 2008.
Rating: B.
Download full text from publisher's site. [via Marooned]