Beagle 2 Failure Theories

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."

Comments

Re:Unrelated Question

[jmv]

I don't know the real answers, but here are a few guesses:
1) wipers == one extra thing that will break
2) not worth it (as you mentioned)
3) The dust sticks on the panels (most likely)