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Beagle 2 Probe Lands; No Signal Received Yet
securitas writes "The BBC reports that Europe's Beagle 2 Mars lander has failed to broadcast its landing confirmation signal. While project leaders are trying to put a brave face on it, the failure is seen as a major setback. The Beagle is out of broadcast range but another contact attempt will be made later today, when they hope a signal will be detected. Another failed Mars mission will solidify Mars' reputation as a spacecraft graveyard. More at icWales and News24."
all these bad jokes about martians etc... yawn Remember, people, the first contact through Odyssey was considered a bit of a long shot... it should have been successful but it wasn't a sure thing. there are 6 more communications attempts programmed into Beagle 2, and Mars Express (the orbiter) was successful. the next communications attempt is in a bit under 7 hours. it's VERY possible that Beagle 2 is just at a funny angle or still charging from the solar panels in order to communicate. Let's not jump straight to 'major failure' etc.
Your comment about the thin atmosphere carrying little force is accurate however you're not really thinking properly about what the real effect on the lander would be.
:-)
A landing probe would be sitting underneath a parachute tens of metres in diameter for approximately 2 to 3 minutes while drifting downwards. Although the force of this theoretical 150mph wind is low, thereby giving a low acceleration, given enough time the force acting on this huge surface area WILL accelerate the craft to 150 mph. That would be seriously bad news as an impact with the ground at that speed would destroy any lander, no matter what type of airbags it was using.
P.S. I am also an Aerospace engineer and work for the company that was responsible for the aerodynamics, heat shield sizing and trajectory of Beagle2. So I bloody well hope it's OK. I blame the airbags personally.