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."
Unrelated Question (Score:5, Interesting)
The description of the rover module that is going to be deployed on one of the upcoming Mars missions states that it is designed to last for 3 months or until its solar panels become covered in Mars dust and it can no longer get the solar power that it needs. The question is, if they are going to send up a multi-multi-million dollar craft, why not put some simple wipers on the solar panels so that they can wipe off the dust and get some more use out of the thing?
The curator said that "five hundred people" before me had asked the same question, and that he had never been able to figure out the answer. And of course there MUST be a good reason for this; my closest guess is that the robot wouldn't last for more than 3 months anyway and so they don't bother to include the extra expense and complexity of a motorized wiper system just to keep its solar panels clean for longer than it is expected to live. But there must be a better reason than that, no?
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:2, Informative)
The first thing that springs to mind is that any kind of wiper wiping dust across could scratch the panels
Wipers are also one more (well, more than one) mechanical part to go wrong, and also add weight.
Perhaps radiation, and other things would limit the life of the rover to just over 3 months and the wipers were deemed unnecessary. Basically what you're saying in the last paragraph.
The most likely scenario is that the scientists and engineers, w
Dust those badboys! (Score:4, Interesting)
And that was the first thing I thought of too, but then a simple rational hit me-- if you're going to end up writing off your multi-million dollar probe due to dust buildup anyway, you might as well scratch some solar panels and extend that life. Wait till it gets bad, dust, bad, dust... At that points there's no reason NOT to do it.
Weight is a legitimate issue, but then, how much could a wiper wiper assembly possibly weigh? Of course, everything had to be built to withstand the rigors of reentry, so who knows.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:5, Informative)
-brandon
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:3, Funny)
Well then, make sure you keep your washer fluid topped off.
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:4, Informative)
The problem with such measures is that you will need some kind of special coating on top of the panels (either anti-static, or conducting to hold the charge) and that is going to result in less efficient panels.
Jeroen
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:2, Funny)
Rubbish.
During the late 1960s/early 1970s, when Jon Pertwee was in the title role, most technical problems on Doctor Who were solved by reversing the polarity of the neutron flow. Peter David and Bill Mumy deliberately wrote a similar gag into their show Space Cases in 1997. And anyone who's seen the stage musical Return to the Forbidden Planet knows that you absolutely, positively, never reverse the polarity of the klystron generator!
Parent h
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
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Rip off strips? (Score:5, Interesting)
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: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:Rip off strips? (Score:3, Funny)
Hey bub, keep your sick fetishes to yerself. This here's a family site!
Sorry, couldn't resist!
Not really. (Score:2)
Re:Rip off strips? (Score:2)
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:2, Funny)
just need a set of traffic lights (Score:3, Funny)
(they being the windscreen washer people)
Re:But isn't most dust on mars magnetic? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:2, Redundant)
1) wipers == one extra thing that will break
2) not worth it (as you mentioned)
3) The dust sticks on the panels (most likely)
It's not just the dust (Score:5, Informative)
The dust on the solar panels appears to be complicated by the fact that the batteries "lose capactity" and (probably most importantly) the sun moves past the latitude where the rover is located. Just like days get shorter in the winter...
I guess it doesn't matter if your solar panels are clean if they aren't being exposed to the sun for an appreciable length of time.
All of this was grossly overinterpreted from an article lean on details... http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tl_surface
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:2, Informative)
The curator said that "five hundred people" before me had asked the same question
I'm hoping the next rover (or the next one to built) will sport some elegant new hack suggested by some Jane Average.
Next rover not solar powered (Score:3, Informative)
I'm hoping the next rover (or the next one to built) will sport some elegant new hack suggested by some Jane Average.
The next planned Mars rover is the Mars Science Laboratory [space.com] to be launched in 2009. It will be five times larger than the current rovers and will be powered by a plutonium RTG, giving it at least a year, probably more, of operation. Check out the link for details on its proposed landing method. Very cool.
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:5, Informative)
And for that matter- (Score:3, Interesting)
wouldn't a positive charge on the surface of the panel keep dust away?
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:And for that matter- (Score:2)
Re:And for that matter- (Score:2)
I'm still not sure that it would work. I'm not an Electrical Engineer, but I question how much of a charge you would have to use to repel particles of signifigant size. Might be quite a drain on power. Also, the wires and their charge could cause interference with the solar cells, decreasing their efficiency.
