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ESA Aiming for Martian Probe in 2011

Posted by Zonk on from the round-trip dept.

allanj writes "According to the BBC, the ESA is set to send a robotic probe to Mars around 2011. They apparently want to return samples of Martian soil with the probe - cool idea if it works better than Beagle 2 did..." From the article: "They still require a great deal of further detail and the agency's member states will also have to sign off the mission. Ministers will have their say when the Esa Council meets in December."

15 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Late Breaking News: by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Today the Council of Elders confirmed the rumours that the sinister blue planet third from our star is planning to send yet another one of its mechanical invaders.

    K'breel, speaker for the Council, stressed that there was no cause for alarm:

    "While it is true that the blue planet is sending another invader, we are confident that we can deal with the situation. This particular invader seems to be of the same design as the one we destroyed over one standard year ago, so it should be vulnerable to the same tactics. Even failing this, it should be no problem to isolate the invader and keep it from any contact with citizens...a policy we have developed and upheld ever since the blue planet initiated hostilities."


    When questioned whether the rumours that the blue planet was almost covered in poisonous, corrosive di-hydrogen oxide, as many independent scientists have asserted, had any validity, K'breel declined comment.
    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    1. Re:Late Breaking News: by bonch · · Score: 5, Funny

      In related news, local heretic Kal-El was arrested once more for conducting scientific experiments to determine when, as he believes, the planet will explode.

      "If we don't fix this now, I have to fire my son through space at the blue planet, and I don't want my son living in a world of Clippy and BSD-is-dying jokes."

      K'breel of the Elder Council denied rumors the planet was going to explode. "When has an Elder Council ever denied rumors of inevitable disaster, only to have it come true?" he laughed.

    2. Re:Late Breaking News: by skyman8081 · · Score: 2, Funny

      If I hadn't spent my modpoints in Atlantic City, Vegas, and that one Indian Reservation. I'd mod this up, right about..... now.

      --
      Two Roommates and a Boyfriend, updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
    3. Re:Late Breaking News: by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Funny

      "When questioned whether the rumours that the blue planet was almost covered in poisonous, corrosive di-hydrogen oxide, as many independent scientists have asserted, had any validity, K'breel declined comment."

      Moments later, the phrase "I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle" mysteriously drifted across the chamber where the Elders met. Before Earth could send another one of its mechanical invaders, all life on Mars was exterminated when war broke out...

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  2. ESA Aiming for Mars by nastyphil · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, we're pretty sure that they know how to hit Mars!

    --
    Dialectician. Archology.
  3. Metric by gspr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, at least us Europeans won't have trouble with the metric system...

    1. Re:Metric by uncoveror · · Score: 2, Funny

      Metric Shmetric! It was the Zhti Ti Kofft. They will shoot down this probe too.

      --
      The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
  4. Re:sharing by Orgazmus · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sir, are you or have you ever been a member of the communist party?

    --
    The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
  5. Re:Dig in by Lord+Apathy · · Score: 3, Funny

    They proved that with the beagle 2 they are pretty good at digging in on Mars too.

    --

    Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification

  6. Re:Is it me, or are we as humans wasting time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    yes, yes, indeed, why would we need search for meaning of life on mars when you can find that answer right here on earth, we just need to read the bible!!

  7. I just can't help myself. by nc_yori · · Score: 3, Funny

    So remember children, what should you do if a supernova happens in your solar system? Yes, that's right. Duck and cover.

  8. Martian probe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's about time we probed them back.

  9. Finally by jluebke · · Score: 4, Funny

    At last we're probing the Martians for a change. I say they had it coming.

  10. whoops by ballsanya · · Score: 2, Funny

    Am I the only one that accidently read that as ESA Aiming for Martian Pope in 2011....

    1. Re:whoops by johannesg · · Score: 2, Funny
      It would be interesting to know if you were the only one. We always hear that as many as 3% of the population are functionally unable to read or write in the western world, and I always found that hard to believe, but perhaps slashdot can now help us gain some solid numbers.

      So, if you, like the original poster, were unable to read the headline, could you just quickly reply to this? I'll count the number of replies and calculate the number of analphabetics here on slashdot.

      Thanks for your help. Remember, we do it all for science!