welsh
Junkmaster
Condolences to the Brits- seems Beagle 2 is a gonner.
New space craft on Mars!
If I were a martian I would be pissed off with all the crap landing on my lawn.
What if we find-
or it leads to...
Exploring Mars
A ghoul's breakfast
Dec 30th 2003
From The Economist print edition
The current crop of Mars missions has got off to a bad start
Get article background
TWO lost. Three to go. That looks a fair summary of the state of the flotilla of spacecraft that sailed boldly forth from Earth last summer to study Mars.
The first victim of the Great Galactic Ghoul that some students of Mars jokingly suspect protects the place from nosy Earthlings was Nozomi, Japan's effort to get to the planet. This was actually launched in 1998, but it followed a complicated fuel-saving orbit that sent it around the sun and back to Earth, to be slung towards Mars at the same time as the other missions took off. Nozomi, ironically the Japanese for “hope”, was dogged with despair from the start. The need for the fuel-saving orbit was the result of a technical problem early on in the mission (it was originally intended to arrive in 1999). After that, a solar flare damaged the craft's electronics, and its controllers decided on December 9th that they would not be able to put it into a Martian orbit.
The second apparent failure is that of Beagle 2. This was a small British craft intended to land on Mars on December 25th. It may well have made it, but if it did, it is keeping disturbingly quiet. Its controllers had not, as The Economist went to press, managed to establish contact. They have not quite given up yet, though. Their initial efforts involved listening with Mars Odyssey, an American craft already in orbit, and with various Earth-bound radio telescopes. But the main means of communication with Beagle 2 was always intended to be its mother ship, the European Space Agency's Mars Express, from which it was released on December 19th. Mars Express went into an initial orbit around Mars at about the time that Beagle 2 was landing, and it is now being manoeuvred into an operational orbit that will take it over both poles. That manoeuvre should be completed on January 4th. A polar orbit will enable Mars Express to scan the whole Martian surface as the planet turns beneath it, so if Beagle 2 has landed in working order, but in the wrong place, it should show up.
Besides Mars Express, two missions launched by NASA, America's space agency, are still going strong. Spirit and Opportunity, wheeled rovers that are intended to explore parts of the Martian surface, are due to land on January 4th and January 25th respectively. Fingers crossed
[/img]
New space craft on Mars!
If I were a martian I would be pissed off with all the crap landing on my lawn.
What if we find-
or it leads to...
Exploring Mars
A ghoul's breakfast
Dec 30th 2003
From The Economist print edition
The current crop of Mars missions has got off to a bad start
Get article background
TWO lost. Three to go. That looks a fair summary of the state of the flotilla of spacecraft that sailed boldly forth from Earth last summer to study Mars.
The first victim of the Great Galactic Ghoul that some students of Mars jokingly suspect protects the place from nosy Earthlings was Nozomi, Japan's effort to get to the planet. This was actually launched in 1998, but it followed a complicated fuel-saving orbit that sent it around the sun and back to Earth, to be slung towards Mars at the same time as the other missions took off. Nozomi, ironically the Japanese for “hope”, was dogged with despair from the start. The need for the fuel-saving orbit was the result of a technical problem early on in the mission (it was originally intended to arrive in 1999). After that, a solar flare damaged the craft's electronics, and its controllers decided on December 9th that they would not be able to put it into a Martian orbit.
The second apparent failure is that of Beagle 2. This was a small British craft intended to land on Mars on December 25th. It may well have made it, but if it did, it is keeping disturbingly quiet. Its controllers had not, as The Economist went to press, managed to establish contact. They have not quite given up yet, though. Their initial efforts involved listening with Mars Odyssey, an American craft already in orbit, and with various Earth-bound radio telescopes. But the main means of communication with Beagle 2 was always intended to be its mother ship, the European Space Agency's Mars Express, from which it was released on December 19th. Mars Express went into an initial orbit around Mars at about the time that Beagle 2 was landing, and it is now being manoeuvred into an operational orbit that will take it over both poles. That manoeuvre should be completed on January 4th. A polar orbit will enable Mars Express to scan the whole Martian surface as the planet turns beneath it, so if Beagle 2 has landed in working order, but in the wrong place, it should show up.
Besides Mars Express, two missions launched by NASA, America's space agency, are still going strong. Spirit and Opportunity, wheeled rovers that are intended to explore parts of the Martian surface, are due to land on January 4th and January 25th respectively. Fingers crossed
[/img]
Best idea ever.