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Europe Lost Contact with Mars Lander 1 Minute Before Touchdown
space.com ^ | 10/20/2016 | megan gannon

Posted on 10/20/2016 8:10:01 AM PDT by BenLurkin

Schiaparelli was scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet Wednesday at 10:48 a.m. EDT (1448 GMT). But the spacecraft's handlers could not confirm a successful landing, and were left waiting on a signal. Meanwhile, Schiaparelli's mother ship, the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), successfully entered orbit around Mars.

Schiaparelli had been programmed to follow a demanding 6-minute landing sequence that would see the capsule come to a halt from about 13,000 mph (21,000 km/h).

The first phases of this sequence went according to plan, Andrea Accomazzo, head of ESA's solar and planetary missions, said at the news conference from ESA's operations center in Darmstadt, Germany.

The lander sailed through the upper layers of the Martian atmosphere as expected, and its supersonic parachute deployed on time — important indications that "the heat shield has worked flawlessly," Accomazzo said. But the ejection of the back heat shield and parachute occurred earlier than planned, he added.

"Following this phase, the lander has definitely not behaved exactly as we expected," Accomazzo said

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: esa; lander; mars
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1 posted on 10/20/2016 8:10:01 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

Quarantine—foreign invaders are not welcome!


2 posted on 10/20/2016 8:13:31 AM PDT by cgbg (This space for rent--$250K)
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To: BenLurkin

Regarding Mars, this seems to happen a lot. It appears there are areas we are allowed to see and areas we are not.


3 posted on 10/20/2016 8:13:53 AM PDT by Mr. Douglas (Today is your life. What are you going to do with it?)
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To: BenLurkin

Regarding Mars, this seems to happen a lot. It appears there are areas we are allowed to see and areas we are not.


4 posted on 10/20/2016 8:13:53 AM PDT by Mr. Douglas (Today is your life. What are you going to do with it?)
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To: cgbg
The last picture taken.


5 posted on 10/20/2016 8:14:22 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Mr. Douglas

It seems that way, no?


6 posted on 10/20/2016 8:16:06 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: BenLurkin

We lost our Martian rocket ship
The high paid spokesman said
Looks like that silly rocket ship
Has lost it’s cone-shaped head

We spent ninety jillion dollars
Tryin’ to get a look at Mars
I hear universal laughter
Ringing out among the stars


7 posted on 10/20/2016 8:16:12 AM PDT by Little Ray (Freedom Before Security!)
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To: BenLurkin

the Little Green Guys like their privacy!


8 posted on 10/20/2016 8:17:15 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians are not born. They're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero. news)
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To: BenLurkin
Ongoing discussion on SlashDot

https://science.slashdot.org/story/16/10/20/149250/schiaparelli-mars-probes-parachute-jettisoned-too-early-whereabouts-still-unknown

9 posted on 10/20/2016 8:17:18 AM PDT by HangnJudge (Cthulhu for President, why vote for a lesser Evil)
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To: dfwgator

Marvin the Martian is one of my favorite Looney Tunes characters. I still use him as a screensaver occasionally.


10 posted on 10/20/2016 8:17:39 AM PDT by V_TWIN
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To: BenLurkin

Darmstadt, we have a problem.


11 posted on 10/20/2016 8:17:51 AM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: BenLurkin

it’s part of the conspiracy to rig the election for hillary. that lander was going to vote for trump!


12 posted on 10/20/2016 8:17:59 AM PDT by JohnBrowdie
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To: BenLurkin

Cue the “I am not saying it’s Aliens but it’s Aliens” meme.


13 posted on 10/20/2016 8:18:14 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: BenLurkin

BenLurkin,

Wake up! You hit the snooze button and fell asleep again.

It is all propaganda.

They are lying to you.

They want you to keep sleeping.

They do NOT want you to know the truth.


14 posted on 10/20/2016 8:18:27 AM PDT by TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed (Yahuah Yahusha)
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To: BenLurkin
LOL! "Lost Contact with Mars Lander 1 Minute Before Touchdown"

There's the problem! It's pretty obvious they miscalculated by '1 minute', on when 'touchdown' was actually supposed to occur!!
15 posted on 10/20/2016 8:18:55 AM PDT by MMaschin (The difference between strategy and tactics!)
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To: BenLurkin
Could it be space walruses?


16 posted on 10/20/2016 8:19:24 AM PDT by Donglalinger
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To: Donglalinger

17 posted on 10/20/2016 8:21:06 AM PDT by Donglalinger
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To: Army Air Corps

It seems that way, no?


It really does. It’s several things. It’s the quantity of failures as well as the types of failures. I think we need to get to the point where one ship is like a MIRV. That is, it deposits five or six rovers at various locations. They can’t ALL fail, can they? ‘Course, it might be expensive.


18 posted on 10/20/2016 8:21:41 AM PDT by Mr. Douglas (Today is your life. What are you going to do with it?)
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To: BenLurkin

It probably doesn’t help that their lander was built by Fiat. lol


19 posted on 10/20/2016 8:22:19 AM PDT by V_TWIN
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To: BenLurkin


Last Transmission: My God, it's full of stars ...
20 posted on 10/20/2016 8:22:22 AM PDT by Scythian_Reborn
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