Britain's lost Beagle 2 lander has been found on the surface of Mars after 11 years
34 replies, posted
[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/80304000/jpg/_80304473_main.jpg[/img]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30784886[/url]
[quote]The missing Mars robot Beagle2 has been found on the surface of the Red Planet, apparently intact.
High-resolution images taken from orbit have identified its landing location, and it looks to be in one piece.
The UK-led probe tried to make a soft touchdown on the dusty world on Christmas Day, 2003, using parachutes and airbags - but no radio contact was ever made with the probe.
Many scientists assumed it had been destroyed in a high-velocity impact.
The new pictures, acquired by Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, give the lie to that notion, and hint at what really happened to the European mission.
Beagle's design incorporated a series of deployable "petals", on which were mounted its solar panels.
From the images, it seems that this system did not unfurl fully.[/quote]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/xoexONB.gif[/IMG]
At least Curiosity has someone to hang out with now.
Over 11 years ago we lost the bastard, and their it is, just lying around while we've been worried sick.
mars. the one place they never thought to look
it must be frustrating as hell knowing that it landed perfectly fine but just didnt open correctly
Maybe curiosity can help revive it.
[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;46946256]Maybe curiosity can help revive it.[/QUOTE]
They're probably on vastly different parts of the planet.
Noice. Would have been even nicer if Curiosity had stumbled upon it, though, we'd be able to get some scientific data out of it anyway if we could look at it from the surface.
We told Beagle to lay on the surface of mars and he did it! The madman!
Rescue mission, commence!
Should have called it Terrier or something cooler.
So it basically went "screw you guys, I don't need your help!". Then turned comms off and went to Mars on its own.
Meanwhile there's a guy somewhere that is suddenly going:
"...oh fuck. So I [i]didn't[/i] test that motor properly!"
Followed by a heavy amount of drinking.
[QUOTE=Sgt-NiallR;46946322]They're probably on vastly different parts of the planet.[/QUOTE]
According to my rather bullshit calculations, they're about 2500km apart. For context, it took about 15 months for Curiosity to drive just 5 miles to reach Mount Sharp, its primary mission destination.
[QUOTE=smurfy;46946936]According to my rather bullshit calculations, they're about 2500km apart. For context, it took about 15 months for Curiosity to drive just 5 miles to reach Mount Sharp, its primary mission destination.[/QUOTE]
So what you're telling me is what we need is probes [b]WITH SPEEEEEED[/b]
[editline]16th January 2015[/editline]
Next Mars lander is going to have a crated LS3 with dual turbos and quadruple magnaflows :v:
Would have been cooler if we hadn't found till 100 hundred years in the future when space colony kids find it and use its parts as improvised Frisbees.
[QUOTE=B E A R;46946446]So it basically went "screw you guys, I don't need your help!". Then turned comms off and went to Mars on its own.[/QUOTE]
bloody colonials
[IMG_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/mwALs25.jpg[/IMG_thumb]
get up you lazy fuck
thats a big-ass beagle right there
it's just an unflattering photograph
The Beagle has landed
[QUOTE=Cmx;46946031]it must be frustrating as hell knowing that it landed perfectly fine but just didnt open correctly[/QUOTE]
You have to ask why they put the radio gear under the solar panels, if it had been on the outside they could have least tried to open the other two panels again.
In the future it'll probably be in a museum.
[QUOTE=smurfy;46946936]According to my rather bullshit calculations, they're about 2500km apart. For context, it took about 15 months for Curiosity to drive just 5 miles to reach Mount Sharp, its primary mission destination.[/QUOTE]
Well considering Curiosity isn't doing much on mars now thanks to its primary mission being complete then extended indefinitely and its still actively powered thanks to the reactor inside it, they might as well tell it to attempt getting there because it clearly can navigate around the land without many issues, while on the trip it can continue doing its primary mission of learning from the landscape. Plus once they do meet there is a chance Curiosity might be able to fix the deployment with its arm or something allowing Beagle 2 to finally charge correctly.
[QUOTE=smurfy;46946936]According to my rather bullshit calculations, they're about [B]2500km[/B] apart. For context, it took about 15 months for Curiosity to drive just [B]5 miles[/B] to reach Mount Sharp, its primary mission destination.[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter"]Mixing units never ends well.[/URL]
[QUOTE=pentium;46946881]Meanwhile there's a guy somewhere that is suddenly going:
"...oh fuck. So I [i]didn't[/i] test that motor properly!"
Followed by a heavy amount of drinking.[/QUOTE]
And that person is never speaking about it to anyone.
[QUOTE=Reagy;46950715]Well considering Curiosity isn't doing much on mars now thanks to its primary mission being complete then extended indefinitely and its still actively powered thanks to the reactor inside it, they might as well tell it to attempt getting there because it clearly can navigate around the land without many issues, while on the trip it can continue doing its primary mission of learning from the landscape. Plus once they do meet there is a chance Curiosity might be able to fix the deployment with its arm or something allowing Beagle 2 to finally charge correctly.[/QUOTE]
Curiosity's top speed is 0.09 mph so I don't think it'll be helping Beagle any time soon. If it really is 2500 km away it will take over 2 years to get there. I'm surprised they don't have a zippier rover but Mars rocks are apparently quite sharp compared to Earth rocks and ruin wheels easily even at 0.09 mph.
[QUOTE=smurfy;46946936]According to my rather bullshit calculations, they're about 2500km apart. For context, it took about 15 months for Curiosity to drive just 5 miles to reach Mount Sharp, its primary mission destination.[/QUOTE]
According to my calculations that's 388.357 years.
Better get moving curiosity.
[editline]17th January 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Cheshire_cat;46950801][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter"]Mixing units never ends well.[/URL][/QUOTE]
what he said I fucked up converting km to miles.
I think this might have been the first lander mission I followed properly, I remember them thinking it must have landed in a crater and the solar panels couldn't get enough light, seems the reality is a shit tonne more frustrating.
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