Beagle spacecraft 'reaches Mars'

[goobergunch]

The British-built spacecraft Beagle 2 is believed to have touched down on the surface of the planet Mars. Scientists are awaiting confirmation that the £35m landed safely after a 400 million kilometre voyage which has taken six months.

Beagle 2's plunge through the thin atmosphere of Mars, slowed by parachutes and cushioned by airbags, is the most dangerous part of the mission.

If successful, it will begin a 180-day mission to search for signs of life.

<snip>

Beagle 2 should have landed at 0254 GMT, but nothing will be heard from either spacecraft until 0630 GMT at the earliest.

more...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3344693.stm

[pinniped]

1. Should have been a chimp aboard.

It would be the first ASSHOLENAUT in Mars.

[PartyPooper]

2. But, that would be devastating to the Martian environment!

All the trees would be cut down...the air polluted...the water putrified. You couldn't plant anything that would grow.

Overall, the permanent ecological damage to the planet and the universe would be incalculable!

Besides, there would be wars to anihilate all other living things. Is this what you want? I say send the Chimp to a place where he can do no harm. Trouble is, I can't think of a good alternative.

:eyes:

[pinniped]

5. Perhaps you are correct.

I can't think of an alternative either.

Somewhere 5,000,000,000,000,000 light years away is still too close.

[NickB79]

23. Hmmmm, maybe Bush came FROM Mars?

"All the trees would be cut down...the air polluted...the water putrified. You couldn't plant anything that would grow."

Today Mars is a barren wasteland with poisonous soil, unbreathable air, and no signs of life. The similarities are scary, no?

[Bandit]

30. The sun would do nicely

Their motto "Earth First ~ we''ll log the other planets later" seems to fit their total mindset quite aptly.

[bikebloke]

3. The Beagle has landed!

Someone had to say it.

[pinto]

4. Congrats Beagle 2! and a tip o' the hat to Darwin... n/t

[RBHam]

6. "The Beagle" is not a name chosen by accident

they fully expect to find confirmation of life

[psychopomp]

9. There may be life there, now

At least, in the form of bacteria on the probe itself. What is the likelihood of us contaminating the planent with Earth microbes? It's a stretch, but isn't it possible?

At any rate, after so many recent setbacks it is great that a probe finally made it. Japan lost their surveyor and the U.S. lost two probes, if I recall correctly.

[rman]

11. you must be thinking scientists are stupid?

for not making sure the probe is sterile.
besides, bacteria don't survive well in the cold vacuum of space.

[psychopomp]

14. You must be thinking I'm stupid?

Hee hee.;-)

[Occulus]

20. they can if they respirate metal

but then, those would be on asteroids anyway, not the probe.

[NickB79]

24. Strep bacteria survived 3 yrs on a lunar probe exposed to vacuum

"The Surveyor probes were the first U.S. spacecraft to land safely on the Moon. In November, 1969, the Surveyor 3 spacecraft's microorganisms were recovered from inside its camera that was brought back to Earth under sterile conditions by the Apollo 12 crew.

The 50-100 organisms survived launch, space vacuum, 3 years of radiation exposure, deep-freeze at an average temperature of only 20 degrees above absolute zero, and no nutrient, water or energy source. (The United States landed 5 Surveyors on the Moon; Surveyor 3 was the only one of the Surveyors visited by any of the six Apollo landings. No other life forms were found in soil samples retrieved by the Apollo missions or by two Soviet unmanned sampling missions, although amino acids - not necessarily of biological origin - were found in soil retrieved by the Apollo astronauts.)"

http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast01sep98_1.htm

Pretty amazing that an organism adapted to living in warm, moist conditions on Earth still had the capability to go dormant and survive such extreme conditions.

[Bandit]

31. They have found bacteria in the frozen Antartic buried under 400 feet of

Ice. Temperatures below 100 below zero. It is amazing what bacteria will survive.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Mission control: Beagle 2 should have landed on Mars

Current status

25-Dec-2003
02:54 GMT

Beagle 2 should have landed on Mars

http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm

landing timeline

Shown below is the expected timeline of the main mission events:

25th Dec
02:54 GMT
Beagle 2 lands on Mars


25th Dec
03:00 GMT
Mars Express orbital insertion


25th Dec
05:30 GMT
Mars Odyssey orbiter flies over Beagle 2 - first possible signal retrieval from the lander


25th Dec
06:30-07:00 GMT
Mars Odyssey contacts NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, first possible signal from Beagle 2 received on Earth


25th Dec
07:00 GMT
First evaluation of Mars Express orbital insertion


25th Dec
07:15 GMT
Sunset on Mars (18:35 local solar time)


25th Dec
20:02 GMT
Sunrise on Mars (07:02 local solar time)


25th Dec
22:45 GMT
Possible direct capture of Beagle 2 signals at Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK)


26th Dec
07:55 GMT
Sunset on Mars (18:36 local solar time)

http://www.beagle2.com/landing/timeline.htm

[proud patriot]

8. Cool

:bounce:

[TexasMexican]

10. Nifty.

too bad they arent ours, because ours crashed.

