Heads Up! Mars Lander Beagle 2 Set to Land 8:57 PM Eastern Tonite!!!

[Central Scrutiniser]

For up to date info, go to: www.space.com.

Keeping my fingers crossed.....

[tet68]

I am glued to the monitor, this is as exciting as apollo.

[TomB]

They're just getting the first video back from the lander:

[theophilusscribe]

[buffyt]

Congresscritter from the NASA area of Houston is still asking if the US flag our astronauts left there, is still there........ She really asked that......

[theophilusscribe]

Hee hee . . . great minds . . .

[TomB]

BTW, here is the official Beagle 2 website.

[TomB]

Yea, but mine's better. :-P

[Thinkin' Gal]

I suppose this means the headline will be, "The Beagle has Landed"? Groan...

[Husker8877]

That would be the very brilliant Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-MARS)

[EggsAckley]

Did they plan for it to land on Christmas Eve? Or is it a coincidence?

Whatever it is, it's way cool to be happening tonight.

[Lokibob]

 

Here is the time line.  Note that all times are in GMT (minus 5 hours EST).

 

First knowledge we will have that it is successful is around 2230 est tonite.

 

 

25th Dec

02:54 GMT

Beagle 2 lands on Mars

25th Dec

03:00 GMT

Mars Express orbital insertion

25th Dec

05:30 GMT

Mars Odyssey orbiter flies over Beagle 2 - first possible signal retrieval from the lander

25th Dec

06:30-07:00 GMT

Mars Odyssey contacts NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, first possible signal from Beagle 2 received on Earth

Links:::::::::

?	See the technology FAQs»

25th Dec

07:00 GMT

First evaluation of Mars Express orbital insertion

25th Dec

07:15 GMT

Sunset on Mars (18:35 local solar time)

25th Dec

20:02 GMT

Sunrise on Mars (07:02 local solar time)

25th Dec

22:45 GMT

Possible direct capture of Beagle 2 signals at Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK)

26th Dec

07:55 GMT

Sunset on Mars (18:36 local solar time)

[tet68]

"One small step for a hound, mankind checks it's shoe."

[thoughtomator]

Yeah I just thought the exact same thing, groan included.

[ChadGore]

Does anyone have a link to something live ?

[Lokibob]

nothing live happening. First possible pictures will be tomorrow.
It is scheduled to land in a few minutes, but we won't know if it was successful at the earliest about 5 hours from now.

[kabar]

We won't know anything until around 0030 EST.

[mrobison]

Merry Christmas from Mars!

[Gumption]

Beagle 2 will land in a region of Mars named Isidis Planitia. This is a 1500 km wide embayment into the highlands that occupy much of the martian equatorial region and southern hemisphere, whose northeast side opens onto the low-lying plains that cover most of the planet's northern hemisphere. We cannot tell exactly where Beagle 2 will come to rest, but there is a 99% probability of it lying within an ellipse measuring 174 km by 106 km centred at 11.6o N, 269.5o W (see map).

	The projected landing "ellipse" in the Isidis Planitis Basin

Isidis Planitia is probably a very ancient impact basin caused by the collision of a comet or a 50 km diameter asteroid onto the surface of Mars about 3-4 billion years ago. Subsequently its floor may have become flooded by volcanic lava before being further buried by sediment derived from the surrounding highlands.

A major factor in selecting Isidis as the landing site is that it is low lying (to give the parachutes chance to work), and slightly north of the equator (to take advantage of the relatively warm spring nights and thus minimise the thermal stress on Beagle 2's electronics).

So far as can be deduced prior to landing, the surface within the landing ellipse is hardened dust with about 15% of the area covered by rock fragments, mostly smaller than house bricks in size. The most detailed images available from previous Mars orbiter missions show details as small as a couple of metres across. These reveal a few ridges and numerous cones occupying about 10% of the total area and each a few hundred metres across that may have been produced by small explosive volcanic eruptions. If so, they indicate the presence of ice in the local subsoil, making Isidis Planitia an appealling place to search for signs of life.

So what will the view from the lander reveal? Most likely a stone-strewn plain. There is only a one in ten chance of landing on a volcanic cone, and perhaps a one in five chance of a nearby cone being visible from the lander. There is an even smaller chance of landing among substantial sand dunes, though small wind-blown drifts of dust are perhaps more likely. The camera's vantage point on a relatively short robotic arm may not be great for distant views, but we expect to get fascinating close-ups of individual rock and soil specimens prior to studying them with Beagle 2's considerable array of analytical devices.

Isidis is a very good projected landing site; it is also being considered as the location for one of the NASA Athena rovers which are also landing in gas-filled bags and subject to the same engineering constraints as Beagle 2.

© Beagle 2: landing»

landing site considerations»

[FRMAG]

I sincerely hope that they have finally figured out the difference between SAE and frog metrics.