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Beagle 2 Failure Theories

Posted by timothy on from the best-laid-plans dept.

Dan East writes "New Scientist has an article discussing the failure of ESA's Beagle 2 Lander. Theories as to why the landing failed include thinner than expected upper atmosphere, extreme atmospheric temperature fluctuations, and possible physical damage to Beagle 2 seen in an image acquired immediately after it separated from Mars Express. Recent data acquired by Mars Express, as well as NASA's Mars Rovers, are helping direct investigations into the failure. So far only around half of Beagle 2's landing ellipse has been imaged in an attempt to locate remnants of the lander. USA Today is also running an AP story on these latest theories."

2 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Unrelated Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ok, this questions is *always* a popular one when talking about rovers on mars, and the solar panels that tag along with them. The reason that the panels can't use wipers to wipe the dust of is because the dust is electrostatically charged. Using the wipers would scratch the hell out of the panels, making them usually for gathering any more photons.

    -brandon

  2. It's not just the dust by aluminum_geek · · Score: 5, Informative

    It appears that dust covering the solar panels is only one of a number of factors which will end up rendering the mars rover a paperweight.
    The dust on the solar panels appears to be complicated by the fact that the batteries "lose capactity" and (probably most importantly) the sun moves past the latitude where the rover is located. Just like days get shorter in the winter...

    I guess it doesn't matter if your solar panels are clean if they aren't being exposed to the sun for an appreciable length of time.

    All of this was grossly overinterpreted from an article lean on details... http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tl_surface. html