Beagle 2 Failure Theories 254
Dan East writes "New Scientist has an article discussing the failure of ESA's Beagle 2 Lander. Theories as to why the landing failed include thinner than expected upper atmosphere, extreme atmospheric temperature fluctuations, and possible physical damage to Beagle 2 seen in an image acquired immediately after it separated from Mars Express. Recent data acquired by Mars Express, as well as NASA's Mars Rovers, are helping direct investigations into the failure. So far only around half of Beagle 2's landing ellipse has been imaged in an attempt to locate remnants of the lander. USA Today is also running an AP story on these latest theories."
I'm guessing... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:4, Insightful)
So, while it seems simple to just brush it off, they'd need something more complex than a simple windshield wiper... and a moist cloth is just too tall an order for Mars
Conversions... (Score:5, Insightful)
for want of... (Score:4, Insightful)
"It may be nothing, it may be everything" said Sims. The object could be one of the explosive bolts used to secure the probe to its host during take-off. More worryingly, it could be something that broke off Beagle 2, or a wrinkle in the insulation wrapping the probe.
And on and on it goes. Kingdoms and spacecraft get lost on a dime, these days.
the 'eggheads forgot' meme (Score:5, Insightful)
The dust will settle on the panels in x amount of time, but by then the batteries won't be able to recharge and there will be other mechanical problems.
I find these memes a little interesting. There's always something the 'eggheads forgot' according to the common man and its easy to believe. A related meme is how Einstein was a terrible math student when he was young. In reality, he did fine in math when he was young. I guess believing in this kind of stuff makes you feel better knowing that you're "better" than "smart people" and that life is very simple and requires simple solutions.
Then again, the conversion error from metric to imperial that caused another mars bound space-probe to fail fuels this fire, but is very much an exception and not the rule.
Re:Conversions... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:And for that matter- (Score:3, Insightful)
You have to wipe those "ionic breeze" things clean after awhile. Now you've got two dirty elements: the solars panels and the thing that's supposed to clean the panels. How do you clean the cleaners?
Also, the suggestion puts more load on the electrical system.
Re:Rip off strips? (Score:4, Insightful)
That would add a lot of complexity. Right now, the arm on the two rovers and Pathfinder only had to really move from level to down to the surface. You would have to make the arm reach up and over the rover.
Additionally, the arm would have to be longer to reach the tag and pull the tear-off the full length of the panels.
For example's sake, stand up straight, take your arm and imagine pulling a tear-off from the top of your head, along your back, to your feet while remaining standing straight (no bending the knees). Watch the motion of your arm and it's a pretty complex motion. Not to mention, your arm's reach will stop somewhere around your knees.
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:1, Insightful)
(1) In Formula-1 racing, the helmets have visors that are covered with clear plastic tear-off sheets. Instead of wiping their visor if they get dirt on it while they're in the middle of a race, they just tear off the topmost sheet and they're good to go.
(2) Pick the dust up. They make simple electrostatic floor cleaning brushes here on earth (as seen on TV) that pick up dust like nobody's business. Make such a system electrically powered (or even through the friction of unfurling the panels or something) and it could clean the panels without touching them. Sound high tech? Not really - chances are you've got such a mechanism in your office building - it's how laser printers work (electrostatics are used to stick powdered ink toner to the drum - and it's then deposited on the paper and melted onto the surface).
(3) Turn the panels upside down - and shake them. Disturb the surface with low-power ultrasonics to get out stubborn dirt if you have to. Seriously - I want to know if anybody else thought of this amazingly simple solution.
(4) Gently blow atmospheric air across them. Small motor, high speed fan, nozzle directing the air across the surface. Probably won't work well on Mars with the thin atmosphere.
As for the mechanism of passing the cleaning device over the panel:
(5) The system that deploys the solar panels could be designed so that the action of deploying them passes the panels past the cleaning apparatus. This, of course, favors designs that have the panels slide open - or unroll as with the international space station.
I don't understand how people are complaining about how the batteries are slowly decaying or that the solar day length is decreasing with the onset of winter. If it even takes three days to recharge in the winter - and you can only do 1/2 the work in a regular day: you'd still have a working probe as opposed to not having a working probe. If it can survive long enough, you'd get around to summer again.
My Li-Ion cell phone battery has been discharged and recharged hundreds of times over the course of four years - and it still holds a usable charge. I thought that airgel was supposed to solve the temperature problem for the electronics (they can easily build spacecraft where the internal temperature of the electronics is maintained at whatever you want). Either technology for batteries that travel to space is way behind the curve - or they have some serious design issues that they've not yet solved.
Re:Rip off strips? (Score:5, Insightful)
Fantastic idea, though.
The mechanism for pulling the strip off would be sort of a pain, but considering that you are talking very minimal force, you can probably set up a bi-metalcoil wench, a couple of gears, a pully, a pully guide, and some thin wire.
as soon as the solar collectors fall below a certain point of efficiency, the coil would be mechanically engaged (simple), and every day/night cycle it would advance a tooth on the gear, slooooowly pulling the protective strip off. when power gets to peak, it would automatically dis-engage, allowing for bad weather effects, and prolonging the life of the collector by leaving a percentage of it protected.
Damn. they would probably screw up and try to make it digital.
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:4, Insightful)
A blower, not a wiper (Score:2, Insightful)
- A blower. Puffing air to get rid of the dust.
- Tip the panel to dump the dust off.
- Like the blower, but instead move the panels through the air. (depends on how thin the air is.)
- Solve the problem at the root cause - prevent the buildup in the first place by using some areodynamics - shape a shield that will make air carrying the dust blow around the panels and not touch them.
- Cover the panel with a see-through plastic sheet on a roller that will roll around to bring some new clean surface around, like the things they used to have on overhead projectors, then the life is just limited by how much extra plastic sheeting you can afford to add to the payload. (Or, make it go circularly around and run through a wiper on the way around and get re-used, like they do for the shield in front of the in-car cameras at auto races. But then you have to weigh the benefit of the washer against the weight of the washer - it might be more effective to just carry more plastic and use it up as you go.)
Re:Money (Score:3, Insightful)
You know why? Because its cheap. If you want something done right, it is going to cost you money.
Your "it's more expensive, therefore it must be better" theory is wonderfully naive. Now go and read about, say, the Linux vs Microsoft battle, and leave us all in peace...
My 2c (Score:3, Insightful)
In particular, the Beagle2 was released by Mars Express a heckuva long way from the planet. Even the _slightest_ deviance from the carefully calculated course at that distance could result in the Beagle missing the planet completely, to say nothing of missing the target area. When Mars Express entered Martian orbit, they announced that although it was working perfectly, it was in a slightly different orbit than what they had expected. This only furthers the premise that the Beagle2 may have been slightly off course as well. And unlike the Mars Express, the Beagle2 had no navigational equipment to help it correct any errors that could have been otherwise noticed as it drew closer to the planet.
I think that the Beagle2 would have been a brilliant success if they had been willing to spend a little more and at least equip the Beagle with it's own basic navigational equipment and propulsion. Not a lot, mind you.. just enough fuel to make minor navigation adjustments that could very well turn out to be necessary after separation, as well as maybe helping to slow the Beagle down when it got close enough.