Re:And for that matter- (Score:2, Interesting)
The ionic breeze thing wouldn't work afaik because of a bunch of reasons:
- this ain't indoors -- wind would be much stronger than the effect created by sucking "air" through a pos / neg field
- the "air" is really thin... really thin...
- and lastly the ionic breeze is designed to clean
Hey! mars dust is largely magnetic.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Both rovers carry magnets supplied by Denmark for experiments to analyze martian dust. Dust covers much of Mars' surface and hangs in the atmosphere, occasionally rising into giant dust storms. One of the magnets is designed to exclude any magnetic dust particles from landing in the center of a target area. During Spirit's time on Mars, dust has accumulated on other parts of the target while the center has remained "probably the cleanest area anywhere on the surface of the rover," said Dr. Morten Madsen, science team member from the Center for Planetary Science, Copenhagen, Denmark.
"Most, if not all of the dust particles in the martian atmosphere are magnetic," Madsen said. Another of the magnets is within reach of the rover's robotic arm. Examination of dust on the target by instruments on the end of the arm will soon yield further information about the composition of the dust, he said.
Re:Yer gonna hate me then.. (Score:2)
Litter bug. It should be neatly crumpled up and dropped into the nearest convenient litter bin.
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:2, Interesting)
Essentially, the dust that is landing on the solar panels is so fine, that it is believed to embed itself in the panel. So a simple swiffering of the panel isn't going to clear it.
Additionally, adding a wiper system would take up more volume and mass. From what i've heard, the rover was pretty packed in its cocoon.
From a practicality standpoint, there are probably other systems on the rover that will only last for a short time. Certainl
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:5, Informative)
It's actually a FAQ.
I suggest you read
This [discovery.com]
and this [sorrab.com]
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:2)
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:2)
I wondered about putting something like a single layer of Saran wrap (plastic wrap) over the panels, tied to a spool on a motor. After the panels reached a certain diminished capacity, you'd peel this single layer off, giving you another several months of operation. Obviously you'd using something tougher than actual Saran wrap brand plastic.
And it's likely that the plastic might in itself diminish the panel capacity by a couple of percent because of the opacity. But still, I'd think someone would be
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:the 'eggheads forgot' meme (Score:2)
Of course, I'd be willing to believe that a Jewish kid getting a "C" in a class that he should have been excellent in might have more to do with an anti-semetic teacher than young Albert's skill, but that's just speculation on my part.
I don't think that the purpose of this particular meme is to feel better than Einsten. It's about not taking criticism and failure too personally. 'Just because you failed, don't give up hope. Some of the most successful people i
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:3, Informative)
Ok, I looked up how Pathfinder died, and it looks like the lifespan on the rover there was dictated by how many day/night temperature changes the electronics could take. I'm guessing that they just can't get a circuit board to put up with that
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:4, Insightful)
What about blowers? (Score:2)
Re:Unrelated Question (Score:5, Informative)
This might be a viable option -- but then again it's possible that the sheets could tear or jam in such a way as to produce a high degree of reflection and significantly reduced array efficiency. It's just another point of failure.
(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
Possible -- but it would also require the creation of a high-voltage charge -- and the other sensitive electronics onboard may not like that kind of charge. The high levels of ionizing radiation on the surface of Mars may also affect the operation of such devices.
(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
Wouldn't even work on earth with its comparitively dense atmosphere. Haven't you noticed that even if you take a dusty car for a high-speed run at 100mph or greater, it's still covered in dust when you stop? Do a google on "boundary layer" and "laminar flow" to find out why this method won't work with very small dust particles.
(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
It would not be a good idea to fold and unfold the panels any more than is absolutely necessary (ie: do it only once). Even the best-designed mechanism always suffers the possibility of jamming when used in a very dusty environment -- especially if there's also a high degree of thermal cycling. From memory, at least one of the planetary probes lost the use of a camera (or was it an antenna array?) due to such jamming. To open and close the solar arrays on a regular schedule would significantly increase the probability of failure and that failure would likely be catastrophic to the mission.
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
I suspect that the extremely low temperatures encountered on Mars would fatally damage the battery packs if they weren't kept warm. Once the amount of energy available during the martian winter day falls below the level required to maintain the battery temperature overnight -- the cells would be irreversibly damaged.
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)
There is no such thing as "perfect" insulation so energy has to be expended overnight to keep the critical components (batteries, etc) from being damaged by freezing. As mentioned above, once the energy extracted during the daytime becomes insufficient to provide this heat -- the mission is over.
