Beagle 2 successfully separates and begins descent into Mars

[exosculate]

Looks like the mission failed, wouldn't it have been better to spend the 35 million pounds on Earth bound projects?

 

[white rabbit]

Unfortunately, it's impossible to know until the thing lands.

 

[sparkling]

I heard on the radio tonight that they are convinced it landed okay but are just waiting to hear. The Scientist likened it to a lover sending a love letter. You know that they have received the letter but are waiting to see if there will be any response?

Oh the delicious agony and what a wonderful way to put it...we've all been in that horrible situation and can really empathise with them.

I do hope its a success after all the work, investment and hopes.

 

[Belushi]

I do hope we make contact.

As its our lander does this means that Mars belongs to the UK!?

 

[Loki]

(from BBC)

Beagle's long silence continues


The Beagle was meant to land on Mars early on Christmas Day
There has been no signal detected from the surface of Mars on Friday that would indicate the UK-built Beagle 2 lander got down safely.
The US orbiter Mars Odyssey flew over the assumed landing zone just after 1800 GMT but heard no transmission.

The giant radio telescope at Jodrell Bank in northwest England has been left to listen to the planet for several hours in the hope it can find Beagle.

Scientists refuse to give up hope and will continue to scan Mars for a call.

Team leader Professor Colin Pillinger said he had faith Beagle had landed safely, adding: "We will hang on testing and waiting."

 

[cybotto]

Maybe some marsians believed it's as alian and deported beagle to a secret location to examine this new life form. They will think we are all like beagle and will be very suprised when humans are visiting for the first time. Don't worry this is nearly a proof that there is life on Mars.

 

[Sacri Liege]

seriously, there's no intelligent life on mars. There may have been at some point but now? Doubtful! Blame it on crap equipment or what have you.

 

[Loki]

I too doubt there is any intelligent life on mars, or anywhere in the solar system for that matter (apart from perhaps some primitive organisms). But still, the tantalising question of whether life exists beyond our planet just HAS to be answered!!!

Plus there is the issue of all the resources, which we will soon be in dire need of if we are to keep going...

 

[PearlySpencer]

Ah just think of the mineral rights you can flog to some international corporation

 

[editor]

Originally posted by PearlySpencer
Ah just think of the mineral rights you can flog to some international corporation

They can't do that.

So why try and derail this thread and say they can?

If you can't bear the prospect of people getting excited by this mission, I suggest you keep your sarcastic comments to the other thread, where you're free to moan and complain as much as you like.

 

[editor]

Originally posted by Sacri Liege
seriously, there's no intelligent life on mars. There may have been at some point but now? Doubtful! Blame it on crap equipment or what have you.

I reckon Europa's going to be a mighty interesting place to have a sniff about if we can work out the technology to drill through the ice.

Who knows what might be swimming around there?!

 

[editor]

Bit late, but...

A British Mars lander that was lost on its way to the red planet more than a decade ago may have been spotted by an orbiting spacecraft.

The Beagle 2 lander was supposed to touch down on Christmas day in 2003, but after it was released from its mothership, Mars Express, the dustbin-lid-sized craft was never heard from again.

But Beagle 2’s final resting place may finally have been discovered. Scientists operating the HiRise camera on Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will take part in a press conference this Friday to announce “an update” on the ill-fated mission.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/12/beagle-2-mars-lander-remains-red-planet

RIP Colin.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Will they be able to do anything with it, or have they just pinpointed a pile of smashed up shit?

Weren't Colin Pillinger's beyond the grave fingerprints all over the comet not-quite-success recently too?

 

[2hats]

Will they be able to do anything with it, or have they just pinpointed a pile of smashed up shit?

(Essentially) the second scenario.

Weren't Colin Pillinger's beyond the grave fingerprints all over the comet not-quite-success recently too?

The same team used tech originally developed for Beagle 2 for the Ptolemy instrument (Gas Chromatography Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer) on Philae.

 

[skyscraper101]

Confirmed on the beeb:

Lost Beagle2 probe found 'intact' on Mars
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30784886

 

[mack]

That's so cool that they've found it - can they send one of the other bots roaming around to go and poke it with a stick or something?

 

[2hats]

Looks most likely like the descent was fairly nominal but after landing the clamshell design didn't deploy fully, which will have compromised communication and power generation.

e2a: this needs some images...

 

[ginger_syn]

I'm oddly pleased they have found it

 

[editor]

Looks most likely like the descent was fairly nominal but after landing the clamshell design didn't deploy fully, which will have compromised communication and power generation.

e2a: this needs some images...

So damn close.....

 

[alsoknownas]

Like a metaphor for all our... somethings.

 

[alsoknownas]

That's so cool that they've found it - can they send one of the other bots roaming around to go and poke it with a stick or something?

That would likely trigger it's defence mechanisms, and you'll have started The War of The Robots. On Mars. Don't you read any scifi?

 

[editor]

Now in high res detail:

Beagle 2 never called its handlers from the Martian surface, and many experts assumed the craft had crashed. But last year, officials with the UK Space Agency announced that they had spotted the lander in MRO photos. These images appeared to show partially deployed solar arrays, suggesting that Beagle 2 had succeeded in touching down softly.

Supersharp Mars Photos Show UK's Long-Lost Beagle 2 Lander