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Mars Rovers On Final Approach

Posted by timothy on from the watch-for-m&m-helices dept.

leapis writes "In the wake of the possible loss of the Beagle 2 Mars probe, let us not forget that the Mars Rovers are scheduled for arrival in orbit this weekend. As noted in this article at Space.com, the fourth and final course correction has been made, and Spirit, the first of two spacecraft, will touch down around 22:34 on 3 Jan 2004. More information and a countdown to the landing can be found here."

7 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Question by Sklivvz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The article says the rover's trajectory has been updated. Is it because they were afraid it would land in a crater like beagle2?

    I do hope at least one probe lands right. It is one of the advantages of having NASA, ESA and other space agencies competing, when did it happen before this that we had so many probes heading on the same planet?

    Does anyone know the different purposes they have?

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    1. Re:Question by SegFault · · Score: 5, Interesting

      In 1971 five different Mars-bound spacecraft were launched by the US and the USSR. Of the five, only Mariner 9 returned much useful data, to the tune of 7,329 pictures. The USSR "Mars 3" returned a few pictures and some data before it died. The other three craft failed.

    2. Re:Question by Ianoo · · Score: 2, Interesting
      when did it happen before this that we had so many probes heading on the same planet?
      Despite the failure rate, it's a sign that unmanned flight to the red planet is becoming routine. Any nation can do it, even if they don't have a great deal of spacefairing experience (e.g. Britain, the ESA). Hence countries seeking a challenge might want to go further to avoid the "yet another Mars probe" view the public is developing. Hopefully a manned mission isn't too far away.
  2. Re:A couple of comments by SegFault · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mars Scorecard:

    USA: 8/14 (so far, not counting MER-A and MER-B)

    USSR/Russia: 4/16 (two of the four returned very little data)

    Japan: 0/1

    Europe .5/1 (so far, maybe the Beagle will bark)

    Source: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/log/

  3. Re:Obvious by Naomi_the_butterfly · · Score: 2, Interesting

    yes, a 45kg umbrella sized probe certainly can make a mile wide crater *HEAVY SARCASM*

  4. Re:A couple of comments by Dr.+GeneMachine · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Absolutely right. But you have to blame ESA for focussing their public relations mainly on Beagle. Now everyone is believing the whole mission failed, whereas in reality, the main scientific gain would have stemmed from the orbiter measurements anyhow. The European mission is by no means failed. If anything can get us data about possible water on mars, then it is the penetrating radar of the orbiter.

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  5. Singe Point of Failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It strikes me that sending a single machine millions of miles through space and then asking it to land on its own on a planet surface you can't see is asking a bit much. The chances for an "oops" are pretty high.

    Why not seed the orbit of the planet you're exploring with a half dozen relay stations, then send thousands of miniature crawlers to the planet as landers, ensuring that clumps of them land in as many different locations as possible? Equip each crawler with a radio transmitter and sensors and have them relay information back to orbit and from there back to earth. Even if a few hundred dozen of the mini-bots die, the entire mission doesn't fall into jeopardy.

    The current norm of sending a single lander and praying that something doesn't go wrong seems a bit like sending a single three year year old unassisted off to the mall to fetch a carton of milk. Send a whole bus load, and sure, some won't come back, but chances are at least one will.