The reason... (Score:2, Funny)
Q.
Dr. Evil would like to remind you... (Score:2, Funny)
<nibbles pinky nail in pseudo-fascist solute>
failure...
Bunny Thing (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Bunny Thing (Score:2)
I think I figured it out... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I think I figured it out... (Score:4, Funny)
Beagle Hypothesis #527: (Score:3, Funny)
uhh (Score:2, Interesting)
The reason is in the picture... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The reason is in the picture... (Score:2)
Conversions... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Conversions... (Score:4, Interesting)
Lets say (using the parents example) the radius of Mars was incorrectly entered (from our less accurate 1988 data vs. our more exact 2001 data) with an error of 1%, so instead of 3375km for polar radius, we have 3341km. This error is furthered in say Newtons Law of Gravity, because the radius is squared, giving a 2% error in just the denomenator of the equation. Obviously there are some margins to counter this, but Distance to Mars, Radius of Mars, Mass of Mars, all equal to many sig figs.
If you're interested in more Mars/Earth info I found this NASA data [nasa.gov] in my googling.
Re:Conversions... (Score:5, Interesting)
It could have even been some sort of physical hardware error. My father used to work for Hughes Aircraft Co. on the AIM-54 Phoenix missile program. The Navy required them to second-source some parts for the missile and named Raytheon as the source. Raytheon was (and still is) known for numerous incidents of stunning ineptitude, and this case was no exception. One of the parts was an arc-shaped metal lever with gear teeth along its edge that acted as a safety for the missile rocket motor to make sure it wouldn't fire until it dropped free from the F-14 firing it. An electric motor would spin a gear meshed with the teeth and, when it got to the end of the arc, the lever would spring free from the gear and ignite the rocket motor. Some Raytheon engineer apparently couldn't read a mechanical drawing and put one too many gear teeth on the arc. When the motor spun the requisite number of times, it would stop with the last tooth of the Raytheon made safety lever still engaged and the rocket motor wouldn't ignite. They only found the problem months later during a live-fire test at China Lake, CA, when an F-14 was firing at an F-86 drone. The missile dropped like a half-million dollar glide bomb. They were pretty pissed at Raytheon over that one. So you never know what's going to monkey-wrench things. Bad metric:standard conversions, one too many gear teeth, a bad diode that worked only long enough to escape detection; There are so many things that can go wrong.
Re:Conversions... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Conversions... (Score:3, Interesting)
In the case of a simple flight software error, not only would the boneheaded engineer that wrote the code have screwed up, but also the organization that is suppos
Re:Conversions... (Score:2)
More to the point, any water on Mars today is frozen solid. Hence, quicksand there cannot be.
Re:Conversions... (Score:2, Informative)
A small point, but you mean the Imperial system (which was used by the US). England uses the Metric system for almost everything. (Transport law is still mostly in miles-per-hour though)
Re:Conversions... (Score:3, Interesting)
Beagle 2 was released from Mars Express whilst the probe was on a ballistic trajectory and before Mars Express went into orbit (indeed if it hadn't ejected Beagle 2, Mars Express would have been unable to enter orbit).
We know where Mars Express was, we kn
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.
Poodle Two? (Score:3, Funny)
Sometimes dogs just run off for no reason.
Re:Poodle Two? (Score:2)
Possible sighting of Beagle probe (Score:4, Informative)
Probably not Beagle 2 (Score:2)
Dubbed the "string of pearls", this could be the lander, perhaps entangled in its parachute. But it is more likely that the "pearls" were produced by noise in the camera, perhaps caused by cosmic rays.
Dan East
Great Picture (Score:3, Funny)
what about engineering errors? (Score:2)
Hoolywood Union Problems (Score:2, Funny)
Obvious (Score:2, Funny)
Has the atmosphere DRASTICALLY changed in 20 yrs? (Score:4, Interesting)
NASA's Viking Mission to Mars was composed of two spacecraft, Viking 1 and Viking 2, each consisting of an orbiter and a lander. The primary mission objectives were to obtain high resolution images of the Martian surface, characterize the structure and composition of the atmosphere and surface, and search for evidence of life.
how does that mean they had no idea the air was so thin?
