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Beagle 2: Mars Landing On A Shoestring

Posted by timothy on from the there's-dirt-on-your-shoestring dept.

dr3vil writes "A great article in The Guardian about the development of Beagle 2, the Mars lander due to start the search for life on Mars on Christmas day. Some great stories about the struggle for funding, and technical details about using a coat handler antenna and a dentist's tool for grinding rock samples. Obviously this was a great project for the hackers."

3 of 24 comments (clear)

  1. Earthlings go Lo-Tech by Bonewalker · · Score: 1, Funny

    The martians that keep sabotaging NASA's Pathfinder and other probes as soon as they land on Mars, (and laughing their asses off because we obviously don't have a clue about interplanetary travel), will be thinking, Wow, those silly Earthlings are seriously regressing. Must be the solar flares...what the hell is this, a dentist's drill? Ha ha ha!

  2. 4 out of 5... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ..dentists recommend Beagle 2 for their patients who need to drill into rocks to find life.

  3. That's awfully agile! by AtariAmarok · · Score: 3, Funny

    If they can get the lander to land on a shoestring, I think they can meet the "lands on the head of a pin" challenge shortly thereafter.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.