[TheLastMohican]

18. Russian delivery rocket Soyuz does the job again

Too bad no one wishes to mention it, neither the Germans nor the British have a capable rocket. I guess it is a Cold War redux.
None of this would be possible without a good booster rocket such as Soyuz, constructed back in the days of "evil empire".

[Barrett808]

12. Europe's Mars lander fails to show first sign of life (no contact yet)

Europe's Mars lander fails to show first sign of life

LONDON (AFP) Dec 25, 2003
The European lander Beagle has failed to make contact in its first chance to call home since its scheduled landing on the Red Planet, the project's lead scientist, Colin Pillinger said here Thursday.

http://www.marsdaily.com/2003/031225062926.2tlwpw5o.html

[Barrett808]

13. Beagle 2 Silient At First Over Pass Opportunity

Beagle 2 Silient At First Over Pass Opportunity.

Paris - Dec 25, 2003
At the first over-flight opportunity of the Beagle 2 landing zone no signal was received from the small British lander Beagle 2 that "bounced" down on to the Red Plant at 0254 UTC December 25, 2003. Initial confirmation of a successful landing was hoped to come at 0630 UTC. Beagle 2 officials said the spacecraft might not have been fully deployed at the overflight time, and remain hopeful the spacecraft landed successfully. The next overflight opportunity comes later today.

---

Europe's Mars lander fails to show first sign of life

LONDON (AFP) Dec 25, 2003
The European lander Beagle has failed to make contact in its first chance to call home since its scheduled landing on the Red Planet, the project's lead scientist, Colin Pillinger said here Thursday.
Pillinger's team had been hoping for a call from NASA, whose orbiter Mars Odyssey, was available to relay the signal from Beagle after its scheduled landing at 0254 GMT.

"I'm afraid it's a bit disappointing but it's not the end of the world," Pillinger told the press. "Please don't go away from here believing we've lost the spacecraft."

There was a further chance later Thursday, from 2200 GMT onwards, that the British radio telescope Jodrell Bank might pick up a signal, and also an opportunity on Friday, before Beagle's batteries failed, he said.

"We've just gone into extra time, there's no penalty shootout yet," he said, using a football metaphor.

http://www.marsdaily.com/2003/031225063419.n6z12ldc.html

[IndianaGreen]

15. Not looking good!

We won't know until two hours 45 minutes after sunrise on Mars (20:02 GMT) when Beagle's signal is supposed to be heard by Jodrell Bank.

[goobergunch]

22. That's about 45 minutes away

Here's hoping for a signal!

[Bucky]

16. Why has no one made the "Houston, the Beagle has landed" joke yet?

I mean, shoot, it's so obvious.

[proud patriot]

17. LOL

:evilgrin:

[VolcanoJen]

21. lmao, Bucky!

:+

[dusty64]

19. This should be interesting.

Wonder what it will find?

[IndianaGreen]

25. Update: No Mars signals from Beagle (26-Dec-2003, 00:25 GMT)

Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK) failed to pick up signals from Beagle at 22:45 GMT, 25th Dec.

Current status

26-Dec-2003
00:25 GMT

A search for a Beagle 2 radio signal was carried out this evening without success.

http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm

Last Updated: Thursday, 25 December, 2003, 12:27 GMT
No Mars signal from Beagle probe

Scientists have failed to pick up an expected signal from British-built spacecraft Beagle 2 telling them it has landed safely on Mars.

The £35m ($62m) probe should have landed at 0254 GMT on Christmas Day after a six-month flight.

Nasa's Mars Odyssey orbiter has since flown over its landing site but failed to detect the expected call sign.

Lead scientist Professor Colin Pillinger insisted that "it's not the end of the world".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3344693.stm

[Rex]

26. You would think that after 4 tries we Earthlings would get the hint!

Martians don't want us there. They've seen what we do to polar icecaps. :)

[daleo]

27. I hope Beagle works, but history has not been kind

The Mars effect is pretty noticeable. A while back (June 2003), I looked up all the moon and interplanetary missions (all nations), and did a quick analysis. The data is easy to find, on NASA and other sites.

The success rate for Mars was about 1/3 success to 2/3 failures. For the other planets (Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, etc.) and the moon missions, the ratios were pretty well the reverse (2/3 success to 1/3 failure).

Moon: 27 failures, 45 successes (37.5% failure rate)
Mercury: 0 failures, 1 success (0% failure)
Venus: 18 failures, 30 successes (37.5% failure rate)
Mars: 24 failures, 13 successes (65% failure rate)
Jupiter, outer planets: 0 failures, 7 successes (0 % failure rate)
Asteroids: 1 failure, 2 successes (33% failure rate)

Note that if Beagle fails Mars would be 26 failures to 13 successes (including the recent Japanese failure).

The other interesting feature was that most of the failures for the other planets and moon were in the early days of space flight, especially the 1960's. But failures became less frequent as time went on. For Mars, that wasn't' true. The failure rate has been pretty constant, with perhaps the most successful period being around the time of the Viking missions in the 1970's.

[0rganism]

28. Proof of intelligent life on Mars

1) They're destroying our probes
2) They haven't contacted us

Seems pretty clear to me, someone on Mars is smarter than we are.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

29. I don't even HAVE to go to freerepublic.com

To see they cheering, do I?