Re:Has the atmosphere DRASTICALLY changed in 20 yr (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Has the atmosphere DRASTICALLY changed in 20 yr (Score:5, Interesting)
Surface pressure: 6.36 mb at mean radius (variable from 4.0 to 8.7 mb depending on season)
[6.9 mb to 9 mb (Viking 1 Lander site)]
Surface density: ~0.020 kg/m3
Scale height: 11.1 km
Total mass of atmosphere: ~2.5 x 1016 kg
Average temperature: ~210 K (-63 C)
Diurnal temperature range: 184 K to 242 K (-89 to -31 C) (Viking 1 Lander site)
Wind speeds: 2-7 m/s (summer), 5-10 m/s (fall), 17-30 m/s (dust storm) (Viking Lander sites)
Mean molecular weight: 43.34 g/mole
Atmospheric composition (by volume):
Major : Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - 95.32% ; Nitrogen (N2) - 2.7%
Argon (Ar) - 1.6%; Oxygen (O2) - 0.13%; Carbon Monoxide (CO) - 0.08%
Minor (ppm): Water (H2O) - 210; Nitrogen Oxide (NO) - 100; Neon (Ne) - 2.5;
Hydrogen-Deuterium-Oxygen (HDO) - 0.85; Krypton (Kr) - 0.3;
Xenon (Xe) - 0.08
now- from pathfinder [nasa.gov] Meteorology
It was mid-summer in the northern hemisphere of Mars when Pathfinder landed. The Pathfinder Lander is at 19.33 N, 33.55 W. The Viking 1 Lander touched down at 22 N, 50 W, 2 km below datum elevation on 20 July 1976, and is used for many of the comparisons below.
The pressures measured over the first three days average about 6.75 mb, 10% to 20% smaller than those recorded by the Viking 1 Lander during the same season 21 years ago (note that this result is consistent with the elevation difference of about 100 meters between the Mars Pathfinder and Viking 1 landing sites). The pressure showed a slight decline over the first few weeks but is now starting to rise slowly. This rise should continue through December, 1997. The pressure rise is concurrent with the slow shrinking of the southern polar cap, now at its maximum extent, as the southern winter ends.
Temperatures measured from the top of the 1 meter mast on Mars Pathfinder varied from daily highs of about 260 K (+8 F) to lows of 196 K (-107 F). This is about 10 K degrees (18 F degrees) warmer than Viking 1 Lander measurements made at 1.6 meters. The sol-to-sol temperatures have been very repeatable over the first 30 sols, and should continue until about 60 sols after landing, after which they will start to show more variation.
Preliminary wind speed estimates give late evening and early morning prevailing winds from the SSE, which shifted in the early afternoon to be from the N to NE. This is very similar to what Viking 1 found at this time of year. During the day, winds were light at only a few km or miles per hour. At night the wind speed increased to about 10 to 20 mph (16 - 32 kph) from the south.
The repeatable weather patterns of northern summer found by Viking 1 have been verified by Pathfinder so far. These include diurnal (day-night) pressure changes and semi-diurnal changes by as much as 4.5% due to atmospheric thermal tides.
Interruptions in the normal pattern of temperature drops observed on a few nights may indicate water in the atmosphere is condensing as fog. Humidity measurements are planned later in the mission.
On sol 25, temperature sampling was done at 4-second intervals for the whole day. Temperature fluctuations by 15 to 20 K (30 to 40 degrees F) were observed over minutes or seconds at some periods, suggesting turbulent boundary-layer mixing between the warmer near-surface region and cooler layers above that. A "dust devil" was also detected passing by the lander on sol 25, and later high resolution sampling has detected more dust devil signatures.
More detailed information and historical weather reports are available at the Mars Pathfinder project weather page. Raw and reduced data are available online at http://atmos.nmsu.edu/PDS/data/mpam_0001/aareadme. htm
Pathfinder used a parachute... didn't anyon notice how hard it hit? the fact that pressure and temperatures change so mu
Re:Has the atmosphere DRASTICALLY changed in 20 yr (Score:4, Interesting)
If you'll remember, NASA adjusted the Rover's landing parameters immediately before landing, forcing the parachute to deploy sooner to compensate for lower atmospheric density. That very well may have saved the mission, because the chute still deployed at a lower altitude than expected.
Either Beagle 2's landing sequence was such that it could not be tweaked en route, or ESA overlooked the opportunity to make such an adjustment.
