Scientists unsure if Beagle has landed on Mars.

[Bob Hubbard]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/12/25/mars.beagle/index.html

Excerpt:

CNN) -- Europe's effort to successfully land its first probe on Mars has suffered a setback.

The British-built Beagle 2 probe has failed to broadcast a signal to confirm it has landed on the red planet.

Landing was supposed to have happened at 21:54 EST (02:54 GMT), but it is not yet known whether it survived the dangerous touchdown.

If its parachute opened, its airbags deployed and its outer cocoon bounced to a halt as planned near the Martian equator, the 140-pound probe was to hail NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter when it passed overhead.

Scientists say they still hope to eventually hear from Beagle 2, whose mission is to see whether there is life on Mars.

Professor Colin Pillinger told a press conference Thursday morning the lack of signal does not necessarily mean failure and offered five possible scenarios:

• The spacecraft landed in the wrong place

• The craft's transmitting antenna landed disoriented and cannot fully open

• There is a communications mis-match between NASA's orbiting Mars Global Surveyor and Beagle 2

• A failure during entry descent damaged the spacecraft

The next chance to contact the Beagle 2 falls to Britain's Jodrell Bank Observatory, which will try to pick up the lander's signal at 17:45 EST (22:45 GMT) on Christmas Day.

Confirmation of a safe landing would come in the form of a nine-note musical signal from Beagle 2, written by the British pop band Blur.

Maybe Mars HomeWorld Security is on a state of heightened security, considering they have a fleet of unknown space craft heading their way, who want to land anywhere they please?

 

[Rich Parsons]

Blur, has some good tunes, I am waiting to see if I can name it in those nine notes

 

[arnisador]

I hope it works!

I know there had been concern.

 

[Phil Elmore]

One of the things I find most fascinating and about which I feel most strongly is exploration of space. There are so many things that can go wrong when send up an unmanned probe of this (or any) type -- I hope that if something has gone wrong, the parties involved will learn from the experience and try again.

 

[Makalakumu]

Originally posted by Sharp Phil
One of the things I find most fascinating and about which I feel most strongly is exploration of space. There are so many things that can go wrong when send up an unmanned probe of this (or any) type -- I hope that if something has gone wrong, the parties involved will learn from the experience and try again.

I totally agree. Unmanned probes are, unfortunately the way to go as of this moment. The realities of space travel make it very difficult to put human in space and travel long distances and this will continue until new technology is developed. As soon as there is profit to be made, a way will be found...

 

[Rich Parsons]

Originally posted by upnorthkyosa
I totally agree. Unmanned probes are, unfortunately the way to go as of this moment. The realities of space travel make it very difficult to put human in space and travel long distances and this will continue until new technology is developed. As soon as there is profit to be made, a way will be found...

Profit, is a good motivator, and I have said it before. Yet, in this case you will need to have some advanced R&D. Who will fund this? Most of the plans for the future call for using existing technology, no one is out there seriosuly trying to break through teh technology barrier.

I think more should be spent in the R & D. Many of the advances we have today over what was avaialble in 1960 has come from successes and failures for design for the space programs.

Oh Well.

 

[RCastillo]

There go my income taxes, lost in th deep void of space.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I still say its interesting that it seems like all the probes we send experience problems.

When was the last functional probe that managed to land there?

 

[Makalakumu]

Originally posted by Kaith Rustaz
I still say its interesting that it seems like all the probes we send experience problems.

When was the last functional probe that managed to land there?

Hah!!!! They only told us the probes crashed! They are really setting up Martian bases in order to escape the End!!!!

Sounds like Dale Gribble...

 

[Makalakumu]

Originally posted by Rich Parsons
Profit, is a good motivator, and I have said it before. Yet, in this case you will need to have some advanced R&D. Who will fund this? Most of the plans for the future call for using existing technology, no one is out there seriosuly trying to break through teh technology barrier.

I think more should be spent in the R & D. Many of the advances we have today over what was avaialble in 1960 has come from successes and failures for design for the space programs.

Oh Well.

I agree. The motivation to go to space is something that has to be an effort from our entire species. Only when all the world has come together could this happen. Profit will not generate the motivation, my original reply was laced with a sarcastic sneer on my side of the computer screen.

 

[theletch1]

There have been several small attempts at working together with other nations/space agencies as the cold war is over but not nearly enough. IMO, the only real way to break the boundaries that we face at the moment is by pooling both resources and intelligence. Yes, I know that having everything under one roof will give the conspiracy theorist way more ammo than they need but it is a logical conclusion.

 

[michaeledward]

Originally posted by Kaith Rustaz
I still say its interesting that it seems like all the probes we send experience problems.

When was the last functional probe that managed to land there?

Yeah, it is risky ... but it is successful most of the time. And each time we traverse the distance, and get to where we want to go, and successfully enter orbit, or land, we learn much about the history of the solar system, the universe, and the planet earth.

The costs to get to another planet are substantial, but the dividends they pay are huge; in science and industry.

The last planned mission to successfully land was the 'Sojourner' rover during the '97 Pathfinder mission. Since then, there were a couple of 'High-profile' losses for Mars missions. But there are also some un-sung successes that have occurred.

The 'Mars Global Surveyor' has been orbiting and imaging the planet since 1997. The 'Mars Odyssey' has been in orbit around the red planet since 2002. The 'Odyssey' is a communications relay platform for the rover missions that are landing now, as well as a measurement tool for the planet atmospherics, and the radiation levels in space.

It's all Good.

http://cmex-www.arc.nasa.gov/CMEX/data/SiteCat/sitecat2/hist.htm

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/marspage.html

 

[Rich Parsons]

Originally posted by michaeledward

The costs to get to another planet are substantial, but the dividends they pay are huge; in science and industry.

This is so true. Many people do not know that much of the space age technology they use today without thinking about it, was either a first generation development for space or a secondary development for civilians. It is wonderful, isn't it?

 

[michaeledward]

Originally posted by RCastillo
There go my income taxes, lost in th deep void of space.

The Spirit probe now on the surface of Mars cost the US Taxpayer $400,000,000 dollars. While this is a substantial amount of money, if it was all piled on your desk.

It is about 2 days worth of U.S. Military Operating budget in Iraq and Afghanistan. (based on the FY04 87 Billion supplemental request - which is above and beyond the normal US military costs.)