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New bid to contact Beagle 2 fails
Guardian ^
| 01/10/04
| Press Association
Posted on 01/10/2004 1:40:05 PM PST by Pikamax
New bid to contact Beagle 2 fails Press Association Saturday January 10, 2004 9:08 PM
The European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter failed to contact the Beagle 2 probe in its latest attempt, British scientists said.
Mars Express flew over Beagle's designated landing site on Mars on Saturday but heard no signal, mission scientists said.
Hopes of finding the British-built lander, which was due to touch down on the Red Planet on Christmas Day, are fading fast.
Scientists said Mars Express would make another pass over the landing site early on Monday and would listen for a signal. After that, the orbiter will move to a less advantageous communicating position.
Beagle 2 has not been heard from since it separated from the mothership in mid-December, despite contact efforts by Mars Express, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter and British and US radio telescopes.
The diminutive, 143 lb lander was equipped with a mechanical arm to sample Martian soil and rocks
Mars Express will orbit the planet for at least one Martian year -- almost two Earth years -- using its radar to search for signs of water or ice which may once have sustained living organisms.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: beagle2; mars
1
posted on
01/10/2004 1:40:06 PM PST
by
Pikamax
To: Pikamax
This dog won't hunt.
2
posted on
01/10/2004 1:44:36 PM PST
by
Buck W.
To: All
Rank |
Location |
Receipts |
Donors/Avg |
Freepers/Avg |
Monthlies |
15 |
Tennessee |
650.00
|
16
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40.62
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317
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2.05
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81.00
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9
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3
posted on
01/10/2004 1:45:41 PM PST
by
Support Free Republic
(I'd rather be sleeping. Let's get this over with so I can go back to sleep!)
To: Pikamax
I always get a bit suspicious when I see any project being headed by a guy who looks a bit too concerned about public relations and being a "personality"
This mutton chops guy with his 'ain't I cute' smile and his seeming 'its so easy, just listen to ME schtick' doesn't compare well at all, in my mind, with the kind of guy who seemed to predominate at NASA back in the Apollo days. ie: knows what he's doing, goes about his business but couldn't possibly explain it or care to.
If you're gonna blow 50 mil on a space shot you should put the 'cuties' in a front office and leave the planning to people who who have ONLY one thing on their minds: the shot.
4
posted on
01/10/2004 1:53:23 PM PST
by
TalBlack
("Tal, no song means anything without someone else...")
To: TalBlack
"He's dead, Jim"
To: Pikamax
I hate to tell this to the Brits, but their rover is wheels-up in a ravine somewhere..........
To: Viking2002
Wouldn't it be cute if our new arrival could sport some "color" pictures of the upside down Brit one!
To: Viking2002
Actually it had no wheels. It was a lander, not a rover. Picture four trash can lids hinged together and that's about what they had.
Now all they need to do is send the can. We don't want to be littering their space junk on this clean untouched planet.
8
posted on
01/10/2004 2:05:52 PM PST
by
ElkGroveDan
(Fighting for Freedom and Having Fun)
To: Pikamax
This is a shame. It was a great little idea, done on a shoestring budget. I'd hope most freepers wouldn't gloat over this, since the Brits are our best friends in the world. It was a good try, but the lander just didnt work. The other 2/3 of the mission has so far been successful however, the orbiter is quite advanced and should advance the cause of Martian science.
9
posted on
01/10/2004 2:14:37 PM PST
by
Paradox
(Cogito ergo boom.)
To: Viking2002
I hate to tell this to the Brits... They already suspect a crater and/or misaligned antenna. Ravine, crater, dry canal, hobbit hole. Same difference, in this case.
To: Pikamax
I must confess, I'm feeling a certain smug satisfaction over the European failure after all the US bashing we've been enduring lately.
To: ElkGroveDan
I stand corrected. It's
pads-up in a ravine somewhere.
And I have a bottle of Jim Beam in front of me that's about the help me get in the same orientation. LOL
To: Buck W.
If it's like any beagle I know, just wave a piece of cheese on the Martian horizon. It'll come running. LOL :-)
To: Viking2002
And I have a bottle of Jim Beam in front of me that's about the help me get in the same orientation. LOL I've got a bottle of Brennan's Irish Whiskey for that very same purpose...slainte!
14
posted on
01/10/2004 6:03:45 PM PST
by
ElkGroveDan
(Fighting for Freedom and Having Fun)
To: ElkGroveDan
Yup, time to pull a Beagle - pads up, antennae down, and unable to communicate....ROTFLMAO :-)
To: Pikamax
Disappointing. Well, there is always next time. And, there are those man missions.
Looks like Beagle 2 simply didn't have any Spirit.
16
posted on
01/11/2004 1:26:59 AM PST
by
Simmy2.5
(Dean...If you want the whole US to be like Gray Davis' California, VOTE FOR ME!)
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