A final note. Many have suggested that spacecraft, such as the Mars Rovers, use nuclear power instead of solar power to vastly increase their operational lives. One of the main excuses I've seen to NOT use such power (besides the lobbying of tree-huggers) is to purposefully limit the mission lifetime, so resources can quickly be shifted to new science. However the 3 recent landings (Rovers and Beagle 2) have shown we do need to keep track of the weather on Mars a bit closer. If the rovers had a nuclear power source then once they broke down (as in not able to drive around or operate the arm), they could become fixed position weather stations. The data provided could aid in adjusting future landings, which could potentially save hundreds of millions of dollars.
Dan East
Re:Has the atmosphere DRASTICALLY changed in 20 yr (Score:2)
IIRC they tweaked the programming on the second lander following Spirit's descent to the surface and analysing its data. This was the first indication that the pressure was lower than expected.
Either Beagle 2's landing
Re:Has the atmosphere DRASTICALLY changed in 20 yr (Score:3, Informative)
As Mars Express closed in on the planet, astronomers noticed a large dust storm building on the planet. Martian storms are unusual in that they markedly heat the atmosphere. As dust particles are swept up into the air, they absorb solar radiation and radiate heat - warming the atmosphere, increasing the force of the wind and so raising more dust. As the air warms, it expands and pressure drops.
All three landers were committed to landing on Mars
May have been spotted (Score:4, Informative)
==================
Possible sighting of Beagle probe
Monday, March 8, 2004 Posted: 6:43 PM EST (2343 GMT)
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Beagle 2, the British space probe which disappeared as it descended towards Mars, may have been spotted on the surface of the Red Planet, scientists say.
No signal has been received from the craft since it was due to land on Christmas Day last year, despite various attempts by Mars orbiters and telescopes on Earth to make contact.
But photographic images of the area where Beagle 2 was to have come down show four bright spots, dubbed a "string of pearls" by scientists, which may be the remains of the probe.
"It could be the lander with its air bags and parachute," said Lutz Richter from the German Aerospace Center, who helped plan the Beagle 2 project as part of Europe's first solo mission to another planet.
Re:May have been spotted (Score:2, Informative)
Link [cnn.com].
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 n
According to CNN (Score:3, Informative)
Greenneck (Score:2)
Time for my medication ...
Dumb it down (Score:5, Funny)
Splash... (Score:2, Funny)
It's European! Here's why it failed... (Score:3, Funny)
It was designed by the English. The re-entry engineers got right pissed at the pub and started a drunken brawl with the aeronautics lads, who calculated that delta V makes a lot more sense with a beer bottle in the midst of it.
It was designed by the Irish, who gave up calculus for Lent.
It was designed by the Germans. Beagle was properly engineered, but poorly manufactured by the Belgians, who nobody really knows anything about anyway.
It was designed by the Spanish. It's not a communications failure, just a long siesta. Relax.
It was designed by the Polish. 'Nuff said.
Re:It's European! Here's why it failed... (Score:2)
Re:It's European! Here's why it failed... (Score:3, Funny)
That'll be a pint, you insensitive clod!
Fried by Solar Flare Event? (Score:2)
How about the Open University opening the software so that many eyes can see if we can find any bugs?
Re:Fried by Solar Flare Event? (Score:2)
Mars Express reported all systems okay in the late November 2003 pre-release check, but I couldn't tell you how many of Beagle 2's systems were given a check-up at that point.
How about the Open University opening the software so that many eyes can see if we can find any bugs?
The descent software was written by Astrium. I'm sure they are just as keen as any
Webcase by Pillinger on beagle failure (Score:2, Informative)
Wasn't it... (Score:2)
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.
I can see it now... (Score:3, Funny)
One Martian looks at the other, rolls his 3 eyes, and says "Well, that proves it. There's no intelligent life on Earth."
Re:Well lets see (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Money (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Money (Score:3, Informative)
The beagle2 cost about $60 million.
Opportunity and Spirit cost $820 million dollars.
>We also spent over twice as much as they did.
Nope, about 12 to 14x what the US spent.
Re:Money (Score:2, Interesting)
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...
Re:Money (Score:3, Interesting)
Landing on planets is hard. You are basically in a barely controlled death dive, in which a number of separate actions must complete for you to pull out of it. Even if that bit works there is no guarantee of where you will land.
The pity about beagle 2 is that it showed you could do space exploration on a reasonable bu
Re:No... No... No... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:My theory.... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Top Theory (Score:4, Interesting)