Stimpy
Fledgling Freddie
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 674
Beagle 2 Buggered???
- Thread starter Stimpy
- Start date
dysfunction
FH is my second home
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 9,709
Well lets hope that when day dawns on Mars they will receive a signal from Beagle2. Apparantly they cant do anything untill day time.
Tenko
Fledgling Freddie
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 279
Being a sad old Mars nut, I'm not confident but fingers crossed, eh?
Awfully similiar to what happened to the Mars polar lander.
Even if it hasn't worked there are still two NASA landers on route plus the european orbiter seems to be working a/ok so far.
Its a demanding environment, interplanetary space.
Awfully similiar to what happened to the Mars polar lander.
Even if it hasn't worked there are still two NASA landers on route plus the european orbiter seems to be working a/ok so far.
Its a demanding environment, interplanetary space.
Tenko
Fledgling Freddie
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 279
Out of 30 missions only 3 landed probes successfully?
That figure is true but as not every mission HAD a lander its a little missleading
The Americans have had 3/4 successful landings (I think), the Russians have had none. However there have been a few good orbitor missions as well.
The problems with landing is that the distance means the whole thing has to be automated and perfect, plus if your not used to making interplanetary probes the violent take offs and heavy radiation can fry the thinglong before you even get there.
Still, JPL are the daddies (When they're not arguing with NASA over Imperial/Metric measurements)
That figure is true but as not every mission HAD a lander its a little missleading
The Americans have had 3/4 successful landings (I think), the Russians have had none. However there have been a few good orbitor missions as well.
The problems with landing is that the distance means the whole thing has to be automated and perfect, plus if your not used to making interplanetary probes the violent take offs and heavy radiation can fry the thinglong before you even get there.
Still, JPL are the daddies (When they're not arguing with NASA over Imperial/Metric measurements
)
Quige
Fledgling Freddie
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 118
Tilda said:I hope it works, it would realy mess up your christmas day
Just spoke to me Mum, she's off to spend Christmas day with some friends, and 'he' aparently is involved in the project. He was hoping to be back by lunch for the whole Turkey-blowout shebang. Now it looks like he'll be staying until they find out whether it wakes up after the Martian night at about 22:00 GMT.
Bummer.
SFXman
One of Freddy's beloved
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 312
Heh, it would have been interesting to find out things about Mars... but let me quote myself in the other thread concerning the mission with Beagle 2:
Heh... I am a prophet
Nah... just kidding, too bad it seems so far as if it failed in its mission. The scientists were quite sure that the possible sandstorms would not affect landing but I guess they did after all as I expected
:kissit:SFXman said:I find it quite intriguing as to what Beagle 2 will find, if it even succeeds in landing (pff, the english
Heh... I am a prophet
Nah... just kidding, too bad it seems so far as if it failed in its mission. The scientists were quite sure that the possible sandstorms would not affect landing but I guess they did after all as I expected
Embattle
FH is my second home
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 13,586
Missions to other planets are always going to be problematic, you only have to look at the Viking mission to Mars which showed both the presence of life on Mars in its first test and then no life in the following test. The Venera missions to Venus also ran in to loads of problems, at least one got crushed by the super high pressure and two more suffered problems with lens caps with one lens cap melting to the camera and the other fell on the planet surface so when the testing equipment arm extend it ended up reading the chemical properties of the lens cap. Time didn't improve the results with the Galileo orbiter making it to Jupiter but having the back luck of the descent probe dropping between the clouds in Jupiter's atmosphere.
