My, they are persistent creatures, aren't they!
Posted on 12/31/2003 7:43:55 AM PST by blam
Spirit and Opportunity ready to land on Mars
December 31 2003 at 07:36AM
Washington - As Europe awaits a signal from its Mars probe Beagle 2, which landed on Christmas Day, the United States is hoping its Spirit spacecraft, expected to touch ground on the Red Planet this weekend, will behave better and stay in touch with Earth.
Nerves are fragile at the US space agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), following the numerous futile attempts by their colleagues from the European Space Agency (ESA) to connect with Beagle 2.
Scientists know that a mission to Mars is among mankind's most difficult tasks. Two-thirds of all Mars missions have failed, earning the Red Planet the nickname "Death Planet" among some scientists.
"In my mind we've done everything humanly possible" to turn the mission into a success, Nasa's chief space scientist, Edward Weiler, said.
'Nerves are fragile at the US space agency'
Nasa launched twin robots, one in June and the other in July, from Florida. Spirit and Opportunity are identical but will land in different locations on Mars. Spirit is scheduled to touch ground on January 3, and Opportunity will follow three weeks later.
After two failures in 1999, Nasa upgraded the two craft with a range of high tech and security gadgets to ensure a smooth landing. The six minutes after the craft enters the Martian atmosphere are the most intense.
A parachute will deploy to slow the spacecraft and airbags will inflate to soften the landing. The craft will bounce more than one time upon landing and could roll a kilometre or more. Once that is achieved, scientists can relax. The rover will then go onto a reconnaissance mission, travelling up to one kilometre and analysing rocks and soil during its three-month prime mission to search for signs of life on Mars.
For Beagle 2, it could have been an unfortunate landing that turned the mission into a failure.
Colin Pillinger, the leading scientist on the Beagle 2 project, said the probe could have landed in a crater in the landing zone, which could be the reason no signal has been picked up from the small craft.
"We'd have to be incredibly accurate and incredibly unlucky to go right down this crater, which of course would not be good news," Pillinger said.
For Spirit and Opportunity, which are much larger than Beagle 2, it could be a host of other problems.
"A strong gust of wind in the final seconds, and the mission could be over," Weiler told the Washington Post. - Sapa-dpa
My, they are persistent creatures, aren't they!
... what, again?
If we knew the answer to that, then they wouldn't be secrets, would they?
Two-thirds have been shot down by Barsoom Defense Forces.
If we continue our invasion attempts they might strike back, (again.)
We won't know what secrets there are to unravel unless we look. This kind of exploration speaks to the core of what humanity should be about. We should be spending billions more on this type of endeavor. I'd go so far as to say that as the wealthiest nation ever to grace this planet, we have an obligation to do this sort of thing. But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Yes.
Sorry, but that's classifed information! :-)
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