Mars Crater Theory Tries To Explain Missing Beagle

JayBonci writes "CNN is running a piece regarding the failure of the Beagle Mars probe being possibly attributed to a crater landing. It's an interesting story about the variety of forensics being used to try and pick up on the lost craft."

Comments

Re:Interesting...

[Carnildo]

Did you read the article? The target area is 70km long by 45km wide. I don't think there's any area on Mars that big that doesn't have at least one large crater.

This crater...

[WolfWithoutAClause]

is a 1km diameter crater in the middle of a 70 by 10km square. That means there's about a 1 in 700 chance that Beagle actually landed in it. There's probably, a say, 1 in 10 chance that the landing bags blew up on landing.

I don't think that's the way to bet somehow.

On the cheap is perhaps not so good

[theolein]

I have wondered for a while on the logic and wisdom behind the Beagle mission. I found the idea of sending a 60kg lander without any guidance boosters or rockets, no matter how small, an incredibly bad idea. The probe seperated 3 million kilometers away from the planet and then carried on to mars and atmostpheric entry without any possibility of attitude or course correction. Just think about it, 3 million kilometers and even the smallest of deviations of attitude could have meant the probe arriving in the atmosphere on its side or even upside down.

I somehow think that it probably arrived with an incorrect entry attitude and then burnt up on entry.

Perhaps the next time around they'll add a few kilograms to the package for small attitude coreectional motors.

Re:Yes, yes, blame it on a crater... Sheesh

[Nivag353]

Yes, we British did make a twin engined fighter (named the Mosquito) out of wood. The Germans hated the Mosquito, it flew too high and too fast for them to shoot it down. Also, when they did managed to hit one, it generally survived to get back to base.

Back on topic:
The budget for the Beagle was very small, and to be honest I think it was way too small to give the probe a decent chance. However, I know of another country with huge budgets for space who often fail too.

My personal opinion is that the airbags failed. Having airtight material closely folded and kept that way for months in a vacuum at very low temperatures, seems asking for trouble.

I sometimes despair at my Government, when it comes to space exploration. I find it amazing that they will fund anything for space, so I shouldn't be so surprised at such a small budget.

It will be interesting to see when the Chinese begin to send probes to Mars, and how successful, or otherwise, they will be.

-Nivag

Junk.

[Oliver Defacszio]

Is anyone else struck by the amount of junk that is jettisoned onto Mars by this project? Check out the animations on this page.

From these animations, it appears that Mars is now littered with:

1) the heat-shield from its entry.
2) the first parachute and associated hardware.
3) the second, larger parachute and associated hardware.
4) the "cushioning bags".
5) some metal pieces as the machine opens.

I have no idea if Mars' atmosphere is thick enough to thoroughly burn up the myriad other parts that were disengaged during its descent, so that may be a whole raft of other crap in addition to what I have mentioned. Can't we spoil only one planet at a time?