The real issue isn't so much to do with money but more to do with time, not only the time it takes to travel to the planets but the time spent preparing these massive undertakings. If you look at the Cassini-Huygens mission then you have to consider that when it goes into orbit around Saturn in 2004 it will of been travelling for some 7 years and then if you add in the work/preparation for the spacecraft you have a serious amount of time. The first challenge is getting it to Saturn, the next getting it into orbit around Saturn, etc, etc, and ultimately getting the Huygens probe to the Titan surface (2005)....can you imagine all that time wasted if something fails and naturally money becomes a bigger issue once the mission fails
The real issue isn't so much to do with money but more to do with time, not only the time it takes to travel to the planets but the time spent preparing these massive undertakings. If you look at the Cassini-Huygens mission then you have to consider that when it goes into orbit around Saturn in 2004 it will of been travelling for some 7 years and then if you add in the work/preparation for the spacecraft you have a serious amount of time. The first challenge is getting it to Saturn, the next getting it into orbit around Saturn, etc, etc, and ultimately getting the Huygens probe to the Titan surface (2005)....can you imagine all that time wasted if something fails and naturally money becomes a bigger issue once the mission fails
Tom
I am a FH squatter
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 17,390
Well the Viking tests were: test for presence of life; bake the sample; test again. The theory being that anything that produced a positive test in the first instance would be sizzled, and dead. The second test would confirm this, it was exactly the same as the first, but because the (life) would be dead, there would be no result. This all happened, and everyone thought YAY, but there are other ways of explaining the results, this is why they are inconclusive.
The Russian probes to Venus were expected not to survive for very long, AFAIK there are only 2 pictures of the Venusian surface, both of them are pretty uninteresting.
I don't know why we have all these problems, I mean, Dan Dare just jumps into Anastasia and whoosh hes off.
The Russian probes to Venus were expected not to survive for very long, AFAIK there are only 2 pictures of the Venusian surface, both of them are pretty uninteresting.
I don't know why we have all these problems, I mean, Dan Dare just jumps into Anastasia and whoosh hes off.
Scooba da Bass
Fledgling Freddie
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2003
- Messages
- 500
Ok.Embattle said:Missions to other planets are always going to be problematic, you only have to look at the Viking mission to Mars which showed both the presence of life on Mars in its first test and then no life in the following test. The Venera missions to Venus also ran in to loads of problems, at least one got crushed by the super high pressure and two more suffered problems with lens caps with one lens cap melting to the camera and the other fell on the planet surface so when the testing equipment arm extend it end up reading the chemical properties of the lens cap. Time didn't improve the results with the Galileo orbiter making it to Jupiter but having the back luck of the descent probe dropping between the clouds in Jupiter's atmosphere.
The real issue isn't so much to do with money but more to do with time, not only the time it takes to travel to the planets but the time spent preparing these massive undertakings. If you look at the Cassini-Huygens mission then you have to consider that when it goes into orbit around Saturn in 2004 it will of been travelling for some 7 years and then if you add in the work/preparation for the spacecraft you have a serious amount of time. The first challenge is getting it to Saturn, the next getting it into orbit around Saturn, etc, etc, and ultimately getting the Huygens probe to the Titan surface (2005)....can you imagine all that time wasted if something fails and naturally money becomes a bigger issue once the mission fails
Embattle
FH is my second home
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 13,586
Tom said:
This is true, although the first few just got creamed because they were not strong enough to withstand the increase in pressure as they fell through the atmosphere....the first one to survive this pressure was designed to hold out up to 180.
Either way I don't hold out much hope for Beagle 2....sadly
Quige
Fledgling Freddie
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 118
The good thing about Beagle2 was that it didn't cost a lot as these things go. Given the dangers and problems at operating at such a distance, we need to be making a hell of a lot of cheaper probes, and chucking them out there, and let weight of numbers win out. Unless there is something seriously flawed with the landing concept, I expect they've just been unlucky this time. Send more!
Of course if we had a proper ground to orbit lift capacity rather than these archaic 'rockets' we could be sending them out by the dozen
Come on space elevator! http://www.isr.us/SEHome.asp
Of course if we had a proper ground to orbit lift capacity rather than these archaic 'rockets' we could be sending them out by the dozen
Come on space elevator! http://www.isr.us/SEHome.asp
Quige
Fledgling Freddie
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 118
SFXman said:Looks mighty interesting. Have heard of it before...
The video about the space elevator was quite interesting at first but damn did it feel corny
"Finally, man may climb up a ribbon... to the stars..."
Yup, if they can crack the materials science/manufacture of the carbon nano-tube 'cable' that the elevators ride, and get it built, it'll revolutionise the costs of getting mass from earth to orbit.
Of course it would be somewhat of a major terrorist target if they ever get it up there.
I've always wondered what happened to the 'giant rail gun' accelerate to terminal escape velocity up the side of a mountain plan. Maybe the electrical costs are too steep until cheap fusion power comes along.
